Yesterday, I washed and detailed my SG for a breakfast ride this morning. Got it looking good and rode around the neighborhood. I got up early and headed out this morning only to realize that I had left my wallet on my dresser. Went back and got the wallet and then the bike would not crank...the dreaded clicking.

I jumped off of the wife's Caddi and went on down the road to the service station staging point a few miles away. I topped off the gas and it would not crank again...clicking. Not good. Some good folks tried to push start me with no luck...not going on any ride with this crap going on. Called the wife to bring her Caddi and jumped it off again and rode home...

Before shutting down, I checked the volts at the battery...measured 9.5 vdc...not charging.

I bought the bike from a local dealer in December, 2012, and had a new HD battery installed then. One morning in early February 2013 it would not crank and I ran through the checks and found the stator windings shorted to the crankcase. I had purchased an extended warranty so I took it back to the dealer and had it replaced along with the voltage regulator and had them fix some unrelated issues as well. Not counting the time I forgot to turn off the switch and killed the battery this spring, everything goes well with no problems with starting and charging. Until this past June.

I was on a 200 mile round-trip run and pulled into a service station to top off the gas...and it would not crank. I got a jump and rode directly to the nearest dealer, Goe Harley Davidson in Angleton, Texas, about 5 miles away. During the trip, I never once got the engine light or any indication that the charging system was not working. They jumped right on it and checked the battery capacity and charging system and could not find anything wrong and sent me on my way...without charging me anything.

I did not have any more issues that day and I checked the charging system when I got home and could not find anything wrong either. What I did find was a fog lamp housing had lost a screw and got loose sometime during that trip and shorted out on the bulb socket, blowing the fuse. I fixed that all up and rode a few times this summer without any issues...until this morning.

I am charging the battery back up right now and I will go out later and check the diodes in the voltage regulator and the stator coils for continuity and shorts and AC output and look at all the connectors and connections...

And, I also noticed that I do not have a check engine light again this time although I can tell that the blinkers and headlight are dimmer and the battery voltage was low.

I still have a few months left on the extended warranty if it is the voltage regulator or stator again.

Continued...

 

Update...

Battery took a good charge and reads 13.5 vdc static, 10.6 vdc during crank cycle. Stator windings read good and AC output is well within specs. Voltage regulator ground reads good but there are no indications of the diode junctions I should be able to see from each pin to ground and there is no 14.5+ vdc across the battery with the engine running...

The voltage regulator is afu...no output.

I will call the dealer next week and inquire about a warranty repair...there is no logical reason that the voltage regulator should fail in 19 months or 7 thousand + miles...

Continued...