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Electrical Demons be gone!!!
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Shirley, a round fo double for the house.
Make mine an OJ with something fun splashed in on the side.
After rebuilding the bike (replacing cosmetic parts) from the mule deer
collision in Colorado back in October, I took the Roda Glide out for a local
ride with some friends. Everything was happy and smooth.
When I got home, I parked the bike in the driveway to go inside and use the
facilities before putitng the bike away, When i came out a few minutes later
the bike would not start. Hit the start switch and the solenoid would click
on and off but the starter would not even attempt to turn. Spent bits and
pieces of the next 2 weeks trying to find the problem and hoping that it was
not the starter per se, but just a loose connection. After cleaning and
tightenting almost every thing on the bike, still no joy.
Finally on something like my 15th search of the groups I found a
comment from someone reminding another rider that the ground for the starter
is through the bracket that holds the left exhaust in place just west of the
split in the pipe. Back to the garage. Put on the socket and set to it.
Yikes! that thing was really loose. After snugging that thing down, put in
the battery again and the bike started right up.
I just love these electrical problems. At least next time I have an idea
where to start looking. (note to self: get some blue lock-tite for that
thing). So yahoo for the group archives on web-search. Shirley, fetch another
round while put the saddle bags back on and head up to Shippensburgh for a
test ride.
Erdoboy
'06 FLTRI
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Good catch ! Since we're talking about electrical gremlins , let me tell
ya about mine . I've been watching my voltmeter dip a couple of volts every
time I hit the brakes or turn sigs . Check the voltage at the breaker inside
the fairing , same dip in the voltage on both terminals , so not likely the
breaker . The brkr is fed from a tan wire coming off the starter relay . At
the relay end , a very slight dip , like 1/2 volt or so . So I'm dropping a
volt anna half between the relay and the breaker , and that's way too much
for a few lights . I've also noticed the volts twitching from loud passages
on the stereo . I suspect maybe the wire is cut or corroded partway thru
somewhere since schematics in the back of the FM indicate that wire is solid
all the way from one end to the other - no plugs .
I think I'll try a temporary jumper , same or heavier guage wire , to see if
that solves it . Then either replace it or add another wire if that helps .
I'm not real keen on trying to feed a wire thru the harness , have to see
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I parallelled the #12 wire from the relay to the breaker with a #10 . I'm
still getting a slight voltage dip , but nearer a volt or less . My turnsigs
self-cancel now , so some improvement . My radio is working better now too ,
at times none of the controls would work . Pulling the plugs and replugging
them prolly had as much to do with it as the wire , they all look like
they've never been unplugged .
Not a complete fix , but a definite improvement .
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snag,
plug and unplug those connections several times. blow them off/out with
a can of air duster, wipe them down with a rag or something to clean them
up. squirt in a healthy dose of dialectic grease to keep out the moisture
and see if that helps.
our '73 e-glide started having several intermittant electrical problems a
while back. i disconnected every terminal, one at a time, and hit the studs
and the nuts with some steel wool and then coated with the dialectic grease
before reassembling. added a bunch of lock washers to places that didn't
have them while i was at it. any plugs i encountered i hosed out well with
the duster and filled with goo.
haven't had an electrical issue with it since. stuff corrodes and loosens
over time. take a day and chase every connection and if it doesn't help you
will at least know what your problem isn't. you will also be sure that
everything is tight and snug on the new rides electrical system.
michael
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Snag,
You may want to unplug those same connectors to make sure there's not a
pushed pin.
A pushed pin could give you a poor or even an intermittent connection.
Pull on the individual wires to make sure they are locked into the connector
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I'm going to follow Nunya's advice too , clean 'em all .
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body.
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