I posted on earlier threads about an 09 96" SG with some mysterious vibration problem I was having.
After taking the bike half apart including the intake, primary + compensator, clutch + inspecting bearings and chain tensioner, changing plugs, gas, opening up the tank to check fuel lines and pump, adjusting the exhaust 20 times, running fuel injector cleaner, minutes away from pulling the cams and checking the crank, and just going out of my mind trying to figure it out... I finally found it.

Friggin spark plug wires. Trust me.... I feel like a fool.
Weeks of work and it was the stinking wires.

For whatever reason I never got a code (like cylinder 1 no combustion).
The bike never ran like it was totally missing and running on one cylinder.
There was just some heavy vibration in the 2100-2600 RPM range in the footboards and handlebars that was not there last season.
It would vibrate my feet off the boards and make my hands numb.
Bike would also surge and felt hard to keep steady while on throttle.

So I'm laying on my back just about to man-cry over this thing because I now think it's the crank and I'm too broke to fix it and I look up at the coil and for whatever reason pull the spark wires at the coil - nice and tight and sealed up - feels normal, and when I pull the front cylinder wire all the way off it literally fell apart with rust.

Coil still fires but the electrode is so corroded I'm sure it's not 100%. Looking for a stock coil now (anybody? anybody? ).
Anyway I'm running some new fancy SE wires now (because they didn't have stock in-stock) and the bike runs great. Really great...

Little hard to believe it was something so simple that I should have checked first thing...
Also a little hard to believe a wire will rot out this much on a bike with only 15k on it.
I can't see any way water was getting in there but obviously somehow it did.

So here is a pic of the wires and my ugly fake marble counter top. If you're going to go fake marble at least make it look nice you know? Rentals...

lp

 

Whaaaaa? That's a new one! If someone told me this happened to a friend of a friend I'd be like "dude, I don't think wires can just rot out like that." That's crazy!

But hey, cheaper fix than the crank!

 

Is that the plug end?

 

Wise man once told me "when you hear hooves think horses not zebras"

 

Wow, thanks for sharing that with us. Un real that rotted like that. But I can see
gonna be time for some new wires every so many thousand miles. For the cost of them and a peace of mind. Very interesting though as I have never seen a spark plug wire do that.

 

And if you hear banjos, start paddling faster! lol (for those that dont get it havent seen Deliverance)

Seriously, If you havent done this yet, put some dielectric grease on both boot ends. This will keep any moisture out of the electrical connections. Should make it trouble free for a very long time.

 

Whenever we get too far off any main roads, I always tell the wife to let me know if she hears any banjos. LOL

 

So easy to skip over the easy stuff... knew a guy that replaced the battery because he lost an alternator belt??

 

Had the exact same thing happen last year in the middle of a 3500 road trip. Spark plug wire to coil connection rotted out on an 09 Ultra with about 65k on the odo at the time. Replaced the coil and both wires.

 

Are you saying apply di grease to the boots and not to the connectors? Thanks