After a afternoon ride I came home turned the bike off , went inside to open the garage, letting the bike cool for a few minutes, tried to start the bike it cranked over and the compensator did it's famous Bang sound. Then click,click...volt meter in the fairing read zero. i clicked it about three more times and nothing. Pulled the seat off checked the battery and fuses and nothing, everything was okay, charged the battery back up, with the battery tender, 10 minutes and the battery was okay. The battery tender showed it was charged. Checked it with a volt meter, 12 volts. Is it safe to say my compensator broke and it locked up the primary chain?

 

Looks like your gunna open her up!

 

Check the battery with aload tester first. A volt meter can't tell you if the battery is any good. Compensator won't kill the battery,so was it dead?

 

I think before I opened the primary...


I'd double check the battery connections, and negative to bike frame, etc. I had a loose positive cable which created an arc that welded the bolt to the nut, so when I tested to see if it was tight it felt like it was. It wasn't. But, I didn't find that out until I went to take the battery out completely and then I found the welded bolt/nut. After changing the bolt/nut I then got a good connection and all was well again.

 

The battery and all the connections are fine, it was cranking just fine until the compensator kicked back.I tried to crank it again and it just clicked. I put the battery tender on it . I know that the battery tender doesn't charge a battery it maintains it,, but I plugged it in and the battery went to full charge in a matter of five minutes. Now if the starter is kicked in and the chain is locked up not letting it disengage wouldn't that cause me just to get a click out it ? It only clicked twice and then after that nothing from the starter. I have checked all the battery connections and taken them off and cleaned them. Checked the fuses. Load tested the battery.

 

Jack rear tire up. Remove plugs to make it easier and put in low and turn rear tire to see if engine will turn. You did not break the compensator with the starter or for that mater with a WOT pop clutch take off. Even with the springs totally broken (rarely for a belville spring--they only break from millions of flexes..seen them work in lock up tool changer were I worked break only after millions of tool changes) it will still drive. You would wring crank shaft off before compensator broke. I bet it's you battery connection or battery showing voltage but no amps. 12 volts is a dead battery. 12.4 is 50 % and 12.6 is 100% (off my head since I do not have my home pc) And when you first turn it off from a run it will read 14.8 or so till it sets a while and also that voltage while running at about 2000 rpm. (not 14.8 coming off maintance charger..should be correct at the 12.6 or 12.7)

 

Couple of years ago I had a similar issue. It was the battery. It had enough juice for one start then it was over. Something inside it went bad, and even the charger said it was ok, but there was no juice in it. I jumped it with a car battery, car not running, and the bike started fine. Went out, got a new battery and all was well.

 

I had my present battery replaced two years ago under warranty, tomorrow I'm going to take the battery out and check all the cables coming off the starter & the ground , this will be two Harley batteries in four years. Where can I get a good battery?

 

Its not uncommon for replacement batteries to take a **** early on. I've had batteries last 7 years and some that take a **** in 10 months. Doesn't matter which brand, however it seems that the cheap Chinese batteries seem to go bad quicker than most others. JMO

 

I'm betting its the battery.