Engine Shut Off While on Interstate
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Novice
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 15
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From: Birmingham, AL
Engine Shut Off While on Interstate
2006 Street Glide, true duals with slip ons, stage one with HD download, 28,000+ miles. While riding on Interstate at 75 to 80 MPH, engine shut off with no warning, no cough, no sputter, no hesitation. Made it to the emergency lane as quickly as possible, maintained all electrical (turn signals worked). No codes. Turned off ignition switch and turned it right back to on. Turned off "run" switch, turned it back on, hit the start button and it immediately fired with no hesitation. Made it to nearest HD Dealer, fuel pressure fine, no real indicator of why or what happened. Again - it "threw" no codes. Rode for another 500+ miles without issue.
Today - went for ride, short distance from home the "key" lit up for the security system. While turning around, it turned off, but then it came back on. No other issues, but not sure if the two are related. Any ideas here on what happened, what I need to check? I hate to assume it was a vapor lock that shut down my engine. Yes, it was hot, ambient air temp on engine was around 100. All other gauges were normal.
Today - went for ride, short distance from home the "key" lit up for the security system. While turning around, it turned off, but then it came back on. No other issues, but not sure if the two are related. Any ideas here on what happened, what I need to check? I hate to assume it was a vapor lock that shut down my engine. Yes, it was hot, ambient air temp on engine was around 100. All other gauges were normal.
Road Warrior
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 1,476
Likes: 23
From: Summit, Mississippi
AND...the circuit breakers. They like to grow corroded connections as well and if you have one that's marginal, it may heat-up and open...then all is well after it cools and closes.
That's a horrible feeling.....especially if you're alone about 50-miles north of Dallas on 287. Ask me how I know.
That's a horrible feeling.....especially if you're alone about 50-miles north of Dallas on 287. Ask me how I know.
Road Warrior
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 1,476
Likes: 23
From: Summit, Mississippi
I broke down in Beaumont once. If you ride enough......you'll break down in lots of places. That particular instance was a stripped belt and it's a story all it's own about how I got home that night.
Anyway....in this case me and the lady are on the bike pulling a trailer headed out to Las Vegas to meet some guys that had their bikes shipped-out. We approached Dallas coming from the east and I wanted to by-pass it, so I turned north at Tyler (off I-20) and skirted Dallas across the top...through Denton I think. Anyway...and I'm not sure it was 287, but the machine simply died in motion well north of Dallas...plum dead and I coasted to the shoulder. My wife asked me what I was doing and at the time, I was so distraught I could not tell her. My next thought was which shop to call for a wrecker...Dallas or Wichita Falls. About as long as it took for me to coast it down and get stopped....it came back to life and she cranked. When I got to the next dealership, I had already considered maybe a breaker had opened, so I picked up a spare. While I was there at the shop, I went ahead and cleaned all the terminals on that breaker and they were corroded. May have been something entirely different, but it never happened again. I never installed the new breaker.
Also....check the main battery ground lead. It attaches to the inner primary and they are notorious for causing problems as well.
Anyway....in this case me and the lady are on the bike pulling a trailer headed out to Las Vegas to meet some guys that had their bikes shipped-out. We approached Dallas coming from the east and I wanted to by-pass it, so I turned north at Tyler (off I-20) and skirted Dallas across the top...through Denton I think. Anyway...and I'm not sure it was 287, but the machine simply died in motion well north of Dallas...plum dead and I coasted to the shoulder. My wife asked me what I was doing and at the time, I was so distraught I could not tell her. My next thought was which shop to call for a wrecker...Dallas or Wichita Falls. About as long as it took for me to coast it down and get stopped....it came back to life and she cranked. When I got to the next dealership, I had already considered maybe a breaker had opened, so I picked up a spare. While I was there at the shop, I went ahead and cleaned all the terminals on that breaker and they were corroded. May have been something entirely different, but it never happened again. I never installed the new breaker.
Also....check the main battery ground lead. It attaches to the inner primary and they are notorious for causing problems as well.
Thread Starter
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Novice
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 15
Likes: 0
From: Birmingham, AL
No definitive solutions...
Not quite yet...it hasn't happened again, but I haven't found any issues. I've check the battery connections, followed the cables around and haven't found anything corroded or damaged in the wiring. I did find one of my turn signal lights blew, but it really blew. The light bulb is almost completely black and it's cracked. Thanks everyone for the input.
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Road Warrior
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 1,476
Likes: 23
From: Summit, Mississippi
There are so many sensors in these bikes nowadays and each one has a mind of it's own. Oh how I often long for the days of a mechanical advance, points and a carburetor. You could keep those running with a screw driver and a pair of pliers.
I had a brand new TC and it would shut-off when you clutched it downshifting to a stop. Just die....dead as a hammer. It would crank right back up, but it was aggravating. I later rode with a friend that had the same model and it did the same thing on occasion. Another bug it had was when you keyed the mic....the engine warning light would come on and stay on until you switched the bike of. That turned out to be a bad baro-sensor. There have been another handful of sensors added since then with the EFI upgrades. If one shuts down on you now, you better belong to HOG so you can get a free tow to the closest dealer. Then there was this friend on last years trip that managed to screw up and get his bike locked (security system) and did not have the code to get it unlocked. He had to call his wife back home and get some code he had to have, then wake-up the dealership service manager and find out how to wake the bike up. I don't want a bike that smart.
I had a brand new TC and it would shut-off when you clutched it downshifting to a stop. Just die....dead as a hammer. It would crank right back up, but it was aggravating. I later rode with a friend that had the same model and it did the same thing on occasion. Another bug it had was when you keyed the mic....the engine warning light would come on and stay on until you switched the bike of. That turned out to be a bad baro-sensor. There have been another handful of sensors added since then with the EFI upgrades. If one shuts down on you now, you better belong to HOG so you can get a free tow to the closest dealer. Then there was this friend on last years trip that managed to screw up and get his bike locked (security system) and did not have the code to get it unlocked. He had to call his wife back home and get some code he had to have, then wake-up the dealership service manager and find out how to wake the bike up. I don't want a bike that smart.
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