Riding my bike the other day and it starting pudding losing power then just died! turn the key and no juice I have checked and cleaned my battery post batteries new putting out 15 volts.

I looked for broken wires ect see nothing.Now I want to say its my main circuit breaker it s 1988 sportster with a 30 AMP main and 3 15 AMPS for lights and accessories.

heres what Ive done so far


ignition OFF with ohm meter checking across the breaker I get nothing 0.00
with ignition still OFF I tested the POS breaker post to a known good ground I get 14 to 15 volts as well as NEG post to known ground same thing 14-15 volts.

common sense tells me thats not right should there not be 14-15 coming out of NEG post when ignitions off?

Now with ignition ON across breaker post I get 0.00 then I check POS post to known ground I get 0.20 to 25 same with NEG post?

I have a total of 3 wires on the main a wire going from the POS post to POS battery post. and my rectifier/regulator wire with a RED wire coming from the harness to the NEG post.



So bad breaker,switch,short???

Please help!!

 

Check the ground cable from the battery, Harley had a bunch of bad ones back then, I know I had 2 bikes with same problem.

 

is that with the engine running?

 

Also check to make sure the grounding stud itself isn't loose on the crankcase.

 

no this is my problem I have no power to start it

 

everything is clean,tight no breaks in cables going to go pick up a 30 AMP for $4 see if this is the issue

 

I had similar issues with my 80 Sportster. Turned out to be the pins falling out of the plastic wire harness conectors in the headlight assembly. Pulled wires out and just soldered them together. Everything works fine now.

 

Dident think to check that,Ill check it out.Did you have the same issues? turn ignition on no lights,no start?

 

Yes, originally. Previous owner was an electrical oaff. Coil wire connected to frame instead of coil. Wire from ignition switch straight to coil. Starter button under seat hooked directly to battery/starter. The list goes on. I ripped it all out and rewired it. Down to the little pins in the harness connectors.

I would disconnect the ignition switch and do a continuity test. little battery operated probe cost me about $10. from any auto parts store. Sounds like maybe a bad ignition switch or your main 30A fuse. All your power goes to the switch first, when you turn it on, it directs power back the the fuse box to run everything. At least that's how mine works!!!

Make sure you note which wires went where before disconnecting everything. I make it a habit of taking pictures before I start so that I have something to compare with as I'm putting it back together.

All in all its a little intimidating if you've never done anything like that, but it's all very simple once you figure out the path of electricity.

 

Laughing....... Did you look in the tank? Daughters friends dad had his car towed to a mechanic who charged him round $250 to tell him he was out of gas.

Seriously though. I get it, you don't have power so it wont even turn the starter or fire up the lights.