I own a 2005 Dyna Super Glide (EFI FXDI) with just over 16,000 miles. A couple weeks ago I noticed the engine would be “hiccupping” (hesitating, intermittent) under steady speed. The power would be intermittent. It starts fine, idles fine, accelerates fine, but at cruising speed the power would just “hiccup”. It wouldn’t backfire or anything. I talked to a buddy of mine and he suggested replacing the air filter (and plugs) since a couple weeks before that we had rode through the rain, and maybe the filter got clogged. So I was actually looking at upgrade to an Arlen Ness Big Sucker air cleaner system.

Before I ordered the air cleaner, I ended up going for a ride yesterday with a buddy. Engine still doing same thing. Didn’t worry about it, because it wasn’t that bad. But I started noticing it getting worse. Then just as we were pulling back into to town, the bike completely died. No electrical power whatsoever. My buddy ran to his house, got some tools, and the battery off his extra bike (just in case). We did some tests. The original battery still had juice, but we determine it didn’t have any amps. We hooked up the other battery, and the bike started right up. We hooked up a voltage tester, to see what the charging system was sending back, and it was sending 30amps back to the battery. So my friend thought that is too high, and maybe the voltage regulator needs to be replaced.

I was able to ride the bike home with the 2nd battery, but it still ran like crap. Real hesitant on power at steady speed.

So my questions are:

- Is that normal for the charging system to be sending back that much voltage?

- Did the voltage regulator ruin the battery?

- Does the voltage regulator need to be replaced?

- Is it something else?

Thank you for any help.

 

There is a pretty good "Electrical Diagnostic" How-to here on the Forum https://www.hdforums.com/how-tos/a/h...c-guide-413965

 

Doing a stator in my buddies 06 fxdl right now,your symptoms are Identical. Load test your battery then test the voltage regulator and stator. It will be one of those 3 more than likely.

 

You said "30 amps", but no mention of voltage. What is the charging voltage? Amperage depends on both the state of charge of the battery and the charging voltage.

Maybe. Over voltage can boil the battery dry (or wreck a sealed battery).

See comment #1 above.

If it still ran like carp with the replacement battery then something else is obviously going on. Over voltage can ruin all sorts of stuff. Get the charging system sorted out first.

 

Before you do any more system checks and buying parts make sure your battery ground cable to the frame is clean and tight. Also see if the fuel line in the tank has any leaks or pinholes.

 

If I remember correctly the return voltage was around 13-14 volts. And all tests were done at idling speed. Not at 2000 rpm's per most diagnostic guides.

 

Shoulda revved it when you had it hooked up to a voltmeter. This would tell you what is going on.

 

https://dgcustomcycle.com/tech/diagn...ging-problems/