Bad ground on my bagger

 

Greetings,

I have a 1990 FLHTC which is a rubber mounted bagger.  A few years ago, i
started having intermittment problems that were driving me bonkers.  Stuff
like the blinkers not working, the voltage meter swinging from not showing
any voltage, to showing it was charging OK, to it pegged past 16 volts.
Then, the starter button started not working.  So, I hooked up a separate
push button from the battery to the starter solenoid to get it to crank.
then, it either had great spark and would fire right up, or it had no spark.
I was changing to higher cranking batteries and even put in one of those
high KW starters thinking that maybe the engine was not spinning fast enough
during cranking.  The bike would run fine for a few days and then get into
one of her moods.

Anyway, she got into one of her moods when I was driving it home the other
day and when I pressed the blinker button, the thing just shut off.  When I
turned the key switch on, I had the green neutral light and the red no oil
pressure light come on, but no headlights, zero voltage showing on the volt
meter, no headlight and no running lights.

I screw around with it for about an hour and am making no progress.  Then,
she wakes up, fires right up and I make it home OK.

I pull off the outer fairing and see 4 thermal fuses and I figure one of
them is bad.  So, I hook up a 6' piece of wire with an alligator clip on
both ends.  One end I hook up  to the + of the battery, I turn the key on;
no lights.  So, I proceed to touch the other end of the wire to the output
side of the thermal fuses to see if any of them are bad.  Nothing changes.

I accidentally touch the wire to the frame and get no spark.  I touch the
wire to the engine and it does spark.

So, I connect the wire to the - side of the battery and the other side to
the frame and EVERYTIHNG comes back to life. I hit the starter button and
she fires right up. My radio and CB even started working again.

That starter button has not worked for at least 2 years.  The radio crapped
out about a year ago and the CB shortly after that.

The - side of the battery connects to the engine at one of the starter
bolts.  So, the engine is grounded.  But, does anyone know how the frame is
supposed to be grounded?  I have had this bike for about 8 years and never
did any engine or electrical work to it, so, either it was never grounded,
or something got disconnected someplace.  You would think that one of the
metal heim joints on the top and on the front of the engine would
electrically connect the engine to the frame, but I guess not.

What I did to 'fix' this was connect an 8 guage wire from the battery  -
post to the fender support bracket, but I am curious as to what the factor
solution is for this.

Ride safe,

CJ
==

 

On Mon, 26 Apr 2010 21:14:20 -0400, "Clint Jensen"


    Two things.......  First take a look at a heim joint, it's got
rubber in the joint to allow isolation.  Not much of a ground
there..........
    Second, take a look under the bike.  You should find a large
braided flat cable grounding the whole bike.  Clean & tighten the
connections.

Jinks ('86FXRS, '07FLTR)
#64
Remember, "No good deed goes unpunished"

 

Jinks wrote:

What he said . There's a flat braid that hooks to the crossmember on one end
, to a bolt on the trans or motor on the other . The motor end connection
has it's own bolt , but I'd have to go out and look to say where it is , and
it's dark out there .

--
Snag
"90 FLHTCU "Strider"
'39 WLDD "PopCycle"
BS 132/SENS/DOF

 

Yeah, had the same problem on my 86 FLHTC Liberty.  Went ahead and just
replaced the ground strap under the frame and she was back to runnin'
steady.

RD
81 FLH
86 FLHTC Liberty
08 FLHTCUI

 



the factory solution to this is to upgrade to a 2010....

Invisible68
(but you should check what the other fine gentalmen have suggested...oh
course after you get them something to drink...)