Hi everyone, 

Well, Was blatting down the freeway to Sydney yesterday. All was going great, passed a copper with a laser whom didn't follow me. Thinks to meself, yep will be a good ride.

How wrong I was. 

The bike (93 FXR - 80,000ish k's) surged a bit - around 105kph. Felt like a misfire. Backed off and on again. Engine cut out. No smoke, no bangs no nothing. Not even lights.

Coasted to a stop in the emergency lane and could smell burning electrickery. Smells exactly like burning $100 notes funnily enough... but I digress..

The father in Law was riding in front of me and he said to me that he noticed the headlight go out, probably 3 mins prior. Now the bike has no working turn signals.

The smell was coming from the right hand side cover. 

Couldnt get her started again. Pulled the spark plugs and checked for spark. Nothing. I start guessing the ignition module has lunched itself.

Wife and Mother in Law bring out the trailer and we head home with a sick bike.

Now in the garage, I pull the side cover and notice the turn signal module has boiled stinky black shit out of it. Yup, the source of the burning smell. Pin 2 had melted out of the module (orange wire - goes to brake light switch - brake light still works....). Shit. 

Also found that the headlight wire shorted in the bucket, blowing the globe. Am guessing this might have something to do with the module.

Anyways, need to find my multimeter and do some testing. 

Is there a way that I can bypass the turn signal module somehow and use a regular flasher relay and wires? Same as my old Falcon? This module smells really expensive..

Also, having not yet tested the ignition module but fearing the worst, are they still available from Harley or is there a better variant out there?

Im replacing the circuit breakers as well, just in case. I have have no idea how old they are...

Wanna know the weird thing? When cranking her over, she sounds like she has no compression, like an open valve. Done the thumb test etc and seems to have compression but will test with a guage today. I actually thought I had broken a cam, explaining the lack of spark and the quick turning over. Can see the ignition rotor spinning in the cam chest on cranking though..

Thoughts?

 

Okay, compression is 115 PSI in both cylinders.

Its done, its had it, message me and ill give you my address I wont charge you to take it off your hands, it'll probably cost $45000 to get it up and running
but i'll do it.

Thanks mate. Battery is brand new. On the way to MCA for some fresh breakers and a flasher module. Will price up a new ignition system whilst there. Cheers

Lol @ mitch.

Got an aftermarket flasher module and new circuit breakers. Is $499 a decent price for the Crane Hi-4N full kit?

Checked out the resistance/grounding etc for the OEM module and coil and both are within specs according to the manual. Changed over the circuit breakers, tested the ignition switch and handlebar switch. Now I am at the point of tearing bits off and pulling the harness for further diagnosis. Found my horn too lol..

I did notice that the yellow low-beam wire in the headlight bucket was bare near the connector and had signs of scorching on the insulation. Would explain my blown headlight. What it doesn't explain is the lack of spark or the fried flasher module.

Are these two modules connected in some way? Bit hard to read the shitty Clymer diagram.

I bought an SDC turn signal module in the hope I could use it to replace the burnt OEM one. Now I'm not so sure..

My guess is thats only a small part of my problem. Didnt know there were so many wires crammed into a headlight bucket either.

SDC turn signal module works well. Good replacement for the OEM one and has an inbuilt LED load equaliser.

Although the coil and module are testing okay with a VOM, I cannot get the coil to throw a spark by jumping/grounding it as per the manual.

Tore the harness apart and checked all the terminals etc. Every globe on the bike was blown..

Looks like I'm up for a new ignition and a handful of globes.

Cheers.

 

 

Are all the fuses ok?

Sounds like the alternator stator, done mine in the 91 Rubberglide. Apparently a common thingy.

Tested the stator/reg about 3 weeks ago when I replaced the battery. AC output was fine and there were no apparent shorts.

Aside from whipping it out (the stator..), is there a way of testing it with the bike not currently running?