As many of you know I have been battling speedo fluctuation problems for a while.
Two years ago I had similar problems along with turn signal issues when I first installed the Zippers T-Max unit. Zippers identified the problem and a year later Thunderheart came out with a fix. I installed their new ECM, and the turn signal issue was resolved. However a short time later the speedo fluctuations returned. I spent several months working with Zippers on this until I was 99.999% sure it was not a Zippers ECM problem. I cleaned and replaced the VSS, which was about all I could do by myself. Zippers suggested I take the bike to a speedo shop.
I couldn’t find a shop that would take the speedo and check it out, so I took the bike to Bartels' HD. Their service guy said they had a breakout box diagnostic tool that could pinpoint the problem. So I dropped the bike off and a couple of days later they called back (the tech was backlogged) and said the tests had narrowed it down to either the VSS, or the Speedo head. I told them I swapped the VSS a couple of months ago, but they swapped it out anyway and tested it. No change, the fluctuations were still there. The tech Chris said he checked the continuity between the VSS and speedo head and all the wires were okay. He said he even pulled and tugged on the wires to check them. The only thing left was changing out the speedo, and that was $300 new. He did mention that I had a low speed wobble (which I knew I had and attributed to the Avon tires) so he changed my fork oil. When I picked the bike up, the speedo was still not working, (as expected) and the wobble was still present (not expected). So I went out and got a used speedo for $47.00 and swapped it in. No change. At the suggestion of some folks on Harley Tech Talk I did a battery and voltage regulator check and those were fine. Then I started wondering about the T-Max system again, and thought maybe the auto-tune was affecting the speedo. So I talked to Jason, one of the techs at Thunderheart, and he walked me through the whole wiring diagram pretty much ruling out any Thundermax conflicts. With nothing left to look for, I started the "last on, first off" method, meaning I removed everything, and I mean EVERYTHING that I have installed over the years to see if that made a difference. No change.
Finally I took the bike to an independent shop and told them that they were my last hope. The guy who checked it in seemed to have more confidence than I did that they would find the problem. The next day they called and said they fixed the bike. It was a broken wire in the overlay harness. When I asked how they found it, they said they checked the continuity and wiggled the wires that ran from the VSS to the Speedo head. One of the wires was broken along the frame near the steering neck. At first I thought that all the lock to lock turns I do when teaching Ride Like A Pro, strained and broke the wires. Later I found out on HTT that another ’01 Ultra owner had the same problem except his broken wire was with cruise control. So they repaired the break and wrapped everything in stronger tape to reinforce it. They said they also tightened up the neck bearings and that got rid of the wobble. Now I have the fun of reinstalling all the stuff I took off.
The good news is that the bike is repaired and the wobble is gone! However I am perplexed and want to know how the heck the tech at Bartels' HD could have checked continuity, and tugged on the same wires and all, and missed it? Same thing with diagnosing the low speed wobble as fork fluid instead of steering neck bearings. How did he check and miss that too?
God it was frustrating going through this. If I wasn't already bald, I'd have been pulling out my hair.
Mark
Author
Topic: I believe it's fixed....... (Read 1347 times)