A little background first, The bike, 2004 Road King, EFI everything is basically stock. I removed the passing lamp bracket over the winter to have it powdercoated to match the black passing lamps. Before the lamps were reinstalled, the bike started and ran as normal.

The passing lamps were reinstalled and the lamps won't come on. Figuring the powdercoating was interfering with the grounding of the passing lamps I installed a short jumper wire to ground and the lights work perfectly. The problem is, that with the lights grounded like they are, the bike won't start. The fuel pump does not prime and the hitting the switch does not even spin the starter. Removing the passing lamp grounding wires allows the pump to prime and the bike starts as normal.

The grounding wire runs from the mount under the lamp to one of the mounting bolts for the windshield. The ground is good, lights on and burning bright, but no ignition. Remove the grounds, starts right up.

In looking at the electrical diagrams, it looks like the lamps and ignition are on separate circuits. So I can't figure out where the problem is. I've checked all of the wiring, no blown fuses, nothing obvious. Since the passing lamps are normally grounded through the mounting bracket, I would think a direct jumper to ground would not create a problem with the ignition circuit. I should add that there were no issues with the chrome mounting bracket when installed, lights and ignition worked as usual.

Any ideas on where to look or what the next step should be? Any recommendations would be appreciated.

D'

 

Working on a friends bike with him and we have this same issue going on right. How did you resolve the issue?...