Went to go for a ride yesterday and bike started kinda rough. This morning turned bike on and nothing. So decided to put the battery on the tender and see if I could get a little juice out of it. Cracked open the box to this mess. So after a bit of swearing, some chipping, and a lot of sweating in the La heat I finally got everything out and fixed burnt up connections. Took battery to the dealership and showed them this pos. Basically got told to get bent and had to buy a new battery.

 

That sucks! What caused it?


BTW, that would be the last time I went to that dealer. Your bike is brand new. I'd be calling HD about this one.

 

So, the burning question (no pun intended) ...what caused this? Bad battery, or a short of some sort?

 

No clue man. Honestly baffled. I broke out the multimeter and the service manual and started checking. I put on my new side mount for the license plate and it had a light in it, so I checked all my readings and the wiring to be sure. It was all good and no blown fuses anywhere.

I explained it's a brand new bike only three months only and wanted to know what I could do about the burnt battery and my warranty. Told them I just pulled it off and brought it over for them to look at. Was told to bring the bike in for the service department to look at but would have to schedule an appointment and labor would be 85 an hour. I was like um ok but who can I show this too battery to because I shouldn't have to pay 140 for a new one this soon because this piece melted down or could I get a discount or claim it under warranty or what. Was told at that point they could have a service guy walk outside and look at it in the parking lot. At that point you could hear my teeth grinding from outside.

 

That is some serious damage to that battery, I would defiantly take it to HD and have them go over the bike with a fine tooth comb - is there another dealer near you - other than the one you bought your scoot from, that you could take it to & have them check it out?
You've done some work to your new scoot - any chance something you did caused it?

 

I'd be on the horn to the 'Mothership', man. Don't let up till they make it right. Now the other side of the coin: your bike is a 'Canbus' bike ( HDLan in Harley speak, no doubt you know this already). That BodyControlModule on your bike is a fairly stupid computer that controls the electrical system, at least everything that is hooked into it. If you have a short or an electrical appliance/accessory that the BCM can't 'see', all it 'sees' is an unknown drain on the battery, so it will make the Stator work harder and potential over charge the battery. Happened on my Old Lady's 2011 Heritage ( the first of the HDLan bikes). Cooked her battery- although it didn't melt down like yours. Don't know if that is your issue, but something to consider.

 

The closest one is about two hours away. The only electrical I've done is put on the side mounted plate holder with an LED in it. Checked all that out though with multimeter and it was good. All I can figure is connection on terminal wasn't good after I hooked it back up. I know it was tight and nothing was moving because I checked it. After doing plate kit I couldn't get the battery box cover to go on properly due to the wire with the fuse blocking the seal. Then I adjusted everything and made sure everything was tight and no wires were loose. That's all I can think if but I know the connections were tight.

 

That's one thing they didn't incorporate into the engineering is the space required for the battery tender lead, both it's fuse and the connections.

It's a tight fit and the "red" positive terminal rubber cover doesn't fit as well with the tender connection vs without.

But I don't see how they could refuse the warranty without a reason?

If you did it then, well, then you did it but if you didn't then it sure seems like something went wrong, and something that goes wrong during warranty should be covered under warranty.

 

How did the new battery go back in - any problems like last time?
It might be a hard thing to narrow down as to what caused the meltdown - but one might draw the conclusion that it might have been caused when you had difficulty putting the battery back in last time - especially if the problem doesn't repeat itself.
Glad that was the only damage and that you didn't get hurt

 

New battery went in smooth is working like a champ. Even pulled cover off a couple times today during my ride and checked to make sure it wasn't going nuclear on me. I can see how that conclusion might be drawn. Last time was more of making sure that fuse on the positive cable was laying just right and not cocked out blocking the edge of the battery box, but then again you never know. Something could have shifted when and lined up just perfect for meltdown. I do have that kind of horrible luck.