Coming home from long ride two weeks ago the engine, and electrical systems, would cut out for a millisecond. After the first time it continued to do this for about every mile until I got home. The next day it wouldn't start at all. Turning ignition on I have no power to anything, only the security light would come on, no other lights, no power to anything... except I hear a very faint clicking from a relay near the battery.

Battery was about 75% so that was charged overnight and now shows 12.6 volts. Battery is one year old. Cleaned the battery connections, checked the other end of both cables, all seems good. Pulled every fuse, cleaned and checked them with an ohm meter. When I put them back in I did one at a time while checking status by turning the ignition switch on.

What I found was, if the headlamp fuse is out and I turn the ignition on everything powers up but the start button doesn't do anything. The Run switch is in the run position. The headlights don't work obviously, but neither does the start button. All dash lights come on, the fuel pump pressurizes, the security system is functional, the radio works. I did not check to see if rear lights came on but both turn signals do work.

If the headlamp fuse is in, I get nothing, no power to anything. That is weird.

So I start thinking it has to be an issue in the handlebar controls. I removed the start/stop and starter switches in order to short the start wires but still nothing.

Now I'm thinking about the left-hand switches. Does anyone think they could be the culprit?

Ignition switch contacts? I pulled the top half of the ignition switch out, looks fine, and obviously getting to the actual switch contacts means pulling the entire switch, something I'd like to avoid if I can.

Do you think I could have bottomed out too many times and hurt the rear light wires under the fender? Could that even cause this.

Something in the fairing I should look at?

I hate electrical issues and I'm kinda stumped here. Can anyone help?

 

I just bought a 2014 FLHTK that was 1 1/2 yrs old and it needed a new battery. If you have a volt meter put it on the battery and turn the bike on and see if the voltage drops. If you run a battery too low they often never recover you could have it load tested. Get your bike running and check the output of your Voltage regulator.
Good Luck

 

Thanks. I have an Optima battery charger that reports the battery as good and fully charged but I can throw a volt meter across the terminals too. Voltage regulator wouldn't cause this issue but it was replaced a year ago too, along with the battery.

 

Going to follow this one.

 

same here

 

Checking the output of the Voltage regulator will tell you if the battery is being charged. If it's greater than 13v you are good, if less then something in the alternator, stator or rotor or the voltage regulator.

 

You should have a Main Circuit Breaker that feeds all the systems. The circuit breaker is Bi-Metallic and when overloaded the dissimilar metals will pull open the main contact. I believe it is 40 amp and feeds all the other circuits. Sometimes an aged circuit breaker will not pass say 40 amps but can pass 10 because of bad contacts. So electricity is like water and takes the path of least resistance and whatever the ciruit breaker will run will run and nothing more. Try checking the main circuit breaker.

 

Follow the battery pos to starter then a heavy wire from starter to the circuit breaker. Looks like a small rectangle can with 2 leads 1 for in and 1 for out.

 

Guys, it was the battery. Only ten months old and it's toast. Interstate brand. Vernal had it right, I should have put a volt meter across the terminals. It dropped to 3 volts when I turned the ignition on. I'm feeling pretty dumb right now for all that work I did, just couldn't believe it could be the battery when it was fairly new and the charger showed it was good.

 

Good deal, Interstate should warranty a new battery. Do a quick check when you get it running to make sure that it does get a charge.


Good Luck