I'm pulling my hair out and wondering how much this is going to cost, and then it dawned on me to get on the forum and let the pros disect this one. I have a 97 FXDWG and last night some led graphic lights shorted out under my seat and arced pretty good. I took all the lights and wiring off as it was all fried. All the original bikes wiring is in good shape and none of it was damaged. But now the engine vibrates something horrible and it feel like both the front end and the rear end of the bike are going to come off. What could that firework show last night have damaged to make the engine vibrate the whole bike? I'm new here but I'm one grateful dude for all the great posts you all put. I learn more from this forum than anywhere else, but couldn't find a similar thread. Thanks for any insight.

 

Open the fuse panel and check each fuse for hot spots and to see if any are burnt. Also pull the main fuse and use a woman's cardboard nail file to clean the ends. You can do this to the 15 Amp fuses as well. Not much but clean the prongs up.

Take the battery out and clean the post with the same nail file and clean the cable as well until they are shiny. Reattach the battery and make sure the rubber grommet is over the positive post to protect it from grounding on the cover. Test the battery while it is out.

This is cheap to do and if it doesn't help then you may have a wire burned or chaffed.

 

Vibration suggests it is running on one cylinder. Are both cylinders firing?
Did the short affect ignition timing? Does the engine idle?

 

Pop the derby cover or insoection cover off and take a whif of the primary. When my stator went bad, it ran like crap and vibrated like hell. As soon as the derby cover came off, I knew what it was because it stunk of burnt up electronics. The only thing I could think of is to shoot resistance across the ignition coil and see if it within limits.

 

I did everything you guys suggested, I think it must have been a loose connection and firing on one cylinder. At any rate it's running like she should now. Thanks for the tips everyone.