Unhappy 1974 XLH 1OOO dead, please helpI’ve recently been given an XLH 1000 that sat for many years. Slowly rebuilding, new tires, brakes, fuel tank, re wired ignition & main harness, new battery, points, condenser, set timing and it was rumbling great. It was sitting idling and then….completely shut off. Now, nothing. No turning over, no lighting, just dead. It’s been a sad day for me. Checked wiring, everything seems tight. Could it be the ignition or lighting circuit breaker or the starter relay? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance

 

Do you have a voltmeter?

What is the voltage at the battery posts with ignition switch off, and ignition switch on?

 

This is probably not your issue but it is worth mentioning... It is not good for these engines to let them sit idling for any extended time. In particular we do not warm them up that way in cold weather - rather, we ride off with the idle speed set a bit high so it will nor stall, and reduce the idle speed a bit at each traffic light or whatever as we go along. They are not getting enough oil to the top end at idle.

 

Thanks Iron Mick - Good to know about idle. Was running about maybe 1 minute. Checked and the engine still rotates in gear by turning the wheel so it’s not locked up. Good news there.
I’ll definitely check the voltage etc. soon. My garage is cold and I’ve been a bit sick. Hopefully will get out there tonight. Keep you posted with progress.

 

Could be anything. Arm yourself with a wiring diagram and a multi-meter. Here's a link to a wiring diagram.

http://sportsterpedia.com/doku.php/techtalk:ih:elec08?s=wiring#sportster_xl

A burnt up fuse wire (if you have the fuse wire installed) would do it BUT I doubt it is that simple. One (of several) achilles heel on a '74 XLH is the RED wire running from Solenoid to Voltage Regulator...... any fault on this wire (including the fuse wire section if it's there) would disable everything. Here's a link to TSB 659 which outlines the fuse wire.

http://sportsterpedia.com/lib/exe/fe...in:tsb0659.pdf

Anyway, study the wiring diagram and work the problem with your multi-meter. They need to become your best friends, if they're not already.

 

Looking at the wiring diagram the '74 had no main circuit breaker.

For starters, I'd check the battery first as Dan suggests, then check the ignition switch to see if power is getting to the "B" terminal, and out the "I" and "L" terminals when the ignition switch is turned on.

And verify the negative battery cable is well grounded, with a clean tight connection.

 

Wiring has never been my friend, but I do have a multimeter and power probe III. Sounds like I’ll have to get intimately connected with those two and figure this out!

 

Hey Doctor71, I’m fairly certain, that this bike doesn’t have the fuse wire installed. That’s a great lead and will hopefully get to check it out tonight or this weekend. The bike was running fine and literally everything is disabled!

 

I'm not surprised
FWIW:are ALL not fused....... and are at risk of burning up if a dead short is encountered. Thus, a fault on any of these (well maybe not GREEN since it's the lights) will disable everything.

HD's quick + inexpensive fix was to install the fuse wire..... but of course, the retrofit did not make it to most bikes.

Like you said, get intimate with the wiring diagram & a multi-meter & you will (should ?) find the root cause.

 

See that? First day and you've got tons of better suggestions than where this was posted yesterday. I didn't want to say anything but some of the suggestions you were getting in the other area weren't going to get you fixed.

carl