A few weeks ago, I was on my way home from work....everything on the bike died....it would die, then start up again. It happened a few times, I finally got it home.
After I got it home, I jiggled the wire behind the ignition, the lights would come on and off. I figured that was the issue. I replaced the ignition from the dealer. Nothing....No power, no clicking, nothing. I replaced the battery, also from the dealer, and All the fuses. I hit the trip meter and it lights up, that's it. No clicking, no lights, nothing. I need any tips on what it could be. I checked and tightened the ground wire too. The bike is just dead. Here's something I found odd. When looking at the fuses, I replaced the Main (40A) it clicked, i saw a small spark, all good, then the (10A) the blue one, It also clicked, sparked, all good. The red (10A) however, Nothing....I'm wondering if I need a wiring harness or a relay.....Any ideas??

 

You need to take it either to the dealer or to an independent service tech that you trust.

Really, you're at risk of frying something important. It's an electrical problem, and troubleshooting electrical problems is challenging even for experts.

Even more importantly, you've already spent more money than you probably would have spent having it checked out.

 

Your bike won't have any relays.
The red fuse that didn't spark is the parts and accessory fuse. It shouldn't spark unless you have an accessory connected to your data link connector.
So your bike has a keyed ignition...not keyless where you use just the fob and run button?
It appears something changed when you swapped the switch out as now you have no power rather than intermmitent as previously.
I take it the switch is firmly installed into the block connector under the tank?
What happens if you re-install the old switch?
Check the wire terminals going into the ignition switch connector are secure in the housing.
Check the colour of the wires going into the connector. If you look on the connector you may see a number 1 and a 2.
Position 1 should be black and green
Position 2 should be white/blue
Also, inside that small plastic caddy under the front of the tank, just make sure that all the block connectors are plugged in correctly, in particular, you'll see two fairly small ones with a pair of twisted wires going into them. (white/red & white/black wires)

Do you have a HD security system on the bike? Does it respond to your fob? On a canbus bike if you turn the ignition on with no fob present or a non operating fob, the bike won't set the alarm off, it'll just ask you to enter the pin via the speedo display, after a short while, it'll just turn off completely and you have to go through another key on procedure.

Although it looks like you may not be able to, try to see if you can do a speedometer diagnostic test to see what if any codes are displayed.
A search on the website should show you how.
There are other things you can do but try the above if your 100% certain your battery is good and the connections on both sides of it which you seem to be.

 

J-Bee! Thank You! I will check that out this evening when I get home. Prior to it breaking down, it died a few times on my way home. By the time I got there, the bike was pretty much Dead! Nothing at all happening. I do not have a Security System / Key Fob. Just a key. The only thing that does work, is with a push of the odometer button, it illuminates and shows the Clock and Miles, that's all. I just read on how to check for codes. I'll also do that tonight. Spending the money I did troubleshooting, I'm just aggravated lol. I took a weeks vacation, my wife had hip surgery, mom had a heart attack, I'm in Texas, so the weather is just beautiful now. I put Zero miles on my bike during my 11 days off! I just wanted to get it back on the road! Of course Harley is closed today too. I hope to have new updates soon!

Thanks again!

 

I'm sorry to hear about your family problems, I hope things improve soon and they both have a speedy recovery, easpecially your Ma.

Regards your bike, if you get nothing other than the trip button working, you may not be able to access speedo diagnostics.
Just to verify, you're sure both ends of the battery earth cable are tight. The earth cable goes to a stud on top of the transmission.
You connected BOTH of the cables that go to the battery positive terminal.

IdahoHacker makes an important point that I should reiterate as I don't want to cause you more problems than you already have, these newer bikes have some sensitive electronic components that can be easily damaged by an inconsiderate approach to working on them. Something like the ignition switch is very unlikely to cause such problems but other modules on the bike need correct procedure to diagnose properly.
If your not sure then perhaps if things start to look complicated then taking it to a professional is the best approach.

Can you confirm that the switch you installed is connected with a two pin small block connector with the coloured wires I mentioned and the old switch you replaced is the same as you installed.
The black/green wire is an earth wire for most of the sensors and also the ignition switch which goes to a small stud on the back of the primary housing, behind the rear cylinder and to the side of where the starter motor mounts to the primary. See if you can see it and check it is firmly connected.
For informations sake, the white and blue wire is the ignition switch imput wire that comes from a black box called the Body control Module, a rectanglar flat box slotted sideways in front of the battery. This white/blue wire from the BCM is what waits for the ignition switch to be turned on so that the ignition voltage can make a circuit by being grounded through the black/green wire mentioned above. One of the tasks of the BCM is to provide power to the rest of the bike once it sees the ignition switch is turned on.
Your model is a newer canbus style and the ignition switch works off of resistance to decide which position the ignition switch is in. If the BCM doesn't see the correct resistance (200 ohms) it will not turn the bike on as it won't recognise that you are physically turning the key to ON, all it cares about in that instance is that it sees that specific resistance it's looking for.

So, if it is the case that diagnostics isn't working then have a real close look at that wire you were wiggling that caused the bikes lights to flicker on and off. It could be that if it is an ignition switch/ or wiring to the switch issue then the diagnostics won't show a problem anyway as the bikes electronics will not recognise that you're trying to turn the bike on and wouldn't neccessarily see that as a trouble code.

I'm not sure if you have a multi meter but it might be worth checking the resistance of the ignition switch in the ON position.

Disconnect the ignition switch from the block connector.

Set your multi meter to Ohms. As you might accidentally set the ignition switch to the accessory position which gives 800 ohms resistance, set it to 1000 ohms/1 kilo ohm.

Zero the leads by holding them together without touching the metal tips with your fingers and verify the reading shows zero ohms. If not and you have a zeroing button use that to zero it, if not make a note of the reading and add it to your findings.

Then turn the ignition switch to the ON position and hold one probe to one terminal on the switch abd the other probe to the other terminal.
It should read pretty darn close to 200 ohms.

If it does then this suggests the switch itself is okay.

As I've waffled on quite a bit and it's kinda late here, try that for now and see how it goes.

good luck

jbee.

 

I'll add one important point that you must never forget if you're using a DMM to check resistance. If you have the meter set to Ohms, you must make absolutely sure that there is no voltage present across the two points where you're measuring the resistance. If the circuit is live, you'll either pop the fuse in the DMM if it's fused, or possibly ruin the meter if it's not fused.

 

J-Bee! Finally, Got her back on the road......I should have listened to another person that posted.....After spending 300 to "diagnose" the bike, it cost a lil more to get it fixed. All that work I did, there was a short in the wiring harness, inside where it clips. That is now fixed, bike running etc.

Now, another issue.... I just did the Speedo relocation, the actual Speedo works just fine. It's the lights that go inside the handlebar clamp (Turn Signals, High Beams, Engine Light and Low Fuel light) None of them are working......could that also be a short inside the connector?