Electrical issue? Possibly? 2004 XB12s

[user_deleted]

when i posted up that link with companion comment "this is the one you want" my intentions were to get you onto sellers page so that you could see the specs, pricing, terminal design, etc. and decide for yourself. it was not to specifically suggest that you purchase the 14L battery. even the ad pics clearly show terminal orientation reversed.

 

[Cooter]

Lunatic, you should put a Deka battery for a Buell on your avatar.:black_eyed:









:angel:

 

[netty2424]

There has been couple threads on the fan running like that with nothing else and for the same reason:indecisiveness:
IIRC there really wasn't any adverse affects? Put the right battery in and hook it up right, turn it on and see what happens? Theres really nothing else you can do. Whatever damage (if any) has been done. It's done.

Went to HD and bought a factory battery. Got my dash back and fan stopped running. Flipped the switch and the fuel pump primed. Hit the ignition. Snap and nothing. Lost dash again.

****ing over it. One of the mechanics at this HD location was their buell guy. Someone gave him my number and he called me last night. Dropping it off at his house this weekend for him to work on.

 

[Cooter]

Good luck Netty, post up what he finds.


Well Lunatic? I'm waiting!! LOL>

 

[netty2424]

when i posted up that link with companion comment "this is the one you want" my intentions were to get you onto sellers page so that you could see the specs, pricing, terminal design, etc. and decide for yourself. it was not to specifically suggest that you purchase the 14L battery. even the ad pics clearly show terminal orientation reversed.

I didn't come on here to blame anyone, nor have I. I take responsibility for not looking at the terminals. Stupid mistake on my part. But your comment was very precise so I was convinced "this is the one I want!" It's not like you said "I'm providing a link to a battery that isn't the one you want because it's incorrect." Huge difference there. I work for a large distributor of medical products and most of he pictures on our website and my competitors are inaccurate with subtle details due to the large number of items in the system.So rarely do I even use pictures as reference. I was under the assumption that you provided a link that you knew to be correct.

Again, I'm not blaming anyone. Further, seller is taking the battery back and providing a refund.

I don't care about the battery at this point, just want to resolve the issue properly and sell it so I have confidence the buyer is getting a solid bike free of electrical gremlins. Now its just a matter of how much more money I'll throw at it with this mechanic before it gets parted out.

 

[user_deleted]

I didn't come on here to blame anyone, nor have I. I take responsibility for not looking at the terminals. Stupid mistake on my part. But your comment was very precise so I was convinced "this is the one I want!" It's not like you said "I'm providing a link to a battery that isn't the one you want because it's incorrect." Huge difference there.

you're correct and i profusely apologize for my recommendation wording. should have clarified with something additional along the lines of "go to seller's store and find your XB battery which is the ETX14." again i apologize for not being more precise. water over the dam at this point but for what it's worth i probably install 3 new batteries a week here in assorted bikes and to prevent things such as this from happening i always place the new battery alongside the bad one and compare the 3 dimensional sizes along with terminal orientations prior to installation to avoid precisely this from happening.

 

[netty2424]

I didn't come on here to blame anyone, nor have I. I take responsibility for not looking at the terminals. Stupid mistake on my part. But your comment was very precise so I was convinced "this is the one I want!" It's not like you said "I'm providing a link to a battery that isn't the one you want because it's incorrect." Huge difference there.

you're correct and i profusely apologize for my recommendation wording. should have clarified with something additional along the lines of "go to seller's store and find your XB battery which is the ETX14." again i apologize for not being more precise. water over the dam at this point but for what it's worth i probably install 3 new batteries a week here in assorted bikes and to prevent things such as this from happening i always place the new battery alongside the bad one and compare the 3 dimensional sizes along with terminal orientations prior to installation to avoid precisely this from happening.

It's all good. I actually did compare them for size/dimensions, I just didn't look at the pos/neg. I think I'm going to spend some time on it this weekend, hopefully uninterrupted. I've got two little ones so it's been tough to grab more than a few minutes at a time to focus on it.

All the wiring looks good under the seat so I'm afraid it's somewhere else which is going to take some time with the service manual and tracing the wires. Which is a mfr as it's wrapped with the mesh.

Any possibility the ECM has fried?

 

[user_deleted]

Any possibility the ECM has fried?

hate to say it netty but at least a 50% possibility as it doesn't have built-in "reverse polarity" protection. most modern vehicles have a "polarity sensitive" relay or large main fuse for precisely this situation where battery cables/terminals get crossed during batt installation....or crossed cables when the battery is being jumped or hooked to a large charger. unfortunately most cycles including Buells do not. think i mentioned it before but have run across this many times both on here and with call-in customers and again....in most instances....the key switch relay and ignition fuse are fried. have also seen an instance where the main ground wires on the left side under-seat frame rail actually melted. in your case before i'd tear into the wiring or purchase another ecm i would replace both the key switch relay, the ignition relay, and closely check the key switch fuse. see the below and for what it's worth the relays are the same as most ford and chrysler a/c relays available for a few bucks at common auto parts stores.

 

[netty2424]

Any possibility the ECM has fried?

hate to say it netty but at least a 50% possibility as it doesn't have built-in "reverse polarity" protection. most modern vehicles have a "polarity sensitive" relay or large main fuse for precisely this situation where battery cables/terminals get crossed during batt installation....or crossed cables when the battery is being jumped or hooked to a large charger. unfortunately most cycles including Buells do not. think i mentioned it before but have run across this many times both on here and with call-in customers and again....in most instances....the key switch relay and ignition fuse are fried. have also seen an instance where the main ground wires on the left side under-seat frame rail actually melted. in your case before i'd tear into the wiring or purchase another ecm i would replace both the key switch relay, the ignition relay, and closely check the key switch fuse. see the below and for what it's worth the relays are the same as most ford and chrysler a/c relays available for a few bucks at common auto parts stores.

View attachment 9414

I purchased the 3 relays from HD when I picked up the battery I started to put them in and thought I better check a few things off the list before I repeated the damage to those, if in fact damage has been done. . I pulled the tail apart yesterday and all the wiring was whole. No visible damage or melted wiring. I didn't rip the mesh off the wire harness, just checked all visible wires. Removed the fuse block and all looked good there as well.

The other issue I'll have to contend with is there is a Doubeck TFI attached when I bought the bike and I have a big bore kit. So plugging in a new ECM will open up another can of worms.

 

[Cooter]

Nothing should have "melted". It was reverse polarity, not a short to ground. I could see relay damage (windings) for sure. But they are cheap (if you don't buy them from HD!).

The Dobeck TFI is a add-on unit meant to be used with a stock ECM fuel program. Stock ECM's can be found for $100 or less. SPHDonline.com just started stocking new ECM's that come wit stock programming.

IMO, If you need a ECM I would junk the OG Dobeck thing and tune a stock ECM box for the big bore kit for MUCH, much, much, better fueling control.