| Author | Message | ||
     Tomzweifel |
Hi all. Nothing earth-shatteringly new here, but I thought I'd share what I found today. My wife blew the Brake/Horn/Muffler fuse on her 12S about two weeks ago when she was in town maneuvering into a parking spot, the MIL light came on as well. She replaced the fuse, and all seemed well. Code 21 set for the active exhaust valve. She ran for a couple of weeks, then had the same thing happen after a couple of hours on the road when she was pulling into the driveway. Same fuse, same code set again. Here's a few pictures of what I found: | ||
| Tomzweifel |
Here's where we're looking:  On the frame neck, there's a bracket that holds the main harness in place and lets it slide as you turn the handlebars.  The area where the bracket bolts to has been machined square, and that left a sharp edge.  That edge wore through several wires, in this case the worst was the red/yellow wire for the brake light.  A few minutes with a file and no more sharp edge.  | ||
| Tomzweifel |
A little bit of paint to clean up the filed edge, repaired the insulation on the wire and wrapped the harness with dragon braid. It makes sense - the only time she blew the fuse was when she was cranking on the handle bars turning hard at low speed with the brake on. The other wires in the bundle that were starting to rub through were a green/tan wire for the start relay and a red wire for the key switch. These wires would have blown the key switch fuse or the ignition fuse. I hope this saves somebody some trouble... | ||
| Hogs |
Hey Tomzweifel, Thanks Buddy , Good post, Always good to know this stuff for down the road...! This kind of info. will keep us out of the Dealers for their long waits and $$$$$ Thanks again,.... | ||
| Tomzweifel |
Ya know, her bike was under warranty, too. And don't get me wrong, the sales guys at the dealer were great. They hooked the bike up to the scan-o-matic the night we brought it there and helped us with whatever info they could. But at this time of the year, the service guys don't get to see their families much as it is, and it's not a lot of help when you can't get a service appointment for whatever length of time their waiting list is up to at that moment. But I totally understand. I'd almost rather do the troubleshooting myself and bug the dealer when I know exactly what the problem is, where, and why. Giving your dealer a bike for a week with a short somewhere that's intermittent and they can't find isn't going to help. | ||
| Cyko_bob |
Tom...agree with Hogs. This is the kind of stuff this board is great for...giving us the heads up on potential problems. I just read your post, but as soon as I go to the garage I am going to check the wiring on my bike too. Thanks for the word...and including the photos. Class act! Cyko Bob  | ||
| Hogs |
Hey Cyko_Bob, Yeah Its always better for us OLD fellas to do our own wrenching, LoL... | ||
| Cyko_bob |
Hey Hogs...what do you mean OLD Fellas? Like you, I feel young when I am on the bikes. Here in Korea I do my own maintenance anyway. The dealership in Seoul does not have Buells, and I would not take it to them anyway. Gotta get to your part of the world (Nova Scotia) before I get too old, ha ha. Ride safe...gotta go...meet those younger fellas for a ride today. God bless, Cyko | ||
| Hogs |
YEah I ride with them young Harley Riders all the time , And I`m Not afraid to say I show them up up on their so called High Performance mods they have done to their heavy and slow big twins, I just wheelie right pass em... LoL All the Best Cyko LoL...! | ||
| Tunes |
To add to this thread, my 12S started blowing IGN fuses. I went to the neck as shown above and found a small amount of chaff.... Bike only had 1200 miles on it, so it didn't have time to wear thru. But that didn't fix the problem. It was the gray wire coming out of the fuel pump, shorting againt the frame. It seems that the majority of electrical problems encountered are either dead sensors or shorts against the frame. | ||
| Jimj |
THANKS Tomzweifel! From 5 years 1 month later! My '06 Uly just turned 10K miles, and blew the Key Switch fuse. After reading your post with its excellent photos, I pulled the harness cover, and there was the chafed spot on the harness. Looking at the schematic, I knew to look at the Red and Red/Black wires. Sure enough, the Red/Black wire had a chafe, and the copper conductor was showing. THANK YOU for saving me tearing the whole harness out to inspect it! Jim Jelinski south Mississippi |
