89flhtc---traced wire from starter relay to left circuit breaker behind headlight. 2 orange wires from other side of breaker showing open to ground. anyone know where this two wires go to??? Can't find my tech manual, and don't think there are ground wires. (battery drains in 2 days so I got a ground somewhere)--THANKS!!!!!

 

They shoulkd be the ones that go up into the handlebars with power.
John

 

On my 87 Electra Glide the tan wire came from the starter relay and the orange wires fed the gauges, tach, neutral light, turn signals, radio and cigar lighter.

 

the tan wire from starter relay is good. disconnected from the fuse block. the 2 small orange wires still grounded. this is going to be a pain the the ***. Removed the faring. Disconnected the radio (2 harness connectors) grounds still there. THANKS for the help!!!!!!! Wish I could find my diagrams. May go today and buy another manual. I want to ride, not work on her, but thats part of it.

 

What are you calling a ground? That is, how exactly are you determining that you have one?

I suggest putting your meter on the Amp scale, (you'll probably have to change the red wire to a different plug), put the leads in series with the battery (either positive or negative, doesn't matter at this point) and then seeing what your current draw with everything off is. After that, start disconnecting wires at the breakers and when the current draw stops, we'll know what circuit to start investigating. You may want to disconnect the wire going from the regulator to the breaker under the seat first.

 

Dr. Hess, using ohm meter to ground. Will due the amp draw in the morning to see what that shows. THANKS!!!!!

 

Did the amp draw test. Show 0. Wasn't sure about my meter. Turned key on, then it showed 1.6 Does that sound about right? I have my radio disconnected. Also would like to clean the wiring harnesses under the faring--road grime. think it would be okay to spray it with a can of aerosol electrical cleaner and wipe? Thanks.

 

It you're drawing 0 amps (and I would use the mili-amp or a low scale, say 100-ish miliamps max scale), then you don't have anything grounding out or otherwise draining on you and if your battery won't hold a charge past 2 days, the battery is shot. 1.6 amps is probably OK. What lights are on with that? I'm not sure what the ignition module draws by itself. If you put the radio back on the circuit breaker, what's the current draw with everything off?

 

The farthest left circuit breaker behind the head light headlight is marked accessories on my wiring diagram. The two orange wires feed power to the horn switch on the handlebars, instrument cluster, and radio.

I have a 1989 FLHTC purchased new. Since day one the battery will go down over a period of two weeks, of course yours is two days and that is excessive. On these older bikes the radio draws continuous power to keep the time and radio preset setting even when the ignition is off. I believe the wiring was also a smaller size on the older models. This is why your fairing mounted volt gauge will swing so much when you have your turn signals on. Factor in that here are connections that over the years are probable corroded and you will get some drain back on the battery with the ignition off. The last time I checked the drain on the battery it was something like 0.05 AMPS or even 0.005 AMPS cant remember. As Dr Hess has suggested you will have to use an amp meter that will show l lower scale. Also since you have the radio disconnected you can test the amp draw with the radio connected and disconnected because again it is normal for the radio to have a small drain. The problem could exist in the radio if you see a larger drain when it is connected.

Try load testing the battery - might be just time for a new one.

Now I have a 124 S&S engine with 11.3 to 1 compression in this bike. Even with the small drain back and compression releases I have to keep a good battery with a tender on it to get it started if it sits for more than a week.

 

ok Dr. and others helping me. Now I'm confussed. Got a different meter, set on the 200ma and show 30.2. I think that would be .3 amps??? hooked the radio harness back up and showed 27.7 (.27 amps???)--less amps with the radio hooked up???? checked it three times thinking didn't have the radio harness in all the way or something but was same all times. Thanks guys for your help. I know my way around the garage some, but I'm lost on this.