Well, I've gone and done it now. I've been upgrading alot of the components on my Sporty over the last few weeks. The first series was the exhaust, followed by an SE AC and PC III USB with the appropriate configuration flashed. The bike ran fine, although it did seem to have a certain hesitation in the mid-range, which I figured I would sort out over the winter.

Next, was to get the HD tach/speedo combo unit installed. I had that in for a couple of days and it seemed to run fine, although the reset button had worked itself free and withdrawn into the housing. Kinda like a certain part of most men's anatomy when exposed to cold pool water for too long.

Now is where the problem starts. Friday, I changed out the hand grips. What a pain. Still, I managed to get them off of the housings and handle bars and put on the new ones. I lso pulled the combo speedo/tach and reseated the reset switch.

I took the bike out for a test ride. It started up properly. I ran it for about a minute, I took it out on the road. It sputtered, regained power and then the entire electrical system went dead. I turned the bike off and then back on and it restarted, ran for about 15 seconds and then died again.

I pushed it back to the house. Let me tell you, pushing a 600 lb bike up an even mild grade is no fun. The good part, though, is that the last 50 yards or so is down hill. It's nice to know that gravity works even if the damned engine won't.

Now, when I try to turn on the bike, I get power to the speedo in the accessory position, but as soon as I turn it to the ignition setting, the speedo goes black, there are no lights, nor turn signals nor anything. It doesn't matter what position the kill switch is in, I get the same result. I removed the PC III thinking maybe it had gone bad, but still no go. I also pulled and recharged the battery, but to no effect.

I pulled all of the fuses and visually inspected the for continuity, including the huge, honking master fuse. All appeared okay. I may replace the lot of the 15a fuses because they're so cheap. There is some oxidation on the fuse leads so I may get some small brush-style toothpicks and clean out the fuse sockets as well. I'll see about the master fuse later. I might also invest in a multimeter as well.

I am thinking about putting the old speedo in as well, just to see if that clears up the problem. It's a pain because I have to pull the handle bar clamp in order to really get at the screws securing it in place.

So, I can't see it being a pinched wire in the right hand grip housing. The speedo should light up whether or not the kill switch is in the on or off position, or the start button is depressed. I suppose the ECM could have gone bad.

BTW, because I'm getting no power with the ignition turned on, I can't get diagnostic codes. I'm hoping that the combo speedo will display them just like the stock speedo is supposed to.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

What year is it?

 

2007 XLC.

New info. I put the stock speedo back. It behaves the same way. Also, when the accessory is turned on, the speedo lights are slow to come up and seem to pulse/blink faintly but perceptibly.

As stupid as this may sound, could it be the turn control unit? The pulsing seems to be at about the same rate as the turn signals. Or it could just be a coincidence...

 

Check the easy stuff first. Like both ends of both battery cables. There could be a pinched wire in the switch housings or under the brake lever clamp.

 

The battery cables -- actually, the fittings -- seemed clean and tightly connected.

I'm going to pull the right hand grip again -- what a pain -- and see whether there's not something there.

Why HD would snake a cable through the brake and clutch handle clamps without a channel cut specifically for the cable is beyond me.

 

It really sounds like a bad connection. A multimeter would go a long way in diagnosing it. Measure directly across the battery terminals key off/on. Then from battery + to unpainted metal on the frame, also key off/on. What you're looking for is a large voltage drop when the key is on vs when it's off.

If you have much under 12 volts across the battery key off then its dead, possibly stator not charging. Same with big drop across terminals turning key on. Once bike is running, verify you have 13.5-14.5 across terminals while engine is running.

If you have a drop with key on from battery + to frame, check ground cable from battery to frame.

If ok to that point you'll need to do key off/on checks from battery - to various + locations, starting big (main fuse) to smaller downstream circuits. This is a bit tricky though as all those are insulated and must be tested with the fuses in place for the key on test to be meaningful.

 

I pulled the handle bar controls and there didn't seem to be any pinched cables there.

I checked the battery cables at the both ends and visually inspected the cables. Everything seems to be good there.

I pulled out all of the 15a fuses, cleaned them, visually inspected them and then shuffled them as I replaced them. Still nada.

I'm going to go get a multimeter and check the stuff that you indicated, Saggy.

I'm also wondering whether, maybe, it's just a loose connection in the ignition switch, or a faulty ignition switch.

I've got a question. The TSM/TSSM provldes a bank angle check which is supposed to kill the engine when the bike is tipped over. Does that mean that it just turns the engine off or does it kill everything? Just a thought...

Here's another piece of the puzzle. When the ignition is turned off, the blinkers don't blink. When the bike is moved without the fob present, the lights don't blink. Interesting....

 

First, the Good news. The voltage between the + battery terminal and the frame (I used the upper shock absorber bolt) was only 2.89v which would occassionally jump to 7.02v. That means one of the leads from the battery is bad.

I rechecked the leads and found that the - cable was loose at the block: tight enough that it wouldn't move easily, but loose enough that it would move. I tightened that nut down and now I have power through the ignition.

Initially, though, I checked the potential from the + terminal to - terminal and then from the far ends of the + and - leads to each other, for a 12.65v reading, which (erroneously) lead me to believe that the problem didn't pertain to those cables.


Now, the Bad news. The bike still won't start. When I press the starter button, the starter doesn't work. For that matter, I don't hear the solenoid engage either. Since it worked well before, I doubt that it's the starter or the solenoid (especially on a bike that only has 1100 miles on it). I was working on the hand grips, so I could have disrupted something there, which is where I'm going to look next. I suppose, though, that it could also be the starter fuse, but I doubt that.

On second thought, I started the bike like three or four times having switched out the grips. That would seem to indicate that everything was working properly after I worked on the hand controls. The bulk of my work since has been electrical. I'm now leaning towards the fuse.

 

You said you tightened it. You should have removed it, cleaned it, then tightened it. Both ends of both cables.

 

+1 on this. When you hit the starter is the speedometer still alive, or does it go blank? If it goes blank you are losing voltage under solenoid load. If it stays alive, maybe your not getting start power, such as fuse to start switch, bad connection to start switch, or a lockout (clutch-in or neutral switch?)

You're getting close!