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[Dejad]

So... I decide to go for a little ride around town because I have a bike sitting in my garage and it desperately needed to be ridden. I fire it up and off I go. Then I notice my right turn signal doing the fast flash thing and decide to pull off into a vacant parking lot to investigate. This happened a few weeks ago and I found some weird brake pedal/turn signal/4 way/on/off sequence posted on the interwebs. It seemed like some kind of Indiana Jones type stuff but it worked... temporarily, it seems. The bulbs are good, but the front one is a bit dim. So I sit there a few minutes and wonder what could be the cause of these blinker shenanigans. So I decide to just head back and worry about it later. I switch on the ignition..........and there I was, dead. Not me, the bike. No juice. No lights, no buzzers, beepers, bells or whistles. Just silence. And me sitting right in the middle of it. So 2 hours later I get the bike home with the help of a friend and his trailer. The next day I look at the battery, which was putting out 12.9 volts, and on the negative terminal I see the pigtail for the battery tender has arced and the battery bolt is now welded to the eyelet of the tender cable.  Upon further investigation I find that someone in their infinite wisdom has replaced the 7.5A fuse in the tender cable with a 30A fuse... I replace it with a 7.5 and dislodge the bolt from the cable, re-attach the battery cables (but not the tender cables), the ECM and all that stuff on the battery tray and Violoa! Power has been restored! So I attempt to start the bike but when I hit the kill switch... More silence. I am guessing that the ECM took the hit?? I checked every other fuse in the panel and they are all correct and in good shape. Any input from you fellas here would be most appreciated.

Questions:

What would lead someone to put a 30A fuse in there? I'm the second owner and when I contacted the selling dealer they told me the bike had never back there for any kind of work other than the scheduled maint stuff.

Can ECMs be checked? Is yes, how and by who (other than a dealer)?

Am I on the right track? Am I correct in assuming the ECM is fried?

Anyone got any ideas what else could be happening?

Are there other fuses I haven't found yet?

 PS... Sorry the bike is a 2010 Ultra Classic CVO

[CVOStreetglide]

Are you able to see any power to the gauges? If so there is a lenghy process where you can extract the codes that may be set ( the left switch then right switch stuff) and then look each one up to see what the cause is.

Also, FWIW I was informed that you should address the last code set i/e the real first code set as the root cause. The rest are set as a result of other things. IF that doesn't work and you can get power to it and get it to turn over, then I would clear all of the codes and see what code is set first again. That can be the cause.

Other items to check/replace are your security system battery. It throws a lot of electrical stuff out of whack when it goes bad AND your TSSM.

A friend and I went through a lot of similiar drama on his CVO Deuce and replacing the TSSM did the trick.

It's difficult solving these type of issues not being in front of the bike. I sure hope you get it resolved soon.

If you know someone with a HD Scan Tool, they can isolate the issue for you fairly quickly.

[Dejad]

CVOStreetglide, Thanks for the response. I do have power to everything. All gauges and lights, even the radio. I just don't hear the fuel pump or anything initializing when I turn the kill switch to "run". It cranks strong but won't catch, I assume because there is no fuel flowing. I should be able to check the codes I just don't remember the sequence to unlock the wizard... 

[Dejad]

Well, After some more tinkering and disconnecting the battery completely, rechecking the fuses, pulling the main fuse and the alarm system going off unexpectedly... the bike now runs. I didn't change anything (other than putting on a new battery tender lead), fix anything, repair anything... it just started working. I was just going to re-assemble everything, put the cover on it and call it a season. Now I am happy, pissed off, confused, concerned and anxious all at the same time. I don't know what the initial issue was, Why did the battery tender arc? Loose connection? Did that shut the fuel system down? Why did the alarm go off? The ECM wasn't attached at the time and the ignition was turned to on... Did pulling the main fuse cause the ECM to re-set? Was the whole problem a loose battery connection ans it just threw everything into a frenzy? I will take the bike to a MoCo dealer and have them run a diagnostic on it, I guess. Maybe it shows something, maybe it won't. I won't have enough confidence in it to ride any distance until I have it checked out by a "professional".   Oh, and I still have a fast flashing turn signal... 

[GregKhougaz]

Now that the bike is running, did you recheck for any diagnostic codes? It sounds like the short to your battery tender wires may have caused the ECM to shut down and a complete disconnection restored the ECM just like rebooting a computer.  One way to check an ECM is to pull it out and stick it in another bike.

On the turn signal issue, did the prior owner install LED turn signals? If so, check to make sure the load equalizers are still connected and functioning. Good luck.

[Rooster]

Good advice Greg. I once found the cause of my trailer lights not working due to the Load Equalizer gone bad.

[Dejad]

I have not thoroughly rechecked the codes due to my wife being very interested in me returning her house to a more livable state. We just totally gutted and remodeled the kitchen, refinished the floors, took down all the moulding and started repainting. then I'll need to put up new moulding and then do the hallway, stairway then go to the second floor and start on the bedroom... By then it should be at least January and bike season will be a distant memory... But I will get into the garage and check those codes. Actually I tried briefly and could not get them to clear. I must be doing something wrong. The turn signals are not LED, they are stock bulbs. When the fast flash happens the rear bulb looks normal in terms of brightness but the front seems to be dimmer than usual. I have changed the bulb with a new one and no difference.