Well, only been riding for 3 years now. Got my first Harley 3 years ago, 2011 fatbob.
Now I am pretty **** when it comes to cleaning it.
unfortunately, **** doesn't mean careful.
yup, hosed down the bike as a normally would, washed etc.
started up fine, went for a 20min ride. perfect. beautiful.
stop at local harley(closed) and waited for some friends to arrive to go on a ride.
leaving, i knew something was off when the master kill switch was off, and turned the *** to ignition and the bike started. Like wtf right. No need for start button, just started on its on, WITH THE MASTER KILL SWITCH TO OFF Weird right??? everything has power, seems normal.
So swung around the parking lot to leave, maybe moved 20feet and the engine and battery light came on. like wtf.
Stopped, shut it off. turned the ignition **** to on, bike started up, but sounded different. starter was still running, while bike was idling. well, don't want to break that, shut it off. 40min spent checking everything over, checking all wires, battery leads, starter leads, pulled the cover off tank, nothing amiss.
bolted dash cover back on tank, turned the ignition **** again. HEY, fixed. bike didn't start. hit the start button, NOTHING, you can hear it clicking, but nothing.
so another 20min re-checking everything, smoking a pack of cigarettes to calm the nerves. Just put $10k into the bike over the winter, what did I f**k up.
pulled the fuse cover, didn't look there at this point. and holy sh*t, corosion!! pulled system relay, completely rusted out. pulled starter relay, you know, bike won't start, must be it. actually looked clean, well, must be the system relay, it's rusted after all.
but, i'm kind stuck. i don't have a spare, buddy does, but he across town.
at this point, im like f it, not going anywhere, but need to get bike home.
so, pulled plug on starter, pulled battery cover, connected jumper cable to power, connected other end to a screw driver, stuck it in hole of starter plug, boom, fired right up.
got it home, jumped in truck, got a system relay from a buddy ( from a ford truck, but relay is a relay). go back home, plugged relay in... NO GO!! Despite all the rust, it's not the problem. And no one has a starter relay, only other thing I can think of, all the other fuses etc are fine, don't look pretty, but fine.
so today, spent all morning going from place to place to the dealer, and no one has this micro starter relay. got to go to work now. go to work, sure enough, my 63 year old french mechanic I work with, had a whole box of them from working on ford's over the years. same relay, just says ford on it.
run home before **** starts, plugged it in, spit and sputtered and backfired, but the fat basterd rolled and started up.
YYYEEESSSSS!!!!! I'm riding this bitch before going back to work.


Point of the novel I just typed, don't aim the dame water hose at the fuse box. it is NOT water tight sealed!!!! Which I don't get, at least once in any motorcycle's life, it will see water, why wouldn't harley make everything water tight, but, that's a thought process for another time. LESSEN LEARNED!

 

I tried to follow this, but gave up....

 

I never use water to wash my bike, the only time it sees water is if (when) I get caught in the rain. Detailing sprays are my main go to for washing my bike.

 

Bike is flat black, pretty much everything. only a very few cleaners I can use, but the paint is so soft, and I don't rince it off, just scratches the sh*t out of it.

 

Glad it’s running

 

Bwahahaha