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Bike Failure

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lochheadg

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Riding along my 2002 Ultra would completely die, come back to life, and die again etc., and sometimes completely die, a complete failure of electrical system - no lights, no horn, no signals, no radio, no engine, and no instruments. Once I got to the side of the road, I turned off the ignition and turned it back on and everything came back on, the bike started, and I could continue the ride.
Sometimes it would reoccur in a matter of minutes other times I have ridden for a great length of time over an hour before it would occur.
The HD dealer has checked the charging system and all wiring and replaced the main circuit breaker but the problem continues.
Help!
 
I would hope that the dealer properly checked this but, I would be checking the battery cables for tightness at both ends and make sure all fuses are clean and secure in fuse box.. It sounds like you are loosing your power source.
 
Thanks!
First thing we did.

Thanks!
We know it's the main breaker trippping. But can't figure out why.
 
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We had a problem that acted just like you described. It drove us nuts being on the side of the road. It turned out that the relay for the ignition system was bad. ou might want to replace that out. It costed about $12 last time that we bought one. It turned out for us that the ground was corroded and lowered the voltage enough that the relay would not trip and cook with the currentate the contacts. I hope that this helps.
 
lochheadg said:
Thanks!
First thing we did.

Thanks!
We know it's the main breaker trippping. But can't figure out why.
Click to expand...

But did they install a 50 amp instead of the 40 that was stock and it's a upgrade for this particular problem.

It has a lot to do with the location of the breaker and the heat from the engine that will open it prematurely.
 
glider said:
Did the dealer increase the main breaker to a 50 amp from the 40 that was in there?
Click to expand...

Boss it seems to me there was also a recall on ignition switches, maybe an on going problem?
 
I worked with a guy who had an 02 ultra with the same problem, it turned out to be a small crack in a wire in the fairing, apparently when the bike warmed up the wire would short out and shut it down.
 
Will check it out.

Dealer is going to check the ignition switch today.
Thanks!
 
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I had the same thing hapen to me on my '03 Ultr when I first bought it. It died on me twice while on the road. Both times I would pull over, wait a while and it would eventually start right up. It was always on a hot day as I recall. I took it back to the dealer and he said it was the breaker. They fixed it and I haven't had a problem since! That was four years ago by the way. :)
 
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