electrical problem

Hey all! I ride a 2005 AIH Legend

I bought her last year and have worked out most of the bugs but I am still dealing with an electrical probem.

I have total power shut down at times...mostly when it is hot an has been sitting, and then taking off again. Sometimes the power sputters, resetting the cluster and comes back in the blink of an eye...other times I have nothing anywhere through the whole system.

I am thinking that it is the main circuit breaker....I have a short or there is thermo breakdown within the breaker.

I have constructed an inline 30 amp jumper to test this...I rode her hard and made stops for 250 miles on last friday, but couldn't get the bike to give me the probs that have been occuring, so I haven't had the chance to use the jumper to see if the power comes back once the main breaker is jumped.

here's the pdf of the wiring diagram.

By the way...there is new heat shrink everywhere on the bike, so obviously the previous owner was doing a search also....hehehehehe

Here's a pic of her without the front fender attached.....I had to ride after the winter paint job!

I would have a voltage meter with me too and I'd trace the circuit. I know, what a pain in the ass, but it's kinda whatcha gotta do for the most part.

But I was inclined to say bad breaker too. It could be a short too. Both seem possible.

It sounds more like a short that is triping the braker. You said it dose not do it all the time, a brake in a wire rubbing along the frame somewhere could be it. As FX said, you need to check it out the old way one wire at a time

I agree. May also be that you have a wire that has an intermittent break. And they are harder to find than a short. There are a few tool available that will locate shorts for you. They induce a signal into the wire and a sensor helps you find it. Good Luck, and keep us posted. Nice ride. I can understand your need to get it out and ride ASAP.

Rode to work today. After work it goes to the shop fro a new rear tire and that elusive inspection sticker. Gonna ride as much as possible this year. With gas prices what they are, the bike will get a work out.

I couldn't resist printing the schematic to suggest some isolation disconnections that would enable you to ride in the day and see what happens. But that don't look doable easily.

Do an arbitrary swap of the 30 amp breaker.

Thanks guy's I'll keep y'all posted

We have a lot of places we want to hit this year and it is hard to tust this bike. Last year at the end on the riding season I was stuck in the dark on a deserted country for 3 hrs before the power came back.

On highways, I only ride in the fast or slow lane. I learned this the hard way....left my tighty-whiteys on the side of the road. Hehehehehee

Lenny, I aint got a clue what the problem is but that sure is a nice looking bike.

I'd sure like to be at the bike with an amp and volt meter when it's not powering up. I'd check the voltage from the battery to the fuse panel and on and then see if any current was flowing to a short.

Lenny, when you say "total power shutdown" do you really mean total electrical shutdown, as in no turn signals, no headlights, no horn, etc, nothing at all... or just total power shutdown as in nothing getting to the ignition system?

If it's really *total*, then the breaker or an intermittant short in one of the wires between the breaker and pins 3&4 on plug 70B. If it's *only* in the ignition system, based on your earlier description, I'd be inclined to suspect the head temp sensor. The CHTS will be a thermocouple sending unit that transmits a signal back to the ignition module, so to tell you how to diagnose it we'll need to know what particular ignition module you have on the bike. It's possible to bypass the CHTS altogether with the appropriate resistor in the wiring, but I'd hate to tell you to stick something in there without knowing the particulars on the ignitor.

Lenny, when you say "total power shutdown" do you really mean total electrical shutdown, as in no turn signals, no headlights, no horn, etc, nothing at all... or just total power shutdown as in nothing getting to the ignition system?

If it's really *total*, then the breaker or an intermittant short in one of the wires between the breaker and pins 3&4 on plug 70B. If it's *only* in the ignition system, based on your earlier description, I'd be inclined to suspect the head temp sensor. The CHTS will be a thermocouple sending unit that transmits a signal back to the ignition module, so to tell you how to diagnose it we'll need to know what particular ignition module you have on the bike. It's possible to bypass the CHTS altogether with the appropriate resistor in the wiring, but I'd hate to tell you to stick something in there without knowing the particulars on the ignitor.

I wrote a whole post around the head sensor and deleted it after I re-read the OP. I took him to mean all dead.

But the head temp sensor connected to the "ignitor" jumped out at me big time if it's not a total black out.

If that thing is running lean, there would be good reason for it to shut down lest you burn a piston top off.

Total Black out guys! No power to anything.

There is electrical tape on the portion of the main harness that rests right between the frame ground and the negative post...no rubber covers on these. I have a piece of garden hose that I split covering this section of the harness right now. The fit is very tight there, and the previous owner applied the tape to cover the damage to the heat shrink cause by the rubbing on the negative post. There is also evidence of rubbing from the frame ground.

Here is a pic of what it looks like with the garden hose temporary protector removed.
There is movement between the frame ground and the negative post...what I am saying is that if I ride, that wrap of wire won't be in the same position that you see know.

Oh, the plot thickens and the gears are a working eh? hehehehe

Thanks guys for taking the time to help.

P.S. The movement causes that electrical tape to wind back off....that's why I did the garden hose thing.

