UC left me stranded
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Road Captain
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 530
Likes: 57
From: The South
UC left me stranded
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.
Last edited by doug62; May 8, 2017 at 10:30 PM.
Tourer
Joined: Aug 2015
Posts: 352
Likes: 29
From: Missoula, MT
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.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 24,711
Likes: 9,214
From: Snow Hill, NC
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.
Road Master
Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 1,048
Likes: 492
From: Heart of Georgia
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.
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Road Captain
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 530
Likes: 57
From: The South
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.
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Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 3,174
Likes: 1,466
From: Charleston, SC
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.
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,236
Likes: 95
From: lancaster, pa
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??
bypassing the whole mess has crossed my mind. seems back in the shovel days I cant recall any switches??
Last edited by voodoodrug; May 9, 2017 at 07:40 AM.