I was riding my 2004 Softail Heritage. We were coming back from the Moonshine Illinois Lunch Run and stopped for gas in Terre Haute, Indiana. Looked down and saw oil on my engine and the ground. It was running fine when I shut it off so without restarting it, I pushed it over to the side of the station. One of the oil line couplings parted when I wiped the oil off. Then it sparked. Dead short through the oil line as near as I can figure. It looks as though the battery a previous owner installed may have been a bit too big and gradually wore a bare spot on the battery cable. I think what happened then was that the cable grounded on the oil tank. We towed it to the shop. If we'd taken the interstate or not stopped for gas, that puppy would have locked up tighter than a drum. Just dumb luck I guess. I didn't even need gas, but my friend did, so we stopped. She's in the motorcycle hospital now and I'm hoping for a good result.

Update: She's better than she was and up for sale. She's in the Ebay deals. She's also on Craigslist Indianapolis.

 

Lucky catch on the problem. You will be back in no time.

 

Glad you caught it!

On a similar note: I carry a small squeeze bottle full of used oil in a ziplock baggie. My buddies & I are always pranking each other & I have on occasion squirted oil on the ground under a mark's bike! They usually figure it out when the rest of us ride off laughing our asses off. When I read your post, I though you had been a victim. Hopefully yours is a quick and inexpensive fix.

 

You carry around a bag of used oil....? what the heck is wrong with you.

 

You are a lucky man. Hope it is an easy fix.

 

Lol thats,funny! (bottle in a bag)

 

You know what they say **** happens. Some times you win some times you loose you had a lucky day for sure

 

that issue was the only recall on our 07 when we first got her, the welds in the back of the Oil tank wasn't ground down and it was possible for the hot battery lead to cut through the insulation and cause a dead short..
They stopped selling the 07's a short time till and recalled the ones sold to insulate the back of the tanks to fix the problem.