'97 Road King - Need Help W/ Ignition issue
Thread Starter
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1st Gear
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
'97 Road King - Need Help W/ Ignition issue
I have a '97 Road King - went to start it this afternoon, turned the ignition switch to ignition, the lights came on, pulled the enrichener, flipped the start switch, pushed the start button, it turned over once and completely shut down - lights went out nothing on at all...put the battery charger on it and nothing changed when I turned the ignition switch on after charging for a few hours....the interesting thing is if I turn the ignition switch to ACC the ACC lights come on....Not sure what to look at to replace or test....any ideas or suggestions would be helpful!!! Thanks
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 2,379
Likes: 226
Your bike is 13 years old, stuff wears out, mine is 21 years old, believe me I know... 
If the starter relay or the handlebar Run switch have been supplying lower than normal voltage, the starter relay AND the starter solenoid can get burned. The low voltage doesn't pull the pluinger in and hold it, it kinda bounces against the elctromagnet, and the contact surface burns. Now, when everything else might be okay, the starter wont work right. This can (over a long period of time) even happen if the rider does not fully depress and hold the starter button on the handlbar.
Do the cheap things first: make sure your battery is fully charged. Check your cables from the battery to ground and to the starter. Replace the starter relay, it is easy and cheap, and definitly clean the contacts in the starter switch itself (at the handle bar).
If it still won't fire up, after you've done this, then I'd suggest that you look at the starter and look at the contacts on the ignition switch itself. the ignition switch is not a fun job since you have to screw around with pulling the inner fairing to get to it, but look at the bright side, at least you can by a new ignition switch if you have to, mine is obsolete and when I had to replace it I had to go thru rewiring hell with the schematic to make it friggin' work.
Good luck !
If the starter relay or the handlebar Run switch have been supplying lower than normal voltage, the starter relay AND the starter solenoid can get burned. The low voltage doesn't pull the pluinger in and hold it, it kinda bounces against the elctromagnet, and the contact surface burns. Now, when everything else might be okay, the starter wont work right. This can (over a long period of time) even happen if the rider does not fully depress and hold the starter button on the handlbar.
Do the cheap things first: make sure your battery is fully charged. Check your cables from the battery to ground and to the starter. Replace the starter relay, it is easy and cheap, and definitly clean the contacts in the starter switch itself (at the handle bar).
If it still won't fire up, after you've done this, then I'd suggest that you look at the starter and look at the contacts on the ignition switch itself. the ignition switch is not a fun job since you have to screw around with pulling the inner fairing to get to it, but look at the bright side, at least you can by a new ignition switch if you have to, mine is obsolete and when I had to replace it I had to go thru rewiring hell with the schematic to make it friggin' work.
Good luck !
Thread Starter
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1st Gear
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
Thanks for the comments....the only thing that does make sense is that when I turn the ingnition swtich on I got nothing no lights, nothing, but when i turn it to ACC the ACC lights and spedo lights come on
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Road Warrior
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 1,282
Likes: 2
From: Yukon, OK
+1 check all the cables.......especially the grounds.....mine has done that a couple times and every time it only takes a 1/4 turn to fix things up.
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Road Captain
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 544
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From: MD
Could be a bad ignition switch....
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 2,379
Likes: 226
Agreed - that's why reccomended doing the cheap , easy things first and then dig into the ingition switch. It's a sealed unit and the contacts wear, pit and corrode over time. It sucks that they are not easily rebuildable.