Bike cranked and ran. Turned it off and on again at the and lost power to the dash and neutral light and it wouldn't start. Got it home on a trailer a after that 3 hour ride home it it had power again. Turned it off and on again, it was fine then tried it again and nothing, just bought the bike. Ground up restore and all of the connections are tight. Replaced the switch to have a key for the thing and was hoping that might be the problem but it wasn't. It seems I had almost the same issue with my old 78 and it was the starter solenoid being stuck but that was so long ago I don't remember. Any answers? oh yeah, it has power to the horn and lights.

 

The Bike has a Short to ground and is tripping the main Breaker
The ain breaker is either under the dash mount or, someone has put it on the pos of the battery [I do]. Power from pos post of battery, to main breaker, to hot side of ignition switch..

WHoa!!! Power to Horn and lights??? Who wired that one..The Horn gets power from the same breaker the ignition does...generally, the lights have their own...Both are fed fro the Key on position from the keyswitch...
If [IF] your bike has 4 Breakers..they will be Main [from battery to Ignition switch], Ignition circuit [from key-on position to Ignition and Starter circuitry], Accy [from key on position to Horn/turn signals etc] and...Lights [from Lights on Ignition position of course to lights]

 

I bypassed that that breaker first to be sure, that wasnt the problem but thanks.

 

And...the next step?? The next breaker down the line...probably the ignition breaker...I don't bypass anything either...kinda defeats the purpose...if it is tripping it will reset and trip again...you will Fell this...finger on breaker...
Or Fry the wiring by jumping the thing!!! Easier to find that way!!!!!

 

There should be one 30 amp main breaker, and three 15 amp breakers: accessory, ignition and lights.

The horn should be powered by the accessory breaker, the lights should be powered by the lights breaker.

The ignition and starter solenoid circuit are powered by the ignition breaker.

Does the starter crank the engine?

Check the voltage at each breaker, you should read system voltage on each side of the breaker.

 

Ive got nothing but lights when the ignition is in the running position. Even when it did this the two times I didnt hear a breaker click. Thats why I thought it may be in the switch. Ive checked wires for 2 days and cant find a short anywhere. The only things I havent checked are in the headlight bezel. I can see a circut breaker in there. This bike was done very well, the only thing im not liking is the fact that they pulled the wires on the handle bars through 1" bars and that just seems like to many wires through those small bars. I ordered some 1.25" to change them out. Thats the only other thing I can see that could be shorting.

 

The horn works when I put the switch in the first position. The lights come on in the run position. I have 1 breaker at the battery three under the dash and from what I can see one in the bezel that im hoping is the turn signals. The three under the dash, one directly under the switch and the other two are left and right of the dash lamps.

 

You got a short to ground through a wire that was pulled through the handlebars and maybe nicked the insulation?


carl

 

You don`t know if it is a short or an open circuit, or possibly a failure of an ignition system component.

You can fumble around and guess or troubleshoot...

Systematic troubleshooting:

Turn the ignition switch on.

With your multimeter, check the voltage at each breaker, they should all read system voltage, at both posts on the breaker.

What is the model and year of the bike?

 

76 flh