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[fatty4x4]

Took my fatboy into the stealership because my bike was intermittently dead. I noticed on occasion when i went to turn on the ignition the speedo would light but the headlight took a couple seconds to light. So I switched the ignition off and on repeatedly,then it would work. I told the stealer I'm sure its the ignition switch...They told me "we took it apart all is good."

  2 months later the bike is now out of warranty and acting  much worse...spent hours tracing wires leads etc. as I was told its not the switch.. as a last resort I took a look at the back side of the switch...You bet! Corroded all to Shiite!
 
  Cleaned off most corrosion..shot some oil in the locking cylinder...working great...I did order a new matching switch to be safe.

Anyone else have an issue with their ignition switch? I really do not get it wet often.

[ccr]

...
Anyone else have an issue with their ignition switch? I really go not get it wet often.

I've never had a problem, but I can't see that getting it wet - often or not - should be a problem.  Our motorcycles are vehicles and they will get wet. 

[fatty4x4]

Love my service manual! Saves stealership induced aggravation and lots of cash!

[Twolanerider]

Eating igntion switches has been an occasional Harley snack for years.  Doesn't happen as often as it used to.  But it's still one of those "when in doubt--replace" kind of things.

[kansaskim47]

                         

The ignition switch on my 98 Road King requires cleaning and new dielectric grease about every 30,000 miles.

The last time at about 90,000 miles I had to move the spring contacts around. 

Better than buying a new one!

[AXIL]

fatty4 , some times the factory just forgot to push the connectors all the way in.(left and right wires)   axil

[d-rock]

I have to clean mine every year or so. It depends how much I wash it  ( or not)

[fatty4x4]

I've attached a copy of Axil's pic to show where my problem is.  kansaskim47, do you put dielectric grease right into those slots where the rust is or do you just use it at the connector?  d-rock,how do you clean your ignition? Do you disassemble the unit?

[Twolanerider]

fatty4 , some times the factory just forgot to push the connectors all the way in.(left and right wires)   axil

Axil, did you notice that the left most terminal in the picture is not fully seated in its socket?

[AXIL]

twolanerider, yes , both right and left wires were not clipped in to the housing all the way. customer came in with no turn signals , horn or brake light. as you can see thy were one pot hole away from loosing everything.   axil

[kansaskim47]

Fatty,

I remove the switch from the console,  remove the snap ring on the bottom and slide the center out of the bottom.

Be careful, the contact sliders are spring-loaded and like to jump out. 

Use a fine abrasive like Cratex rubber or a pencil eraser to polish the surfaces of both the sliders and contacts.

Apply a liberal amount of the dielectric grease to the contacts and sliders and reassemble.

Clean the corrosion from the connector and make sure that there is some spring tension on the spade portion of the terminals.  It is permissible to bend the spades on the switch body slightly.

I also use small ty-wraps to keep the connector from sliding off.

Hope this helps,

Kim

[d-rock]

I clean just like the post above this one    I could have not said it better. I grease everything in there it can't hurt to have everything come apart easy next time.