First ever 'issue' with the bike - would love some electrical help (lights fuse)

[vicenzajay]

I'm still at a dead end. After waiting 6 days and no relay in the mail, I drove to the HD dealership in Roanoke and bought one.

I brought it home tonight, plugged it in, and....same thing. Lights fuse pops when trying to crank the motor.

Kind of at a loss at this point.

[Cooter]

Then lets start a real diagnosis before you waste any more time and money on guesses

Find the .pdf service manual download at Buellmods.com or Buelltooth.com

Open the wiring diagram and follow the wire from the battery to the lights fuse and all the way around. Those are the ONLY components that can be causing your issue. It's most likely a short to ground in a component or wiring, causing the fuse to blow.

Got a meter or test light? It will save you from blowing 1000 fuses checking the system. A power probe would be best though, you can remove the fuse and energize the circuit checking to see if you found the problem without blowing fuses.

OR:
Go totally old school...

Pull the fuse, unplug everything in the wiring diagram on that circuit and power it up. Put the fuse in. If the fuse still blows, it's a wiring short to ground somewhere. If the fuse doesn't blow, plug in every component one at a time starting from the closest to the battery on the diagram. When it blows, thats it.

Report back and we'll get to the next step. Don't worry Vincenzajay, it's just a path. Go down the path without jumping around and you WILL find the problem.

Here to help ya bro

[vicenzajay]

I've got a service manual - pdf and the full paper version...have used it often over the last two years for the minor preventative stuff/oil changes/suspension tuning/etc. I'm able to do.

It will turn out to be something simple - I know that. The problem is time...don't have it...won't have it until mid-January at the earliest to do anything other than try quick "suggestions" like I've tried so far following John's advice. Full time, active duty Navy XO at the 3rd largest NROTC unit in the country coupled with being a PhD student and concurrently finishing a second master's...the very little free time I get needs to be stress-mitigating time (i.e. riding), not electrical troubleshooting - which for me is *not stress-relieving.

If it's not candy corn easy (I think I'll try to check the solenoid and that wire/connection - several posts to that effect over on Badweb), I'll just have to wait until I can carry this to John's to let him fix it.

Thanks in any case...

[Cooter]

Dang. Hard workin' dude...

Ok, lets see how lucky we can get to get you back on the road here's a couple 30 second checks...

Take the small wires off the starter solenoid (not the battery wires) and try to start it (it won't crank). If the fuse still pops, thats not it, move on. If it doesn't pop, leave the small wires off and jump the big wires with the shaft of a screwdriver (it should crank). If it pops buy a starter, if it cranks and doesn't pop buy a starter solonoid.

When you replaced the switch housing with the one you got from Paul, remember where it plugged in? I would unplug that connector, and jump the wires that have 12V and the one that goes to the starter solonoid with a jumper wire. If the fuse pops, it's not in the right switch housing at all and you can eliminate that as a cause.

[vicenzajay]

Thanks, Cooter...when I get a break today, I'll try those and report back....

[vicenzajay]

Okay - still need help on "how" to pull the wire(s) from solenoid. Any description would be helpful. I'm looking at a small green wire going into a plastic housing that then is inserted into the starter assembly. Does the housing come out? Does only the wire come out? Is there a way to do either of those that doesn't involve damaging them further?

Following that - I need help on 'how' to jump the big wires - what do I unplug and where to get at them?

Thanks...

[vicenzajay]

Kevin Drum (the Drummer creator) gave me the info I needed to get the solenoid plug out. For those searching this thread in the future - there is a plastic tab on the bottom of the white plastic housing for the signal (green) wire. That tab has to be pushed up - then the entire plastic assembly can be taken out. It is a pain in the a$$ to make work - it took getting a pair of bent hooknose pliers in there (which was a feat in and of itself) to simultaneously squeeze the tab and pull the housing out.

Would have been SUPER great to have had that information yesterday.

Fuse will not pop now, so it's either the solenoid or the starter itself. If someone can tell me (step by step) how to get to the "large wires" so as to jump them, I can do the second thing on the troubleshooting list later this week.

[Cooter]

Hey man, sorry. I've been working all weekend.

So, with the wire disconnected, you can turn on the ignition and try to start it with the fuse in and the fuse doesn't pop, right? It's not trying to crank either, right?

If thats all true, the you can 'jump' the large wires on that solenoid together. This WILL crank the bike regardless of the key position, so make sure you are in neutral! So, key on, fuse in, take a metal screw driver shaft and touch both screw terminals WITHOUT touching anything else. If the bike cranks (and maybe starts) then the starter solonoid is bad. If it doesn't crank and the fuse pops when you do that, the starter is bad.

[vicenzajay]

All correct - wire disconnected - ignition on - try to start with fuse in and it doesn't crank or try to start...

So - what/where are the screw terminals? I can certainly try this tomorrow afternoon once I know where to touch the screwdriver shaft on the solenoid housing...

[vicenzajay]

Well, I'll ask another question and see how that goes. Is this starter a good fit?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Terry-Compo...%257Ciid%253A1

If not - can someone point me to one that is proven to be a good replacement....

My bike is a 2009 XB12R