Lenny, when you say "total power shutdown" do you really mean total electrical shutdown, as in no turn signals, no headlights, no horn, etc, nothing at all... or just total power shutdown as in nothing getting to the ignition system?

If it's really *total*, then the breaker or an intermittant short in one of the wires between the breaker and pins 3&4 on plug 70B.

Ron that's why I made the jumper...3&4 say power. That means total power to the whole system...correct?

The clearance shit is tight thoughout the whole bike, everywhere, and I may have to remove a lot of stuff...example...battery and oil tank just to replace the 30 amp circuit breaker...hence, the inline jumper idea. I would like it if I could get the system to have the total shut down again to test my theory on the jumper.

Just throwing out my ideas to you guys that have more "tooling" experience than I do.

I think we are starting get somewhere here!

Thank's

Lenny

P.S. If it isn't resolved by the end of the season....I'll do a complete re-wire while I am putting a new paint-job on her!!!!

"Have tool's"..."Spray paint" hehehehe

I wrote a whole post around the head sensor and deleted it after I re-read the OP. I took him to mean all dead.

But the head temp sensor connected to the "ignitor" jumped out at me big time if it's not a total black out.

If that thing is running lean, there would be good reason for it to shut down lest you burn a piston top off.

FX....When I bought the bike I had it looked over and serviced...The tooler's took out a 29 jet and replaced it with a 31....they said they probably could have gone up to a 32.

The result of the rejet was no hesitation when rolling down on the throttle.

The pipes underneath the heat sheilds are blue...I haven't pulled the plugs yet to see the color. Black...rich? What color for lean...Grey?

I have more info and schematic's from a site that replaces those crappy England "Gill" shit. I'll post the info as needed....but I think Ron is on to what I was thinking 3&4...70B

Sorry for multiple post's..not whorin..just coming up with new thoughts and keeping them seperated.

Lenny

Check this out!!!

The pic shows the wire that goes to the copper/battery post on the circuit breaker pinched inbetween the the splash plate and swing arm.

Took me a while to get the plate off and there were cuts in the wire from the pinch. I couldn't see if the cuts got all the way through, but I heat shrunk them and replaced the circuit breaker.

I hope this was the problem...time will tell.

Thanks guys, for all your time helping me.

Lenny

Good catch on the short. Hope it works out.

Good catch on the short. Hope it works out.

Got lucky seeing it.....I was looking everywhere on the bike tracing wires, and started to take off the splash plate so I could see the wiring behind it when I saw that pinch.

Probs before the fix!....We are not out of the woods yet!!!!....don't know right now if that was the prob. Instrument Cluster shut down last night with the bike running, and then "later" the bike quit with the rest of the system having power...hit the starter switch(without turning the key off) and she fired right back up!!!!

The above is new shit!!!

Hehehehee,

Lenny

Like I said...this shit happened before the fix today

P.S!!!! IronHorse chopper for sale! "Cheap" Hehehehehe

Well, this may sound way too obvious but I was having a total power shutdown problem on one of my bikes. The bike would totally lose all electrical power and shut down going down the road and leave me stranded. I could go out the next day and all lights would come on and it would fire off, may run for several days then do the same thing. A couple of times I discovered after jiggling the ignition key it would regain all it's electrical. My thinking at the time was the ignition switch. I replaced that, then went on my fat, happy way, two days later total shutdown again. By chance, just as I was about to kick the bike over i hit a wired behind the headlight, which ended up being the main power wired coming out of the fuse panel. One of the connectors for the main power fuse had a hairline crack and would seperate after a period of time due to the current and heat. Replaced the connector and never had the problem again.

Bro, from my wiring diagram there is no fuse panel( I see nothing also in my looking around)...I was thinking the same thing about the ignition switch....unplugging her gives me total shut down

Power to 21 and 22 on 70B

While doing this fix...I have seen that the previous owner has all kinds of attempts (new heat shrinks with very bad solder job's underneath) on the Crank shaft position sensor. Unpluging that coupling gives me total power shut down also.

Here is a pic of the circuit breaker that was replaced....severe Rust on the lead opposite the copper lead coming from the battery.

I heated her up outside the casing and the bi-metallic element clicked back after 8 sec's...of course, it was outside without any heat from the oil tank.

I am learning...so AIG with anything that is posted up here...that's the reason for the new pic....I don't understand the rust deposit opposite from the copper lead on the breaker.

Lenny


Well, this may sound way too obvious but I was having a total power shutdown problem on one of my bikes. The bike would totally lose all electrical power and shut down going down the road and leave me stranded. I could go out the next day and all lights would come on and it would fire off, may run for several days then do the same thing. A couple of times I discovered after jiggling the ignition key it would regain all it's electrical. My thinking at the time was the ignition switch. I replaced that, then went on my fat, happy way, two days later total shutdown again. By chance, just as I was about to kick the bike over i hit a wired behind the headlight, which ended up being the main power wired coming out of the fuse panel. One of the connectors for the main power fuse had a hairline crack and would seperate after a period of time due to the current and heat. Replaced the connector and never had the problem again.