The charge warning LED's on my 04 Softail, as well as the rough running, tell me that not enough,(or any) juice is getting to the battery, a quick check with the old voltmeter revealed a steady 12.33v at tickover, not the 14.5ish I was hoping for! Now before I get bent over the "stealership's" desk, am I correct in thinking the culprit is my regulator/rectifier? How much is one of those bad-boys, and is it worth getting one to try a little self help? Advice from you garage gurus please!

 

... Just some thoughts ... Could be the alternator or a shorted battery. Have the battery load tested to verify it's condition. Paying the dealer for a quick check on the charging system may be the best way to determine the problem, then decide how you want to get it fixed. Plain regulator may run $80.00 to $100.00 (?). Chrome units run about $128.00.

 

The service manual explains how to test for bad regulator, or worse still, a bad stator. Had a similar problem a while back and with the help of the service manual and of the tech section on this forum I was able to diagnose a bad stator. Opened up side of the bike, and sure enough - a broken wire to the outlet where the regulator plugs in.

Not really hard to fix, put a real pain in the a$$ when you'd rather be riding.

 

I had the same problem, oil leaked down the inside of the stator wires, couldn't understand why oil was getting to the area of the voltage reg. Anyway going down the road bike started running bad pulled over and it died, tried to restart..... click Talked to a Harley Tech. said he seen it before, mines a 2000 you would think HD fixed it by now.