Hi guys,

I am helping a buddy with his 2001 fuel injected Road king FLHRI. He does not ride it much.

After sitting for about a month, he went to start it and it would not start. He thought it was the battery so he changed that. Again, no start.

I was asked to come over and look at it. I have confirmed good battery. I am as certain as I can be that the run start switch is bad.

Jumping the the starter is easy but I think the run switch enables power to the ignition as well via the TSSM module. Is that correct?

Is there a way to do a temporary "jumping" to confirm the switch is bad and make sure the bike will start and run?

All suggestions are welcome.

Thanks,
Garrman

 

Seriously, you can`t be certain of anything without troubleshooting,

The guys who sell electrical parts love it when people troubleshoot with their wallet.

Simple stuff first:

How did you confirm good battery? New batteries can be bad, it happens all the time.

What exactly is happening when you turn on the ignition switch?

What happens when the start button is pressed, any noises, does the starter crank the engine at all?

 

Don't forget to consider that the ignition switch could be faulty....
And I did have a battery go bad right after I bought my new bike...

 

Unless it sat outside, it’s unlikely a switch would go bad without use.

 

It may have been bad already, or the contacts corroded inside. It's almost 20 years old already. Just trying to cover all the bases in a starting system. When my switches (different bikes) went bad, I would turn the bike on and got nothing when I hit the start button. Also the starter relay goes bad from time to time.

 

Troubleshooting, not guessing. The way you cover all bases in the electrical system is testing with a voltmeter...

BTW, the 31 year old start run switch on my `89 Softail was working fine when I changed it out for a later model switch, 3 months ago.

 

Many thanks for the replies. Good fundamental troubleshooting steps there.

Dan,

Agree on the battery. In addition to testing out ok with a VOM, I can crank the engine by running a wire directly from the battery positive terminal to the starter solenoid. While not the most empirical of testing methods it would seem the battery is good. Having said that if you know that not to be true please let me know.

When you first turn the ignition switch, the bike does the normal self checks. I next switch the off/run switch to run and wait while it does through the ECM checks and the engine light goes out. When I hit the starter button, nothing. No buzz, no noise, no nothing. I took a spare spark plug (leaving the two original plugs in place) and hooked it up to the rear spark plug wire to confirm spark while cranking. No spark.

SirHarley,

I checked and have battery voltage to terminal 30 (starter relay position E), as well as the TSSM terminal 1 and 2 (Battery and Ignition). All read battery voltage.

TriGeezer,

Yep, stored outside under a cover. Bad choice in my opinion. Both of mine stay in the garage.

One other strange observation. When I measure voltage at terminal 85 on the starter relay (ignition enable signal) with the relay out, I read 6.8 volts. I am researching the TSSM it see if that is normal.

Two last thoughts. I am a bit unclear on how exactly the off/run switch and starter switch interact. It appears from the wiring diagram you close the off/run switch (switch to run position) and that provides power to the start switch and starter relay, specifically it completes the circuit for the ignition enable signal on the TSSM.

The other thought is maybe with all the battery changing, etc, could it be an issue with the security system? If I recall correctly, the turn signals blink three times when you turn on the ignition and hit the off/run switch.

Well, this post went a bit longer than I planned. Again, all good ideas welcomed. We are under a shelter in place in California so now is a good time to help my friend.

Thanks again.

Garrman

 

You are blindly checking voltages without knowing what the circuits do...

Pin 85 on the start relay is the ground for the relay`s magnetic coil. The ground is controlled on or off by the TSSM.

If the security system does not want the starter to crank, it opens this circuit so there is no ground, and the relay will not send power to the solenoid.

 

Thanks for the reply Dan.

With all due respect, I understand that I should have battery voltage to terminal 30 on the starter relay as well as pins 1 and 2 on the TSSM.

Good information on pin 85 (or pin 9 on the TSSM). Looking at the flow chart from the Harley Electronics Diagnostic Manual, pin 85 should be ground as you mention. Instead, I read 6.8 volts.

Thanks,
Garrman

 

A quick way to determine if the TSSM is causing the start relay not to work:

Run a temporary wire from ground to pin 85 on the relay. This will give the start relay a ground, try to crank the engine.