ignition switch caught fire
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 2,395
Likes: 153
From: Utah
Same thing just happened to me. I have the stock ECM. I broke down on the highway in West Texas on my way home to California. I was able to scrape enough crud off the connectors to get it fired up again. I got all the way to Las Vegas before it finally crapped out for good. The temperature was over 102 degrees every day on this trip.
The dealer in Vegas told me it was caused by connections getting loose. Fortunately I have family in Vegas to stay with. The bike is in the shop as I type and won't be ready for a week. They had to order an ignition switch that is keyed for my bike. (I wanted it that way) They also had to order a connector for the fuel pump because it was fried as well. (Yes, they showed me)
This will be my 3rd ignition switch! They seem to last me about 4 years. I have 54,000 miles on my bike now and keep it in the garage. It is well cared for. Harley needs to take some responsibility and make a better switch.
So here I am.... Stuck in Vegas and I don't even gamble.
The dealer in Vegas told me it was caused by connections getting loose. Fortunately I have family in Vegas to stay with. The bike is in the shop as I type and won't be ready for a week. They had to order an ignition switch that is keyed for my bike. (I wanted it that way) They also had to order a connector for the fuel pump because it was fried as well. (Yes, they showed me)
This will be my 3rd ignition switch! They seem to last me about 4 years. I have 54,000 miles on my bike now and keep it in the garage. It is well cared for. Harley needs to take some responsibility and make a better switch.
So here I am.... Stuck in Vegas and I don't even gamble.
I too have a TMax. BUT... I think I was having this issue before I got my Tmax and I didn't realize that it was probably part of the actual problem. When my bike got hot (outside temperature, running, and sun) it started running like crap. I attributed it to a too lean condition. So I got rid of my PCIII and got a TMax so that I could set the mixture and have it automatically adjusted. It may have just been that my PCIII was getting a wobbly electrical signal when the bike was hot and this switch wasn't working properly.
Before I switched to a TMax, I had the bike just shut off running down the road. Of course everyone said 'oh, you must have hit the kill switch'. Mine started up again and so I decided to be more observant. Nothing happened for quite a few miles and for over about a year. Then it died on me in Daytona this year and wouldn't start. This was after running the Tmax for about 6 months with no problems.
Someone will get killed if we don't get to the bottom of this. How many of these do you think got fixed by a dealer and never reported? The link to the $20 switch has been pulled, btw. Something wasn't right there. I paid $118 for mine.
I posted another message on this board about this and the basic response I got from some members was "it's a motorcycle, what do you expect?" and "its exposed to the environment". Man up and keep riding, in other words.
C#
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 3,231
Likes: 106
Intermediate
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 47
Likes: 0
From: Philly Pa
Glad you're ok. That could have ended badly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IjgZGhHrYY
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