Scratching my head on this one. I came out of a restaurant yesterday, I hop on my bike, turn the ignition key and .... nothing. No lights, no fuel pump prime, nothing. It must be the battery I thought. After all my battery is almost 3 years old, it's probably due. Fortunately there is a Batteries Plus nearby. Long story short, I put the new battery in and.... nothing, AGAIN! At this point I call a friend of mine who is a very capable auto mechanic as it is Sunday and my local indy Harley mechanic is closed. He says it must be the ignition switch and he proceeded to remove the switch **** from the bike and drop the panel to inspect the area. Everything appeared OK so he put it back together and still nothing. At this time I called AAA to have the bike towed to my local bike shop. As I was on hold with AAA my buddy continued to move the ignition **** back and forth. It's got to be a bad connection he says. He must have done this for 10 minutes. All of a sudden the bike lit up and we were able to start it and go home. I cancelled my tow and off I went. As soon as I got home and turned the bike off, it did it again... no lights no nothing. For about 10 minutes I fooled with the ****, back and forth as we had done before and all of a sudden it connected and I was able to start it. I took the bike in this morning as it did cooperate thankfully. Now my local indy says nothing is wrong as it is not acting up for him. Needless to say I have 0 confidence in riding the bike on an upcoming trip unless something is identified as causing the problem. So what do you think? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

My 2006 SG did the same thing until I replaced the ignition switch. No more problems. Fairly common deal. About sixty bucks, as I recall.

 

Definitely sounds like the ignition switch is going belly up

 

Man that sucks. I get 2 or 3 no starting cars a week that are not supposed to start that fire right up. Its like they have a sense that goes off when a technician is around so it all works fine. Hope it acts up so you know its fixed.

 

Pull the igntion switch assembly. Dissemble the electrical section and clean the contacts. Also clean and lubricate the spring loaded side of the contacts.

 

Also spray contact cleaner in you handlebar switch, the push button one...I have been thinking of replacing mine because I had to fiddle with it on a mountain trip last year and it worried me a bit.

 

Mine has done the same thing a few times lately. Fortunately (so far at least) I can wiggle the switch just a little and it makes connection. I can actually feel it when it makes contact. It feels just a little bit slushy between "off" and "on" as if maybe the detente is getting worn down. Fairly common problem. If it gets any worse (and I'm sure it will eventually) I will replace it.

 

Thanks for all of the replies. I should be talking to my mechanic today. I'll run these suggestions by him. Hopefully he has already thought to do these things with the switch. We'll see. Thanks again.

 

If your indy has no idea what is causing the problem, don't use him anymore. Take that bike to a Harely DEALER and let a tech work on it that knows what he is doing. The switch problem is a well-known Harley issue. I would bet they see one at least once a week.

 

my ign switch has done that but very rare , so rare that I have left it alone thinking a new switch could just do the same or taking it apart could make it worse. good luck

bypassing the whole mess has crossed my mind. seems back in the shovel days I cant recall any switches??