2004 Sportster Problems-New owner

[SD04]

I just bought an '04 Sportster with the 4 Tec engine. It has been sitting for nearly 3 years. I'm having 2 problems:
1. 1 long beep when installing lanyard on DESS post, then 4 short beeps, continuously. Engine will not turn over. It will turn over by jumping across the solenoid, but no fuel.
2. I've got some oil in the bottom of the hull. I started seeing the oil after we started turning the engine over.

The key/lanyard is new and the dealer said they programmed it. I've tested the post(according to one of the forums) and it checks out fine. When I jump the solenoid, I'm getting spark but no fuel and now I've got oil in the bottom of the hull. Which direction do I go first??

 

[Coastiejoe]

Four beeps on a boat means one of two things. It is not in neutral, or the lanyard has been on a long time and that is the reminder.

 

[SD04]

Four beeps on a boat means one of two things. It is not in neutral, or the lanyard has been on a long time and that is the reminder.

That's what I understood also. I bypassed the neutral safety switch and still 4 beeps. How long is a long time? It starts beeping 20-30 seconds after its put on the post.
My guess is either the key is not programmed or there's an electrical problem somewhere. I'm new to these though.

 

[devonte007]

Based on my experience, a long beep after installing the lanyard means that it is not installed correctly, its dirty, or the computer does not recognize it. Considering you just had this new key programmed, I would go back and have them double check that it has been encoded correctly. Here is a snipet from the owners manual:



Never really troubleshooted this type of problem before, but I'm sure the shop manual has procedures to track down the cause. Off the top of my head it could be wrong/unrecognized key, bad dess post (I know you tested it already) or something wrong with the computer. Electrical gremlins like this can be a real pain, and I wish you the best of luck!

 

[OG1]

The long beep when you put the key on means unrecognized key. The 4 beeps means the key is on the post but it's not running if I remember correctly.