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Battery Issues...

UncleSamsPilot

New Member
Hello, I'm new here, and new to the Harley world. I bought my 2007 1200 Sportster Custom about three weeks ago from a private party. Took it in to a local mechanic that was recommended to me, who looked it over and serviced it - said I had a nice bike and everything was tight on it.
Anyway, I was riding to work the other day and I got an amber 'check engine' light and a red 'battery' light at the same time. I continued to work and they seemed to go out on their own. I drove it home, and the lights didn't come back on. I got the codes off the odomoter (thanks to this website:bigsmiley12:) and discovered that the only code was batter voltage low. I reset the codes and rode it to work today. No issues going to work, but coming home, the lights and code came back and stayed on .
Any insight or suggestions on where I should start with this? I'm guessing maybe the battery is going bad, and the check engine light is just something that comes on with the battery light???

Thanks a bunch
 
Start by checking the battery voltage at different RPM's and see what you get. It could be a bad ground at the regulator or elsewhere causing the light. Also check the battery terminals. Remove them (neg off first and on last) and wire brush the cable and battery terminals. Remember the cables have two ends.:s

If nothing shows, have the battery load tested after a full charge.
 
Your battery could be going bad or you might have corrosion on the battery cable ends. Clean all connections and you may be OK. I would also look into a battery tender and keep it plugged in.
 
As Glider said test the FULLY charged battery first. You should see12.7 volts then do a load test, one bad cell will kill a battery fast
 
All good advice here. I would check for loose battery connections first, after all it is an easy fix. This problem happened several times when I owned my sportster and once since I've had my softail. Permanent fix, lock washers added to the cable bolt. Good luck!
 
One thing to do when you have your battery cables removed go to the hardware store and buy a bottle of No-lux or Oxy guard (same thing but different trade names) electrical past. (the kind that is used when installing alumn. service cable in your breaker box) This will keep all the crud from forming on your battery cables.
 
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