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Well long story short... i'm more confused now than I was before. I took the fairing apart and the bars off. Left the switch in position and for 3 days straight, I never had a failure. Everytime I turned the switch to ignition the starter kicked over, I wiggle the switch, the wiring, all the wiring in the fairing and tested everything with a meter. Everything is working as it should be, I couldn't find any shorts, grounds or other issues, visibly. So I got some electrical cleaner and cleaned the switch, the circuit breakers and all the connection that I could get to, waited a day, verified that it was still working everytime I turned the switch and put it back together. It started right up without issue and I took it for a test ride. When I pulled back in the garage I shut it off and immediately turned the switch back on, and sure enough I had no headlights and no starter. I moved the switch a 1/4 of the way back to off and the lights came on and it started perfectly. I rode 70-80 miles without a failure but when I stopped it did the same thing again. Over the last day or so, I've had it fail on me about 25% of the time. But everytime if I move the switch slightly back towards off it starts working again. The crazy thing was I couldn't replicate that issue with the front end all ripped apart and the handlebars off?
^^ Telling us it is the Switch... otherwise why would moving it make any difference???
That's exactly what I thought. But I can't explain why if would work without failure, no matter what I did to the switch while the bars and fairing was off? This is what confusing me now, everything it is doing is pointing to the switch but why would it work with everything off but intermittently fail when its all put back together?
A wire has broken somewhere....probably ACC breaker to starter relay wire (tan). Look at the front right side lower tree where wire loom (orange & tan) is secured (see pic). Years of turning left and right will break one of those wires. Like I stated earlier, I just dealt with this very similar issue on my 1989 FLHTC. Check continuity of those two wires. Do the switches go bad? Sure. I don't envy you chasing intermittent electrical issues, but been there...got the T-shirt. Good luck.
A wire has broken somewhere....probably ACC breaker to starter relay wire (tan). Look at the front right side lower tree where wire loom (orange & tan) is secured (see pic). Years of turning left and right will break one of those wires. Like I stated earlier, I just dealt with this very similar issue on my 1989 FLHTC. Check continuity of those two wires. Do the switches go bad? Sure. I don't envy you chasing intermittent electrical issues, but been there...got the T-shirt. Good luck.
I appreciate the help. Chasing wiring issues is never fun.
So new update, I haven't had the time to dig into this this week, but i took it to work this morning to see if I could get a better idea of what is going on. Well I guess i kinda got my wish... Everything was working perfectly, stopped for gas and still no issues. Made it about ten miles down the road and it just shut off. Now I have no marker lights, head lights or starter. Still have dash lights, radio and turn signals but thats about it. Looks like i'll be ripping back into this and try to find the issue. At least this time it's not being intermittent its just dead.
Yes sir, got it in the mail last night. So either way that will be getting swapped out this weekend. If that is the issue, I can resolve that easily enough.
Please look up the ignition switch recall and the leaky vacuum operated fuel valve. I had the ignition switch issue do similar things to my bike. It's a safety recall. They never go away. The recall can be found using the VIN. I found it when I joined HOG. I think #96v-204 is the fuel valve and 96v-158 is the ignition switch. The fuel valve has been fixed on my bike for a long time, but the switch causes low voltage or no voltage problems. This recall effected bikes built from 1993- 1998. Mine is a 1994 FLHTCU built in 1993. The recall fix is free, and they replace the switch and add a relay. My dealer had to order the kit and just did the repair last week.
Good luck, Sam
Last edited by Sam Childress; Nov 5, 2022 at 08:40 PM.
Reason: added content
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