Blue..........
coming from you wally that means the world to me. thanks my friend and by the way...i love a good old fashioned bitch slappin' from time to time.John, you have a treasure trove, a virtual myriad, a host, a cavalcade, a plethora of vintage bitch slapping clips and stills. VERY IMPRESSIVE.....Lmfao
my pleasure and happy the info resolved your problem. over time on many XB models the small wiring harness that feeds the 2 horn blade-style connectors will rub thru on the actual horn bracket. there was a TSB issued by buell back in the day on the repair/prevention of this. in the future if your horn stops working again check this harness. simple to check...simple to repair....simple to prevent.Great write up. I found out that my horn didn't work when I tried to pass inspection for my registration renewal. There was a loose ground wire exactly where you said it would be. Thanks!
lyu: i would NOT run a dedicated wire from the battery negative post to the starter motor area. it serves absolutely no purpose whatsoever and is just another point of contention for a potential loose battery terminal connection. many XB owners DO install a dedicated ground wire in reasonable guage size from the rear-most ignition coil mounting bolt to the negative battery cable frame attachment point. contrary to internet BS it is NOT a coil ground.....as the factory coil is NOT grounded.....but rather just another grounding point for the motor in general.Lunatic I have some questions regarding the Grounding points you described "large braided T-bone wire....the negative battery cable to frame lug...and the elusive bottom triple clamp grounding point."
Negative battery to frame is near the battery, I've figured out the triple clamp location but I'm confused about the large braided t-bone wire ground location. Can you elaborate pls?
I've also read people putting a 10 guage wire ground from batteries negative straight to the starter. Where would I connect the wire to the starter?
Thanks
Lyu
Having repaired yet another one of these electrical gremlins over the weekend thought i'd mention a common source of electrical anomalies and an easy fix for same. XB models have multiple grounding points for current flow including the large braided T-bone wire....the negative battery cable to frame lug...and the elusive bottom triple clamp grounding point. Here's something to keep in mind and as of saturday this is probably the 20th-something XB i've done this repair on. Symptoms: handlebar switch gear controls inconsistent....one or both headlights randomly turn off....turn signals decide not to flash or even illuminate....dash cluster lights and gauges acting up....horn failure....one or both headlights normal then dim then back to normal. The likely culprit?The 4-wire ground cluster. Location? Front of bottom triple clamp. How is it attached? One torx screw. Where is it attached? Front middle of bottom triple clamp. What does it look like? 4 black wires attached to 2 round wiring eyelets. Proven repair? On Ulysses and Lightning models remove the flyscreen(4 screws), remove the headlight bucket(3 torx screws-1 per side and 1 on bottom),look at bottom triple clamp and there's the torx screw and the 4-wire ground cluster. Those 4 wires have a tendency over time to dislodge themselves from the 2 small wire terminals causing one or more of the above problems. Fix? Pull firmly on the wires and you'll gain a bit of slack in them. snip off the 2 crappy factory terminal ends. strip approx. 1/2 inch of insulation from each wire...bundle the 4 ends together...solder together....then install in 1 top quality terminal and reattach. You'll be surprised how more consistent the bikes' lights and controls are with this simple fix.