Front Electrical Issues

[angelocmp]

Have a 2001 Sporty Custom which I bought from a friend. When I picked it up. he mentioned that the front left turn indicator has stopped working. I jiggled a wiring connector (under the left side of the gas tank) and the turn light turned on. I made a small wedge from some electrical tape and placed it under the connector and it was fine.

I took about a 400 mile trip on the bike, and noticed that the headlight low beam was no longer working, so I set the high beam which worked fine. At one point during the trip I had lunch, started the bike, and noticed the speedometer stopped working for about 15 seconds, but came back to life. When I got home and pulled into my garage, my bike shut down as if I had hit the kill switch (which could possibly been an unnoticed bump of the kill switch). I turned the key to the off position, then back on and stated the bike fine, but then noticed the headlight was not working in either high or low beam.

Are all of these electrical items connected to the electrical system via the same connector? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[kemo]

It is time to do the wiggle test on the part of the wiring harness that you suspect is faulty. Over time with the flexing of the wire harness when turning the front end left and right the wires can fatigue and break inside, requiring repair such as splicing and taping.
Ken

 

[W1ld Card]

When I picked up my 2008 Sporster, the left turn signal and the high-beams didn't work. So, I found what I thought was the problem (frayed wiring under the fender for the rear-left turn signal and a blown fuse, and I replaced the headlight, of which the filaments looked rather worn).

On a side note, my bike had obviously aftermarket buckhorn handlebars installed.

So, after fixing things, my left turn signal worked, but would still blow the fuse, and the high-beam not only didn't work, but the indicator on the speedo wouldn't even light up.

It turns out that the P.O. had botched the handlebar installation. Instead of running the wiring to the left control pod under and through the dimple in the handlebars, he had simply tightened the controls with the wiring directly between the handlebar and controls.

Upon disassembly, the clutch-sensor wire was cut, the high-beam switch was cut, and EVERY single other wire, including the horn and left turn signal were nearly cut, and had exposed copper which would ground out on the handlebar.

It took some soldering and heatshrink (and that's tough in such a tight space), but I finally got it all reconnected, taped up, and I ran it all through the dimple. Now, my electrical system is working excellently.

Sometimes the problem takes a bit of digging to find the REAL problem.

Good luck!