I left work today and started home a 2003 1200 custom. I got about a mile, stopped at a stop light, and bike dies. Dead, no lights, no starter, nothing. I pushed it out of the road, and started checking cables, everything seemed tight. I turned the key back on, and the lights came on, it started and seems ok. Any ideas on what happened, or is going to happen?

 

I had that happen to me when my bike was only 1 month old - twice! Dealer had it for a week and couldn't reproduce it, so I picked it up, took it home, disconnected the battery cables, cleaned all 4 ends and battery terminals with wire brush, applied some dielectric grease to cable ends, reassembled cables and problem solved. Although I did both cables, the negative cable is notorious for causing this problem. It may seem well connected but for some reason or another the negative cable loses good contact. I now do this ritual to my negative cable once a year and the problem has never resurfaced in 6 years since I did that the first time. It is my bet that this is your problem. Do as I do on at least your negative cable and I bet you solve your problem. Nothing worse than that sinking feeling when stranded with no signs of life in the electrical system...

 

Thanks Thumper. That was what I was going to try. I ended up leaving it at work last night, and I'm heading in this morning to pull battery and clean and check the cables. My suspicion would be the negative cable.

 

I really think the abrasive cleaning will solve your problem. Get some dielectric grease on the ends when you get the chance, it really helps.

Let us know how you make out!

 

Well the Battery and cables didn't liik bad until I cleaned them with the wire brush then I could see how much corrosion there really was, dielectric grease on them and back together. It seems fine, I will know after a few days riding. Thanks Thumper.

 

Glad to hear the problem is solved - for the moment, and thanks for reporting back! I think you will find, after time, that especially with the dielectric grease on there the problem will not likely repeat.

 

I had the same problem earlier this year. Very intermittent complete power failure (no lights, speedo, anything). After a couple seconds to a minute, everything would come back to normal and work just fine. After checking, rechecking, riding some more.... came to find that the circuit breaker on the bike had a loose connection even though it is a "sealed" connection. Changed that and I have not had a lick of trouble in 1500 miles.

Something else to check

 

I have heard of this a couple of times - on different year Sportsters, but not as frequent as the cable problems. Glad you were able to isolate it and solve your problem!

 

I actually had this exact thing happen after work today! Had my Iron 883 for a month now, and no lights or anything when I went to turn the key. Dug in to check the wires, tightened things up and on a whim tried the key again. Started right up! Not really glad to hear others have the same issue, but on the other hand it's nice to know I'm not alone!

 

Another possibility is the Maxi-Fuse. They often build up corrosion and begin to loose proper contact. When this happens, it will be sporadic at first. Just check the maxi-fuse, and if needed do the same that that was suggested with the battery cable and battery posts.

Better yet, just replace the fuse. Can get them at any auto parts store for just a couple of bucks. Come to think of it, I think the bike comes with an extra maxi-fuse.