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Author Topic: Sometimes Better To Be Lucky Than Good  (Read 1557 times)

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Twolanerider

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Sometimes Better To Be Lucky Than Good
« on: August 05, 2020, 09:51:13 PM »

So this just happened.....

Riding the Road King (first gen Twin Cam era bike) last night and about 15 minutes from home it suddenly cuts out hard.  First thought is it feels like what they do when a fuel filter is starting to be a problem.  That thought was even more so when you add that it did this under acceleration; under a load. 

Except.

The odometer reset from my mileage on this tank choice of the B setting back to the standard odometer setting at the same time.  Or at least I thought it did.  So if that happened it was an electrical problem and everything had momentarily shut off.  It was still bright daylight so nothing I could obviously see in lights; especially when I wasn't looking.

About ten miles later sudden and hard cut out again.  Then just a little later two more.  I'm turned around and on my way home by this time.  And the odometer was resetting.  It's electrical and total.  At least that's what the bike is telling me; and it's got no reason t lie.

Compound all this with that the night before I'd had the tank off.  Bored in the time of Coronavirus I'd decided it was time to put a coat of wax on the dark read powder coated rocker boxes.

When something starts happening right after work is done I always blame the work first.  Directly or indirectly.  That's a safer bet than assuming the work is perfect and, just oh so coincidentally, something else started going wrong right immediately after it was just worked on.

So I'm worried about a pinch on the harness or just moving the main harness brought a problem with a broke wire inside that just started showing up because it was moved.  Maybe something at the ignition switch just because it had touched, its harness handled, whatever.  Had the coil on and off under the tank.  So maybe its harness or a problem there.  Who knows.

Yeah, who knows.  There was no code.  I expected to have to spend hours tracking it down.  Humbug.

But.......
« Last Edit: August 05, 2020, 09:59:35 PM by Twolanerider »
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Twolanerider

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Re: Sometimes Better To Be Lucky Than Good
« Reply #1 on: August 05, 2020, 09:52:04 PM »

About 3 minutes after lifting the seat off found this.   :huepfenlol2:
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Twolanerider

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Re: Sometimes Better To Be Lucky Than Good
« Reply #2 on: August 05, 2020, 09:57:23 PM »

That's the negative cable on a battery that was new in the spring.  It's the biggest CCA battery that the local Battery Outfitters stocks.  So I bought two.  The Road King's died and it and the Road Glide's were the same age.  It would have been their fourth year each so they each got batteries.

Here's where I screwed up.

They are a universal motorcycle battery.  They use that bracket you see to raise the "post" up for normal cable attachment.  The batteries came out of the box with that post already attached.  I put a tool on the little allen headed screw just to feel for snug.  It felt snug.  So on the bike it went.

Turns out the OE screw is short.  It was only in the battery a couple threads.  Further turns out that with the big battery cable installed on top as shown the seat was pushing down on it.  The top two threads in the battery itself had given way.  The seat was holding it down on the battery.  So under a load, or a decel, or a bump, my ass and the seat could raise up and it would momentarily disconnect the battery.  Voila.

Longer screw and grinding away just a tiny bit on the fiberglass bottom of the Corbin seat and we're as good as new.  I'm a happy camper.

If anyone else uses one of these bright yellow high CCA batteries from your local battery store don't be as careless as I was.  Make sure you've got clearance between it and the seat if you mount the battery cable on top.  I'd have cleared with the cable on the front. Cable on the top gave it contact though.
« Last Edit: August 05, 2020, 10:01:38 PM by Twolanerider »
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GregKhougaz

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Re: Sometimes Better To Be Lucky Than Good
« Reply #3 on: August 05, 2020, 11:05:06 PM »

Great information, thank you!
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iski

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Re: Sometimes Better To Be Lucky Than Good
« Reply #4 on: August 05, 2020, 11:33:57 PM »

You had a hot seat. 

Had a RK that was misfiring & similar electrical misadventures.  Thought the worst, turned out to be caused by a loose battery cable.

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longlast

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Re: Sometimes Better To Be Lucky Than Good
« Reply #5 on: August 06, 2020, 03:54:18 AM »

   It's not nice having a forced unscheduled roadside stop with a sudden motor shutdown.

 It happened to me once but I found it straight away because I had just put the battery in from it being out for some work and when the motor  stopped just after turning onto a side street my first thought was battery connections questioning myself if I had tightened the connections.
As it turned out I hadn't connected the negative properly.

Glad it wasn't an in harness wire issue for you Don.  :2vrolijk_21:

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Twolanerider

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Re: Sometimes Better To Be Lucky Than Good
« Reply #6 on: August 06, 2020, 09:31:17 AM »

   It's not nice having a forced unscheduled roadside stop with a sudden motor shutdown.

 It happened to me once but I found it straight away because I had just put the battery in from it being out for some work and when the motor  stopped just after turning onto a side street my first thought was battery connections questioning myself if I had tightened the connections.
As it turned out I hadn't connected the negative properly.

Glad it wasn't an in harness wire issue for you Don.  :2vrolijk_21:


Amen to that Pete.  Yeap, if something happens right after we worked on 'em and we're smart we always doubt the last thing we did.  That's why they call us motorsickle riders; cause we ain't always too bright!
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longlast

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Re: Sometimes Better To Be Lucky Than Good
« Reply #7 on: August 06, 2020, 11:34:01 AM »


Amen to that Pete.  Yeap, if something happens right after we worked on 'em and we're smart we always doubt the last thing we did.  That's why they call us motorsickle riders; cause we ain't always too bright!

 ;D
Don't cut yourself to short on that Don I it's more like sometimes we just get two steps ahead of ourselves. Oops backup!!   
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