hey guys, I've got a 2006 street glide (with a carb.) and just replaced a set of 15'' apes with 10'' so my hands quit going numb, and a new set of throttle & idle cables. ever since then my tach & speedo work fine for a while and then jump up and down and will die all together along with my radio. I also now have to turn the ignition on , hit the starter, then I hear a clicking noise in the starter relay, turn switch off then on and it will start, the bike runs fine through all this. this all points to the wiring in the new bars but since the tach and speedo don't work off of wiring through the bars (?) and the bike sat all winter till now,( I use a tender) I took the battery out and it tested at 12.6 V. I put it on charge last night and its at 12.7V. next i'll try a load test once I figure that out, but just wanted to know if I'm looking in the right direction. any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks, pinenut

 

I know you'd prefer a magic bullet, but that's an odd combination of issues to pop up, while they certainly share some wiring, I would start with what you know has changed, your handlebar wiring. Start with the easiest inspections, take apart your hand controls and clutch/front brake master cylinder from the bars, and look at the wiring there, it's by far the most common problem with bars, getting the wiring pinched in clutch/master cylinder clamps. If you see any pinching, you really should remove that side's wiring and properly inspect/repair that damage. Even if the wire doesn't outwardly look like it would be damaged enough to be completely cut internally, it's still worth removing the damaged area and soldering it back. If you don't see any wires damaged, remove the fairing, and check the plugs, and that all the wires are correctly mated across the plugs (color to color). If that's ok, then begin grabbing wiring harnesses in the fairing, and jiggle/twist/pinch/move as much as you can get too, including the large looms that go under the tank (especially near the clamp that holds them on the frame neck). Watch your speedo, tach and radio, see if they shut off while you are moving wires. Also look for damage to harnesses that have the potential to rub on the fairing supports, in particular across the top of the radio there is a large harness that is famous for chafing against the fairing upright supports.

As for your starter issue, considering the relay is clicking, but not starting, remove, or backprobe the single green wire from the end of the starter when the bike is not starting as described, and see if you are getting 12v on that wire. If you are, it's likely a starter solenoid issue, if you aren't, replace your starter relay.

 

thanks crotonrz, I picked up a can of contact cleaner and some dielectric grease to clean and remake all the plugs I had loose then start a continuity test across the wires that pass through the bars. like you said theres pinch points at the controls, i'll check those carefully. the starting issue came on with the install of the new bars , so after I find the wiring problem i'll check the voltage across the green wire as suggested. thanks again, i'll give a heads up when I figure it out ( too cheap and a little too proud to run it to the shop yet) pinenut

 

Check the grounds, these sound like they could be coming from the "Clean" ground that also goes to your sensors. Maybe a ground wire got pinched, wouldn't be the first time this has happened.

 

The tack and speedo don't work of any handlebar stuff. They simply use a serial bus wire that goes up to the fairing from the ECU, Make sure power and ground going to the tach and speeds are good. A common issue with baggers is that the wires break inside the harness near the neck due to flex.

 

hey guys, I don't see my last reply so i'll go again. I found that my ignition housing was cracked and shorting out when pushed to the side, after replacing( h-d shop had one $65.00) everything returned to normal. the little springs that make contact with the copper cam plate inside the ignition where laying on their side and jumping contact in and out. a weird cause for this problem. but i'll take a shot of luck! thanks for all your help. just remember the ignition housing is slotted, maybe for ventilation?, and if you force it sideways a little it will crack and you really can't feel it in the switch, pinenut

 

Well done for working that out - we couldn't have got there in a month of Sundays! Just proves that some problems can be way off the scale compared with normal causes.....

 

thanks G, but this one I chock up to blind luck. but I'm riden' and smilin' till the next disaster. pinenut