Hey guys , just recently bought a FXSTSSE2 , with about 5,400 miles . I took it for it's first long ride - about 30 miles each way , this past Friday . I stopped before heading back , and shut off the bike for about 20 minutes before starting it again .
The bike was running fine the whole way there .
I started the bike to head back . It idled fine for about 15 seconds , then died . It smelled as if it had dumped some fuel - rich out of the pipes . I tried firing it up again , and it started up , but ran rough . I figured maybe just bad gas , and headed back . While riding , the bike died on me 3 times , even while doing about 50 . After the 3rd time it seemed to run ok , and I got it to a friend of mine and told him what was going on . He put a voltage meter on it ( trickle charge outlet ) and we saw that it was not getting proper voltage ( barely 13 volts wile revving it . Figure maybe the voltage regulator .
Again it died after we had it started ,and you could hear the bike just not running right - plugs were also carbon fouled . Changed them - no difference , so having a ESP with Harley , I had it towed to the dealer to let them take care of it .

So far after looking at it for 2 days ( it died for them also when they brought it in the shop ) they still haven't found the problem , and now are up to changing the speed sensor , which they say is located in the oil pan ?
Also noticed the indicator lights where the speedo is aren't working , either .I did not notice if the speedo was dead, too .
Dealer said it's not producing any error codes .
Any body hear of anything like this with these bikes ?
Any input is much appreciated - thanks .

 

The tank mounted ignition switch can corrode internally , giving the exact symptoms you've described

You can't see it from the outside , you have to take off the seat , lift the console and unbolt the switch unit from below

Even low K's ( sorry "miles" haha ) bikes can suffer from this over time

Clean with WD40 , lube with electrical clean and lube and reassemble. Minimal cost other than time.

I've seen this many times here in Australia , especially bikes that live in coastal areas (like 95% of the Aussie population !)

 

Thanks ! I'll have to check that out .

 

Did you get to the bottom of that problem you were having mate ?

 

Yeah , the said it was the vehicle speed sensor .Bike seems fine now . Thanks for the input .