Its been a while since I posted on here. I will get right to it. For 2 weeks in a row, my wife and I were on about a 100 mile ride to get back into the long ride season again. We took the exact same railroad crossing, and after doing so, the cruise stopped working for a good ways.. With either turning the bike off and restarting it at a stop, or with time it would work again.
I took it to my local Harley Dealer. He called me later and told me to come get it, that the mechanic rode it for 30 miles, and couldn't duplicate the problem. I asked him if the mechanic took it over any bumps and so on, and was told that the ride should have been enough.
He didn't charge me, and I went on my way.
NOW, I realise that this system has something to do with the brake switch, but I couldn't get any ops checks completed or anything! Not really sure what the heck else to do!
It really pissed me off that they didn't do any kind of checks or anything else, and just gave the bike back.
I dont mind getting it fixed by a good mechanic, but am just left scratching my head...........

 

Brake switch (front or rear) and the clutch switch all affect cruise operation. Just things to check..

 

You are pointing out the obvious, and I get that. I pay for good mechanics, and this is why I go to the dealer.

 

FWIW - my cruise pops off quite regularly with hitting all the freeze joints in NYS. It’s quite annoying! Especially on interstate 81.

I just live with it.

 

Guess I never fully appreciated the pin wheel throttle lock on my '07 Heritage . I suspect jory434 is right and I understand your expectations of professional technicians.

 

Next time it fails, take a look at your brake light. If it's on steady, it's one of the two switches and you can at least confirm and take it back in to your mechanic if need be.

 

electrical gremlins can be hard to trace. If they can not get it to act up it can be impossible. I would not be to hard on the mechanic at least he just didnt throw a bunch of parts at it.

 

Diagnosing an intermittent problem is a royal PIA.
Unless a mechanic has seen a good many bikes doing the same thing and knows what fixed those he would only be guessing with yours.
If he is forced to make that guess it will most likely be on your dime.
I have explained to more than on customer that I simply can't duplicate it. I need your help.

See if you can find a place near to you or preferably near the dealer that you can ride over bumps or tracks that will cause the cruise to stop working.
I don't mean just once I mean several times.
Gather as much information you can and make notes.

If you happen to find such a place and can get it to act up a few times.
The first thing I'd try would be to make sure the front brake and clutch lever are all the way out at their stops. This being a 2011 ultra correct??

This statement from your 1st post could have been addressed a little better by you dealer "He called me later and told me to come get it, that the mechanic rode it for 30 miles, and couldn't duplicate the problem. I asked him if the mechanic took it over any bumps and so on, and was told that the ride should have been enough."




Good luck WP

 

I took your post as more of a “diagnostic suggestions welcomed” instead of a “dealer rant”. The obvious things I suggested checking is where I would be looking the next time it acted up. Good luck on your repair I hope you get it diagnosed.

 

Others have given you good insight and suggestions to fix your problem... so I won't reiterate their good advice....

But I will comment on your post above... and your frustration with the HD mechanics...

Obviously there are good dealerships and poor dealerships... That's life with just about any vehicle dealerships.... Generally speaking, I do all my own work due to my poor experiences with dealership's service....

However, I have in my HD ownership experience, met more than a few really good techs at HD dealerships... IMHO.. they often get a bad rap due to your point of contact being the Service Writer...

My experience has been that the weak link always seems to be the service writers... They are the ones who have fed me more BS than even the salesmen...

I'm sure their are good service writers, but most are NOT techs, and I doubt most ever could be... However, they like to talk as if they know what's going on, and many I've met obviously don't... I've run into more than a few who seem more than willing to fill in the blanks with any BS that comes to their head... They just want to appease you, and have you move along...

I've actually talked to a tech, after hearing some major BS from the service writer, only to find that the tech was sqaured away, did a good job, but the service writer misunderstood what's on the ticket, or what the tech told him...

At one local dealership that I go to from time to time for things I can't do at home, there once was a question on the work performed. The Service Writer told me the tech left a note that he wants to talk to me.... The tech then explained what happened, and says, "I wanted you to hear it from me, so you'd understand exactly what's going on..." That was one really good tech...

I'm not suggesting you give your business to a dealership that let you down, but just that there are some really good techs, yet they are in the background and sometimes get an unearned, bad rap...