OK I have just completed a oil change and the engine light comes on and stays on it will not go off. No oil light just the engine and I have looked for loose wires and I have not found any. Nothing shows on the codes. I have a 2007 sportster 1200C

 

Perhaps you messed with an unrelated sensor when you removed/installed the oil filter? Though if you dinged your O2 sensor wire or something you should be getting a code as well.

Oil pressure and most oil related issues wouldn't trip the engine light so there are only a few possibilities as to what happened.

 

Just a thought I would disconect the positve batt cable for a few minutes and that should reset the ECM, worth a try.

 

I'm going to toss this out there, but, the engine light is an electrical thing. Bear with me in that thought - there has to be some sort of electrical sensor that brings on an engine light. At least, that how it works on every car I have ever had the displeasure of troubleshooting. A mechanical piece without a sensor does not technically have the ability to bring on the CEL. That's just basic electrical-mechanical theory.

You say you're not throwing a code? Of all the possible reasons the CEL would come on, I would assume that they're relatively straight forward and have a least a corresponding sensor. Could it be that your light is just shorted out? Unlikely, I know.

Disconnecting and reconnecting the battery relaxes the components in the circuitry that "hold" the light on (such as relays) - this will almost always remove a CEL for a time. Sometimes the CEL comes back on immediately for obvious reasons (sensor grounded out 'bad.') Sometimes it takes awhile it to come back on, such as when you have an intermittent sensor failure, but once the light is triggered to come on a holding relay keeps it energized and lit. Rarely a part has the ability to turn the light back off if the component begins to operate properly again, such as an IAC valve. Some "computers" (ECM/ECU) on vehicles will store the codes and malfunctions even if, say, your O2 sensor only for a split second malfunctions, then goes back to normal operation. Some do not.

It's possible that you have a component that is intermittently failing, and if the code isn't stored, you won't throw it. However, once the CEL comes on it generally has a holding circuit that keeps it on.

 

I had the same problem, and at last find a bed electric connetction in the front under the engine a black connector with corroded metal parts inside.
I cleaned and some wd40 and no light comes again.

 

Thanks, everybody I will start checking into each one of the possiblities.