04 chop randomly dies and leaves me stranded

[Transam1]

Hello all!
I'm going crazy trying to figure out what's going on.

Last year I was on a poker run when randomly my bike backfired while cruising and I lost all power to everything and it never came back. Had to trailer home. At that time I put a new battery in it and it worked fine for a while.

2 weeks ago I started my bike up in the garage about to ride and boom, backfire and loss of all power. Messed with the battery and it was hot. Also found out my starter solenoid was junk and raking my battery even with the key off.

So, Friday I got my starter back, fixed, put it on with another new battery and it fired right up and I rode around block.

Today, I went out to ride, turned key on, no power... Wtf!

Messed with connections and such for an hour and finally power kicked on somehow. So I took of, was Rollin down the interstate when I felt the bike start to surge a little and cut out a little, then boom! Backfire and no power. Since I was sitting in the side of 70mph traffic I messed with battery cables and magically I saw my neutral light come on and it started right up. Got down the road another 4 miles and boom same shit, but this time I could not get any power back. Also when it died the last time the red oil light cam on and started to blink. I hit the starter and it clicked and then lost power.


Anyone have any insight? It's driving me bonkers

 

[JR03CHOPPER]

Sounds like a bad ground possibly. Or you need to go through and test your charginging system one component at a time. Just my thoughts.

 

[Transam1]

I thought ground also but they are all tight and I took sand paper to them also. The only grounds I have seen is the one on the frame by the battery and the one that connects to the starter bolt.
Would a bad stator cause that? The battery is fresh so I figured it would do that weather it was charging or not.

 

[Wills67]

May sound weird, but check your cam sensor. My bike was doing something similar a while back. It seems that when it got hot, it lost connection. Frustrating and took me a while to find it. Pop the cap on the nose cone and pull the two screws holding the sensor. Lay it back and you can probably tell if it smells burned. This all of course is if you are still running the stock optical sensor.

 

[Mr. Wright]

When you say you loose power, is that lights and everything, or just the engine dies and won't restart?

 

[Transam1]

Lights and everything. Borowed a testing meter froma buddy and checked the grounds and they are all good, also pulled the switch cover and checked the switch and it is good. So after that I'm a little lost/stuck. I can hold just the 2 wires that normally turn the lights on to the battery posts and I get noting. (Starter unhooked and all). Makes me wonder if it the black box/computer or the little aluminum box above it with the red lightbulb and ingraved heart and sword on it

 

[Wills67]

OK, you do have something more serious going on. It does sound like a ground issue. Or, you could have wires chafed and shorting. I know it sounds goofy, but I speak from experience. Make sure all the wires that should be connected to the battery got pulled back up and are connected. At key on, you should see some LED's on top of the EHC and the red LED on the Thunderheart ignition module. If not, try unplugging and then reconnecting the EHC module just to make sure you have a good connection.

 

[Transam1]

after a little tinkering around i grabbed a big optima battery and leaned it over and held the 2 wires on the posts that turn the lights on and all that and i heard i little click (i think) and the lights came on... while i was scratching my head i decided to grab the motorcycle battery and try it, and they also worked... and i had just got done doing this all day. so i dont know. I did however find an issue and probably my main problem... The big black clip the plug into the top of the black box/computer. if i wiggle it around the lights sometimes flicker and if i pull up on it a tad they will go off every time. Anyone have a good solution on how to keep the plug tight?

When i first got the bike I would loose power like that when i hit a big bump or revved it high and simply wiggle the plug and hold my tongue just right and i would regain power. So my idea was to put some zip ties around it and pull it tight and thats how it has been for a few months but i guess it isnt working. And yes today when i was having all my trouble i did wiggle on the plug and all that. So i think there still might be an issue somewhere, maybe

its just frustrating as heck, right now i could jump on and go but who knows where i will be or how far from home when it decides to be temperamental again.

 

[Wills67]

Check this thread out.

[URL="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/forums/help-wanted/30986-help-ehc-issues-i-think.html[/URL]

 

[Transam1]

ya i checked all the pins, they are fine, i think the thing just wiggles around too much. the box itself is sturdy but the plug just vibrates too much. i guess i could try the 3M tape and layer it between the fender and the plug to keep some of the wiggle out. Zip ties around the whole plug and box didnt work for me.

 

[Transam1]

Went our this morning after the lights kicking on last night. Nothing had been touched and turned they key on and nothing... Wigled the plug and nothing. Tried using the big battery again and nothing either. Had to head to work so stopped messing with it

 

[Ohmster]

Sounds like you have narrowed it down to where the problem is. Could be even though the pins and sockets appear to be good there could be some hidden damage. One of the sockets in main connector might be pushing back when connected. Or one of the pins on the EHC side might be cracked or damaged underneath the connector at the circuit board level. If your EHC still have the rubber seal in the connector remove it and add dielectric grease and see if that helps your connection.

If not then you are limited to either replace your EHC with a used one, replace your main harness if you can find one or replace your electrical system all together.

 

[Sven]

Sounds like a main (+) wire to a box?

