Expensive lesson last night.  My ride home from work has a 3-4 km downhill section that sometimes slows to a crawl.  Last night I kicked it into neutral and started coasting.  After a minute or two the Security Key light came on and stayed on.  Didnt think too much of it but as the traffic slowed even further I thought I would give the engine a rest and shut it down.  Big Mistake !!  She would not fire back up.  Stuck on a dangerous curve for a couple hours until a very brave older gentleman put himself in harms way to block for me while I tried to get 3/4 of a km further down the hill.  Very dangerous for both of us with limited view in the twisties.  Worth the risk though considering how bad a position i was in originally.  Anyway; the coasting in neautral confused the immobiler into thinking the bike was being stolen and locked it out.  It wont shut the motor down when the light came on; but when I shut it down; it would not restart.  Buggered.   A couple hours of trying to reset codes and having my second FOB brought to me not working; I called Harley Assist and joined on the spot.  I was dreading having some tilt tray come get me.  They sent a specialised bike transporting van and the dude was super professional and careful.  I thoroughly recommend Moto-Motion Motorcycle Transport in Sydney area.  1-300-663418  Anyway; got bike home disconnected battery and shorted terminals for 20 minutes to completely clear any codes.  Bike was reset and tried to start, but battery too dead from almost 4 hours of hazards flashing.  Should be right tomorrow morning though.  

I don't understand...both your fobs didn't work? It should reset if you have the fob or even a pin to enter?

why did you shut it down in the first place? to conserve fuel? what did that end up costing you? thanks for the heads up (((-;

Cheers for the heads up, something to be wary of.

All good now I hope.

 

Neither FOB would bring it out of its coma. Had a mate bring my spare out to me. No Good. Had another mate walk me thru the PIN Code process and a couple other things while on side of road. Tried it and No Good. Got it home and next day still in Coma. Pulled battery terminals and connected them together. Harley Service said never heard of this before but gave me a tip to try. Disconnect battery and connect the two terminals together for 20 minutes. This drains out all codes and transistors resets everything back to factory. Bike was on charge last night as it was dead from hazards being on for 3 hours that night. Started right up this morning. Now, Bever asked the million dollar question. Why did I shut it down ? I have no answer other than Im an idiot. The light was on; it had been idling a long time in traffic and I thought I would give it a break and coast down the rest of the hill and start it up at the bottom. Its sorta logical I guess. The bike thought it was being stolen. In neutral rolling at 10 kmh per hour. The thing is it would have been fine had I not turned it off. It was running fine with Security Light on. Soon as I turned it off that was when it went into coma. Cost me $330 bucks in the end. If your not near tools and a workshop and that light comes on Keep It Running !

So.....who's game to coast it in neutral to see if the security light comes on?

I curious.

Did you try holging the clutch lever in while restarting.What hapens is the ecm thinks its in gear even though
its in neutral.So it wont start unless you hold the clutch lever in.

Gidday Jersey and anyone else who might know of this problem ... can I just confirm what you did as I have turned off my ignition and coasted down a road in bad Traffic a couple of times now and never had a problem ... BUT ... if I was just lucky then I don`t want to push my luck in the future .

So if I read it right you were in bad slow traffic going down a hill and put your bike in neutral and shut it off and coasted then the security light came on and wouldn`t restart at the bottom of the hill is that correct .

Is this a model specific problem ... one of mine is a 08 Softail Custom ... is there a possibility that the Fob Batteries were stuffed hence the reason for the bike not recognising them ... I know when I move the bike around in the shed the warning lights flash but never seems to cause any problem ... I always have my Fob with me though .

Is there a way or a warning for when Fob Batteries are getting to the end of their life .

A little time back when on a overnighter with some of the lads I blew a belt and had to get the poor old girl towed home on the back of a car trailer ... much embarrassment ... but anyhow when bike was loaded forgot to attach the fob to the bike and when we took off the lights were flashing away so stopped and attached the Fob to the bike so it wouldn`t fall off and no problems ... all the way from Tenterfield to Brisbane being shaken around on the back of a car trailer but started up no worries .

Was another time when the little antenna under the seat for the Fob was cracked and it wouldn`t start ... had to get a another antenna and it seemed to fix the issue .

Anyhow hope there are some whiz bang gurus out there that can clear up a couple of my questions as I don`t think it is unreasonable to turn off your bike in hot slow traffic going down a hill as long as you have your Fob with you but if I am wrong I definitely won`t be doing it again .

Tim

Lol ... your not wrong there Perthhog ... recently chucked some Foot Boards / Running boards on the Springer ... so much more comfortable ... with the New Andrews EV 13 in there she is nice and punchy down low now .

Hey Tim,

Everything correct except the Immobiliser light came on while I was coasting before I shut it down.  It actually happened twice.  The first time about a week before I didnt shut the bike down and the light just went out when I started cruising again.  The second time was the same until I shut it down.  Then the alarm light started flashing which I have never seen before.  There was no flashing blinkers or audible alarm just the key light flashing every few seconds on the dash and no starter function.  The lights and all worked but start circuit disabled.  I had just replaced my FOB battery and pretty much knew that wasnt it.  I had a mate bring my second one out anyway and that didnt work either.  I tried my PIN as well with no luck.  Needless to say I have all the tools on board now to get to, and disconnect my battery !  In hindsight I wish I had checked the error codes when I got it home.  Might have answered your question.  Took Harley services suggestion the next day to disconnect battery and jump the leads together for 20 min. and it worked.  Doing that supposedly drains all error codes and transistors and basically resets factory sttings.  The guy said he never heard of it before and didnt know why the FOB didnt disable it.  All he could say was the combination of coasting in neutral and shutting down may have confused the ECM and shut it down.  Go Figure.  Wish I had that night back.  Luckily I had a fresh bottle of plonk in the bags. 

Thanks for the reply Jersey ... Don`t know if it was Karma or coincidence but 2 nights after I wrote to you I went into garage and Jacked up bike to do a little cleaning and preventive maintenance and the indicators started flashing from side to side ... had my fob on me and occasionally they flash for a second or so due to the bike shaking a little as I jack it up but always go off .

Not this time ... they kept flashing but had no error codes or flashing key and wouldn`t start ... Phark what`s going on here I thought ... rang my trusty mechanic and he knew straight away it was the fob had a flat battery ... I told him even my spare one that had never been near the bike wouldn`t work and he said that even though I had never used it so to speak the fact that the Battery was installed in the spare fob it also was flat .

He recommended replacing the batteries but not to install the spare one - leave it in it`s sealed pack and it should last longer but the main thing was to buy new ones every year as they are only a couple of bucks ... anyhow put in new batteries and hey presto started up first time .

Now all I have to do is burn into my brain cells that confusing sequence in how to over ride the fob if I ever have problems out and about , Lol ... have read the manual and was shown just yesterday by the local Harley Technician but I reckon you would have to do that more than a few times to be able to remember it clearly .

Anyhow here`s hoping neither one of us has any Electrical issues again ... Bloody Hate Electrics , Lol , Cheers .

Tim .

They seem to do some strange shit when you do something out of the ordinary, turned mine off at the bar switch an forgot to
turn ignition off before leaving the bike for around 10 min.
Bike started no problem when I came back but lost the audible alarm when ignition was turned off.
Thanks to a search of the forum, that's now back!

I have the sequence written down and in my wallet in case I ever lose the fob while on the road, there's no way I'm fucking
remembering that when I most need it!