Hey guys.

I have a 98 FXD with the click. I ran a heavier gauge wire from post 30 on the relay through a 20amp inline fuse to the POS on the battery. No clicks for a day or so then I got a click click pop. The fuse blew.

I haven't taken the solenoid cover off to clean the contacts yet because I wanted to do one "fix" at a time so if the click happens again down the road I'll know right where to look to deal with it again.

I have the button on the solenoid cover already. Put it on a few years back and have had to use it more than once. Sometimes it works on the first push, sometimes it does nothing at all on the first push.

I know I need to get in there and check solenoid, and I will. First I wanted to ask if carbon fouled contacts would be the reason the 20amp fuse blew because the solenoid was trying to pull too many amps due to possibly dirty contacts?

 

No, carbon buildup somewhere won't cause a 20 amp fuse to blow. I don't know what your mod is, so I won't comment on it, but I would say that if you're blowing a 20 amp fuse, something is not right.

 

Thanks for the reply. The mod was something I got from reading a bunch of "the dreaded click" posts. Instead of adding and wiring in a second relay, according to what I read, all I needed to do was to run a wire from the relay's #30 post to the battery thru an inline fuse. Evidently the second relay mod was thought up for the bikes with fairings and more complicated wiring than my FXD has if I read it all right. Some guys that didn't need to run the second relay because of their particular bikes were able to run just a heavier gauge fused wire from the 30 post on the starter relay to the POS post on the battery. I don't remember who came up with the idea, but it sure sounded good on paper, so I did it.

I'm not a big fan of farting around with electrical problems, but I've been living with this click issue since about 08 and I've had enough. I'm trying to be methodical by trying one thing at a time so I know for sure exactly what is causing it so I can fix it and be done with it.

I was expecting this wire/fuse mod I did to fix it or not, not to go "click click" and blow the fuse. I don't know a heck of a lot about electricity, but in my mind, when a fuse blows I think something has drawn more power than it should have. I believe when you run a 100ft extension cord to power a tool, that tool will draw more amperage than if it was on a 25 or 50ft cord because there is more resistance in the longer cord.

Wouldn't burned, pitted or dirty contacts add more resistance and in turn cause a high enough AMP pull to pop the fuse?

The fact that my push button on the solenoid doesn't always spin the starter makes me think wiring-- either connector corrosion or maybe a bad ground somewhere. Maybe the problem is with the solenoid. I'll have the time to pull the solenoid cover off and look tomorrow.

I guess right now I'm just thinking out loud hoping someone else has already been down this road and has more ideas than I do.

 

The relay only opens a pathway for power.
The blown fuse makes me think of a short somewhere in your starter.

 

Thanks for the reply THC.

That's something to think about.

 

More resistance causes less amperage in a circuit, not more. A new or reconditioned solenoid is a good place to start. The solenoid circuit on my bike draws 10 amps. I'm going to suggest doing after the solenoid rebuild, a full Dreaded Click 2nd relay mod of either the type in the sticky or like I did (slightly different and not documented as thoroughly.)

 

Ok that makes sense. Thanks Dr. Hess.