1. Bike starts and runs and heats up and all that = Not a crank sensor.
2. I move wires and the N light comes on = Not ground if the lights go out come on?
3. I have my 3wV (3 wire variables) to think about.

a. Short to ground/signal out of range = Nope. Bike starts all parts are fine.
b. Connectors not connected = Nope. Physically from the outside they are connected.
c. Wire out of connector = Ding-Ding-Ding! It may not be out of the connector, but out of 3 fundamental variables that lock your (+) or (-) kind of bonkers looking, something has power and when touched, everything comes back on line. So a male to female connector is the (?) that is not touching internally even though it's connected.

How to approach it? I'd use a coat hanger and bend a small hook to pull up a wire around that box you had trouble with. If it has a plastic boot slid up on it for all those wires heading into that little black box, razor the booty down a straight line and not so deep as to cut into the wires below. You can always tape that up as you curl it right back in place. Start looking there with a hang hook pulling a wire and watching N go out.

How about connector to connector and pulling wire near one side of the connector and see who comes on, who turns off? If it was arcing that bad inside a connector, the male pin would show or the female would show the black arcing left at those areas. If it wasn't pin, then it's wire that was baked up to that back box? Solder the wires to the miniboard and out from the box is a wire from that razor cut somewhere then? See both connections to check?

1. Wire out of the jobber (black box) is main connection of first laid wire, correct?
2. That wire bunch moves down to the next connection(s), correct?
3. Main wire flickers the N light so is it at the box and there out to all those connector pins or...
4... We have poor integrity of a ground and/or main cable off the battery posts. You said you had bonkers bump there and the lights came on fandango, we go looking there too.
5. OR, what was the last thing I did to the bike before this occurred? Was it back to the box you may have figured out a few bonkers ago?

 

[Transam1]

I have an update!! Not a good one but this might help. I spent several hours Saturday messing with the wiring and checking all plugs and wire ends etc... I had everything tight and hooked up to my fresh battery.
Turned the key, no power.... Damnet
By accident I did not tun the key off and went to tighten posts down a little more and dropped the wrench. It fell just perfect and arked the batterry.

When the battery arked all my lights came on and everything worked perfect. Rode it around the neighborhood and parked it. Let it's it for an hour and went back out. Turned the switch on, no power.... So I arked the crap out of the battery posts and all the power came on again. What the crap is going on? I'm scared to ride it because I have no clue when it's going to decide to shut off on me

 

[Th3InfamousI]

I have an update!! Not a good one but this might help. I spent several hours Saturday messing with the wiring and checking all plugs and wire ends etc... I had everything tight and hooked up to my fresh battery.
Turned the key, no power.... Damnet
By accident I did not tun the key off and went to tighten posts down a little more and dropped the wrench. It fell just perfect and arked the batterry.

When the battery arked all my lights came on and everything worked perfect. Rode it around the neighborhood and parked it. Let it's it for an hour and went back out. Turned the switch on, no power.... So I arked the crap out of the battery posts and all the power came on again. What the crap is going on? I'm scared to ride it because I have no clue when it's going to decide to shut off on me

Well that is strange but read through my post - Everything leading up to that post is similiar to what I ran into a few years back...Sorry I missed this post and just found it or I would have sent you there earlier...


http://www.bigdogbiker.com/forums/technical/30808-rookie-wrencher-troubled-dog-lengthy-post.html

here is the video of a similiar problem. Note when you have key on and hit the run button your thunderheart ignition module should light as well as the ignition light on the module.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIO8xd5Ps9s&feature=youtube_gdata_player]O4rigid ehc connection issues - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Transam1]

when i actually have power all that works perfect... its just getting to power to it.

 

[Th3InfamousI]

when i actually have power all that works perfect... its just getting to power to it.

Did you watch the video? Because you mentioned you could wiggle the harness and the ignition light comes on. There was a recall on the 04 model for the EHC harness.

 

[Transam1]

Yes, I did. But what I'm saying is that my harness seems to be fine, I won't even touch it. I'll ask the battery posts and my neutral light will come on and everything works fine. I won't even start or touch the bike and let it sit a while and turn the key on and no power at all. Ark the battery and neutral light comes on and everything works

 

[Th3InfamousI]

I did however find an issue and probably my main problem... The big black clip the plug into the top of the black box/computer. if i wiggle it around the lights sometimes flicker and if i pull up on it a tad they will go off every time. Anyone have a good solution on how to keep the plug tight?
again.

Yes, I did. But what I'm saying is that my harness seems to be fine, I won't even touch it. I'll ask the battery posts and my neutral light will come on and everything works fine. I won't even start or touch the bike and let it sit a while and turn the key on and no power at all. Ark the battery and neutral light comes on and everything works

Im just going off what you posted earlier..see first quote....you seem to be all over the place and back and forth. Tough to help, sorry.

 

[Transam1]

i see what your saying. I did a little work on the plug and made sure its on there tight. One of the little spike clips was bent a little and i fixed that and the plug is much more secure now. I think i am about to rule out the Plug for now. I forgot to mention when i did get power on, i wiggled the plug quite a bit and it wont go off anymore from moving it around.

I think my main issue is "turning the computer on" or "waking it up" somehow. Weird stuff. I also have used other batteries that i know are good and it does the same thing so i think i can rule out the battery being bad?