I have a 97 Evo Road King.

Last fall the speedo started acting up, going to 0 at highway speed, registering 160 while at a stop, some times the odometer would work, other times it would not. I pulled the speed sensor and It worked for 50 miles before it quit working again. I drove for the rest of the season with no speedo. This spring while the bike was on the lift I put a new speed sensor in, and checked the fuses and the wiring as best I could. Still nothing (reading 0mph, no digits on the odometer). Does anyone have any other ideas before I fork over $500 for a new speedometer?

Thanks

 

1997 is NOT a plug and play speedometer if you have the LCD odometer.
That unit has about 12 hard wire connections on the back of speedometer.
The newer replacement unit has a plug and will require serious concentration to adapt wires correctly to a plug adapter.
Original hard wired unit was known to develop LCD bleed in the odometer...makes the odometer look like ink leaked in it...it should be silver with black numbers in odometer display if it is OK...like a calculator display or old LCD watch display.
So start be looking at things again.
Consider reviewing the situation again. recheck the wire connections at back of speedometer.
Does the back light turn ON when ignition key is turned ON?
Any chance at all that 3 pin wires are mismatched at connection point for speed sensor?
The miles/kilometers ridden are stored in the speedometer so they should be readable once ignition is turned ON even if motor is off.
Any chance at all that someone has been removing gas tank and replacing gas tank and caused a wire problem ?
Any chance at all that someone has been removing the seat and touched/pinched wires?
Any chance that a positive or negative at the speedometer back is broken from were it starts to were it reaches speedometer?
Do you have turn signals? The turn signals cancel with the speedometer in that era i believe...so are turn signals cut off or some other kinds of changes made to signals?
Did you remove fuses and look at them with a flashlight?
Remember the insulation on wires could look OK but the wire cold be broken inside.

 

Thanks for the reply, I am aware I will have to buy the sub harness for my speedo. My LCD odometer never showed signs of bleeding with 90,000km on it.
The back light does illuminate when the ignition is switched on
I have triple checked the connection to the speed sensor
Nothing on the odo when the motor is running or stopped
I have not removed the tank
I have removed the the seat, but from a visual inspection there are no pinched wires.
Nothing seemed to be loose at the back of the speedo and I have not changed the signal lights in any form.
I visually checked the fuses, but havent checked them for resistance, that is on my to do list.

 

The replacement speedo is available for much less than $500 plug and play on 99-03 but as you mentioned you will have to get the sub-wire harness for 96-98
Any shop that uses WPS (Western Power Sports) as a distributor can get it. Then vendor part is T21-6983-12 and list for 189.95. You can also find it online searching that part#. Not sure what the number is for the sub wire harness

 

Obviously check fuse first.
Rather easy to remove and test fuse continuity.
Do you have a digital voltage meter? They are sometimes free from Harbor freight with a coupon.
I would hate for someone to spend money and time to order and change a speedometer when the wiring has NOT been tested.
It would be a sad situation to go through all the trouble of a change when a wire is broken inside of the insulation for that wire.
Consider google the following...instructions J01208...and look at pdf for wires.
Please remove the speed sensor connection and forget about sensor side for testing purpose.
With bike ignition ON and switch on RUN.
On the "bike wire harness side" for speed sensor... put meter in DC volts first...check for positive voltage with red probe on RED wire and black probe on BLACK WIRE.
Reading should be 12 or near 12
Then remove black probe and place on negative battery post.
Reading should be 12 or near 12
Now remove black probe from battery and place back on BLACK wire on harness.
Now Remove red probe and place on positive battery post.
Reading should be 12 or near 12
We are checking the positive and negative with these tests.
Now remove all probes carefully.
Turn bike OFF.
Now you will need to access the back of speedometer and will need two needle pins.
When you have access then stick a pin in the orange/white wire behind speedometer and another pin in the BLACK wire behind speedometer.
Put red probe on ORANGE/WHITE wire pin and black probe on BLACK wire pin.
Turn ignition ON and switch to RUN.
Reading should be 12 or near 12
We are checking positive and negative voltage again.
Finally turn bike ignition OFF and place a pin on each wire of speedometer reset button.
Place meter selector on continuity.
With bike ignition OFF
Put one probe to each pin that was placed into reset button wires.
Meter should show open or 1
Now press speedometer reset button and hold with meter attached...if it is OK
Meter should show closed, makes a sound or show anything other than 1.. if it is OK
What you describe reads like lights in unit are getting power but voltage is not getting into speedometer, there is a short, a bad wire or the electronics are fried.
There seems to be a puzzle piece missing..at one point it did work correctly for 50 miles..
So i would look at ..instructions J01208..to review wires as descibed.
Any chance you had an over voltage situation that blew some bulbs, a voltage regulator that was bad, a stator problem or
DID SOMEONE JUMP START THE BIKE FROM A RUNNING VEHICLE BECAUSE BATTERY WAS DEAD AND FRIED THE SPEEDOMETER ELECTRONICS ?
That speedometer is rather sensitive and a jump from a running vehicle could fry the unit.
By doing these test you are kinda/sorta doing a bench test...
I believe your unit also allows a sweep test by holding the speedometer reset button as you turn ignition ON and switch to RUN that will cause the needle to bounce from minimum to maximum and back.
Odometer mileage is stored in the speedometer for that time period so a replacement will not show correct mileage.
Let us know how it goes.

 

Do you have a part number for a speedo in KM/H? I am located in Canada

 

Sorry I do not and my mistake did not notice you were in Canada

Opps I just found this one http://www.dragspecialties.com/produ...umber=22100344

Manufactures part number is
2210-0344

On ebay as well http://www.ebay.com/itm/Drag-Special...ZYI6T9&vxp=mtr

 

Alright, so I am nearly at my witts end with this speedo. I have spent the last two days testing with no avail. I have tested the voltage regulator and cleaned and checked wires. I am ready to buy a new speedo. I am looking at buying the drag specialties sub harness (PN 2120-0302) and a harley OEM speedo (PN 67033-99). Can anyone tell me if this will work for sure?

 

Thanks for all the help so far fellas

 

Hi Everyone, thanks for all your help. I ended up buying a new speedo (P/N 67033-99) taken from a US bike off ebay, and bought the drag specialties wiring sub harness, and presto. I guess the speedo was bad!