Drives me round the bend.
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Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 56
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From: Devon
Drives me round the bend.
This bloody bike drives me round the bend. I had obviously heard about the Harley unreliability thing but mine is taking the ****. Half the time it suffers from temporary fuel starvation, half the time it doesn't. The other day it was fine. Stopped off to see a mate, got back on it and everytime I hit the starter the electrics cut out. We pissed about with it for an hour and then they all came back on again with no explanation. Went out today and no problems at all. I love the bike to bits but it does my head in sometimes. The trouble with intermittent problems is that they are hard to trace. I will not give in though and will sort it out.
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Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 56
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From: Devon
a 1996 FXSTC. Don't want to take it to the dealership really, although I appreciate what your saying. They charge about 90 quid an hour labour and with it being intermittent I may end up having to remortgage my house to pay the bill lol. I'll get to the bottom of it eventually though.
Road Master
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 752
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From: Acton, CA
My wife's previous Sportster had intermittent issues briefly and then finally would not start, it turned out there was cracked wiring within a wire harness under the seat where the wiring looped around tightly. An Independent shop found the issue the same day we took it in, and fixed it very reasonably. Hope yours is an easy fix.
Cruiser
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 110
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From: Lehigh Valley,PA
If you are handy with the tools then I would go ahead and look into it yourself. Sounds to me like a bad connection. I would start at the battery connections and work from there. They tend to look ok on the outside but get all corroded on the in side.
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Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 56
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From: Devon
I've got a mate who's pretty good when it comes to all things electrikery so he's going to have a look. Hopefully it's an easy fix. I'm not too bad with spanner stuff but hate electrics :-)
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Tourer
Joined: Aug 2014
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From: East Texas
Things like that will drive ya batty, I hate electrical stuff myself, hope you guys get it figured out.
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Joined: Mar 2015
Posts: 51
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From: Austin, of course
My two cents is check your grounds. I'm not sure where your bike wiring grounds, but there are probably a couple of places. My last bike (Honda) had problems like yours then I read where one of the two wiring grounds was on a painted surface. Easy fix. Also, the least bit of corrosion on your battery terminals can result in problems.
rd
rd
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Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 15,435
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From: Beyond Fucital
I've got a 94' FXSTC. Not much to them electrically. Get a manual and start from the battery. If EVERYTHING is going out check the main circuit breaker then ignition.
Last edited by RANGER73; Mar 6, 2015 at 06:56 PM.