03 xb9r electrical issues! Can unplug headlights and the bike shuts off. Neutral light is stuck on, highbeam indicator light is stuck on, headlights don't work unless the kill switch is off(they are very dim & stuck on highbeam), red engine light flickers a little bit and I can hear a slight clicking noise when it flickers(this is when the kill switch is off), and when the lights come on real dim with kill switch off they will shut off when the stand goes up, and the key can be turned to off and the bike still run. Bike runs perfect but has these issues. I've checked wires, battery, switches and havntfound jack. Please help me get this bike fixed before the local thunderbeach next week here in panama city. Thanks
i hate electrical problems
- Thread starter pewee
- Start date
Help Support Buellxb Forum:
konarider94
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2009
- Messages
- 4,432
maybe check the harness where it goes through the trees by the stem. sounds like you have some nasty shorts going on. when you say you checked wires what and how did you check them?
Stevenc150
Well-known member
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2008
- Messages
- 5,144
Good Lord. What were your latest mods or the most recent thing that's happened (wreck, rode in downpour, ECMSpy stuff, etc.)? There has to be an event or something significant that occured, that was the beginning point for all that to start happening. [confused]
Sorry for no updates. I work at least 12 hour days 6 to 7 days a week. I havnt done any mods to the bike. Only moisture I've rode in is heavy fog. I rode the bike to work and everything was working then the first thing that went wrong was the ignition switch not shutting the bike off at the gas pump the morning I got off work. After that a guy at a gas station the next day told me my headlights weren't on. I pulled fuses to check them first and that's when the neutral light started sticking on. I went to a local independent harley mechanic and he said that it could take him forever to find a shorted wire and it would be very expensive since its $75 a hour. I have to fix this myself. I have a day off tomorrow and plan to get the muti meter out again and start checking wires. I just don't get it.
christianmb
Well-known member
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2009
- Messages
- 786
+1 on snrusnak. Sounds like a big ground problem. Also, check to see if your battery ground is tight at the battery and the frame. Otherwise, MAYBE (and I only say this because of the ignition not shutting the bike off) a bad ignition switch. How many miles? Another idea, take note of other repairs or work you have done, and see if you have crossed a connection somewhere. This is a strange one. Also, because I just went through this one, check your connector #77.
Found part of the problem. Headlight plug was getting so hot that the inside of the plug melted. Don't understand why headlight wires are getting so hot though. Now I have to figure out why the neutral light is stuck on. Kickstand safety switch is bypassed and I unplugged the wires behind the sprocket cover and the light is still on.
konarider94
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2009
- Messages
- 4,432
that happened to me once. it was just a bad connection and it was arcing so much that it started to melt the plug. it wont blow the fuse when it arcs like that because its not actually pulling any more load.
Well after a little research I think I know what's wrong with the neutral light. I bet I swapped the diode around. I'm going to check this first thing tomorrow. I'm also going to hardwire the headlights just to see if the wires heat up and to see if they work properly. The bike is in my shop which is almost 45 minutes away so unfortunately I can't go see if I was just dumb and when I was pulling fuses I swapped it around. Ill update tomorrow. If it isn't me just not paying attention then I'm going to order a new neutral switch. Should I order from the dealer or online? Closet dealers are both 2 hours away.
Neutral light was totally my fault. Had then swapped around. Headlights are working when hard wired but wires are still getting hot. My question now is why is there 3 wires coming from the headlights and 4 wires from the harness? I have an extra wire. It is light brown with a white stripe on each side or vice versa depending on how you look at it. The wiring diagram from what I can understand is that its labeled as o/w and only pertains to hdi position lamps so I guess its just an extra wire. The factory plug was 3 wires on bottom and 4 on top. So Black wires are grounds, whites are high beam, yellows are low beam, so what the heck is the extra wire? What's throwing me off is turning the kill switch off will turn off the low beam but not the high beam. Is it supposed to be this way? Not a big deal because I can ride it and deal with this problem.
Everything matches up except I don't have a wire coming from the headlights that match the wire from the harness. Before I cut the melted plugs off that extra wire was in the harness plug but didn't connect to anything in the headlight plug. I had to cut both plugs(male and female) off because they were melted together. I'm just going to delete the extra wire for now and wire the 3 matching wires together.
Just checked the extra wire and it is powered when the key is on. If I connect that wire to the high beam it stays on constantly and the switch on the controls does not shut it off. If I connect that wire to the low beam then the kill switch does not shut the low beam light off. Time to delete this extra wire because it is the one causing the other wire to get hot when they are connected
