OK, so let me try to explain my situation. Maybe someone can help. I have an 1988 Soft tail, a couple of nights ago the weather broke and i decided to gear up and go for a ride. Made it about half a block from the house and the engine begin to slowly die. I gave it some fuel and RPM's came back up until I let off. Tried to down shift to first and as soon as I grabbed the clutch the engine stalled. after several attempt to restart it the battery became to weak. I pushed it home and put a charger on it. the battery doesn't seem to charge past %50 according the the charger but it shows 12.6 V. the battery is new within 3 months. I took it to the dealer and had it tested. It tested healthy, but the bike does not like to turn over. Dash lights go dim and the starter fails to crank. a couple of times the engine has actually fired but wont continue to run.

So... it would seem to me this may be an electrical issue. but I have no idea where to go. And I don't want to throw parts and money at it for no reason.

I have put a couple hundred miles on the bike this summer, and its been great.

 

Have the battery load tested.

It sounds like it is going south on you.

 

The battery was load tested yesterday. 500 CCA. 12.6V

Do you thing the starter is bad causing a large drain?

If I pull the plugs and crank it it will spin for 30-40 seconds and slowly stop. the lights on the dash go dim. every once in a while it will try to fire, but will not run.

 

What kind of charger are you putting on it that show's 50%? Sound's like you have a battery problem along with old bad gas. How many cranking miles on the starter? You sure about that 500 CCA? That sound more like the max.

 

Polish the heck out of all your ground connections. Most electrical issues are simply bad grounds, and its an easy thing to eliminate right away.

 

What battery do you have that has 500 CCA's?

If the battery won't take a full charge something is wrong inside the battery or with your charger.

So far everything you have said makes me think you need a new battery.

 

What brand of battery do you have, your symptoms sound typical of a yellow Motobatt and the supplier should replace it with a black one free of charge.

 

OK. So it a black H-D battery from the dealer. Just like the one i took out of the bike. I have the load test print out it actually says 498 CCA

 

Not sure who you are having do the load testing but Harley batteries come with something like 295 CCA's.

A stock battery has nothing like 500 CCA's.

 

It was the Harley Dealer. Maybe i'm mistaken. now i have to find the damn slip.