Weird question. I bought an 03 Road King. The driver seat back had a tear in it, about 6 inches long and it looked like it had been attempted a repair (leather/glue repair kit).
I decided to take it to get it re-upholstered. I did and for $80 it looked amazing. Perfect match.
BUT....After riding it for a total of 1 hour, nothing in my pockets, wearing crocs, doing nothing to cause damage to the seat, there was what appeared to be another burn.
Almost looks like the same place where the original tear was. Hmmm.

Back to the upholstery shop. They took off the cover and noted the burn this time. They didn't mention the first time. I don't want to re-install the re-re-upholstered seat now !!!

I looked at the battery terminals when I got the bike and noticed the melted lead terminals.
The owner before me had them terminated on the side posts. I assumed because the height of the battery+terminals on top were hitting the seat, so he mounted on the side.

Also, he/we had two patches of leather covering the terminals, I suppose for reassurance, just so there wouldn't be any terminal to grounding contact (related to the battery).
It has the clearance to not have an issue with any shorting. I looked at the leather pieces and the bottom of the main seat, there is no markings from the connectors being on top now.
So, I can't find anywhere, the dimensions of the stock battery. Not sure if the battery dimension are what it calls for...hd sells the battery, but as far as dimensions, no data.
Mine measures: 7" tall (top-bottom), 6.5" wide (left-right). 5.5" depth (front-back). It has 12.8V on it. When running it has I believe 13.87V on it (trying to recall from a week ago).
Measured voltage between the ground post on the battery and a bolt on the battery, looking for any spiking while going through horn/blinkers/brakes etc. Read 0.02Vdc Peak.

So, the million dollar question: is this two separate problems?
Is the battery and/or a short somewhere a problem?
Was the seat burned by an external event (vandalism)? Statistically improbable.

I'm thinking electrical short issue, but why through the seat back? When? Where?
I don't "see" any obvious burning. I even took off the back rest mechanism and checked the plug/wires under it.
I don't have any blown fuses (that I know of), everything electrical works.
I don't have any DTC codes (holding the trip reset and turning on acc, scrolling through all d01CLR-->d10CLR.
(PPU is 82883 pulses (irrelevant to this topic). )

Pool noodle to help stabilize the battery side to side motion.


Outside driver seat cover. Melting from inside?


The foam that looks burnt, right were the seat back looks burnt. Like a slow burn/melt.


The battery terminals that look melted, Again, doesn't look worse than when I bought and noticed it. Again, looking for problems when I first got it, not finding/smelling or noting any electrical anomalies.




What else can I check?
Where can I look?

Thanks in advance.

 

It's probably the Crocs.

 

Dirty as the bike is I'd get busy pulling and cleaning every grounding point you can find, bad grounds & loose connections are the # 1 problem with over heating wiring like that.

 

The crocs are brand new. That is definitely not the problem. LOL.

 

I have spent the night pulling off wires and reattaching. There doesn't seem to be a single "find" yet. They all look good. There are a few grounding bolts under the seat in front of the battery. They looked good. Just pulling and sanding down to the copper and putting back on.
???

 

Thats so odd looking. Unless there is metal in backrest in that exact location and its touching the battery or cables, its not electrical causing that mark on the new covering. If electrical I would expect a fuse to blow. I would say the foam pad has some type of chemical cleaner absorbed and its leaching out and damaging the covering. Just wild guesses

 

I went to the upholstery shop and talked with the guy. We lined the fabric up with where that foam burn is and the exterior (new burn) are in two different spots. I was hoping that you're right with a chemical leakage. There is no smell to it. The foam is flat, not eaten away. The inside of the new vinyl looked perfect and normal.
They have done thousands of motorcycle seats and they all said they haven't seen this before. They think maybe there was a rip and the guy did try to fix it, maybe using heat and/or glue. Again, not lining up with the new damage.
They also agree that it's not electrical.
Leaving only some sort of vandalism....in the same general area, in the same general direction, in the same bat channel.

No smoking gun yet!
So, petrified to put another repaired seat on it.

 

It's overheating battery cables bud your chasing a wish with the chemical nonsense. Something is drawing heavy current and cooking the cables.

 

How would it heat up the foam/vinyl all the way up in the backrest? Just a 6" line. Something did happen with that battery. I had it tested at an auto store, it tested good. I wonder if he shorted it out somehow to do that battery post damage.
When I took it all apart, the cables looked good, not damaged. All the insulation was good. I retaped it all the way down. Maybe he tried cranking on a low voltage (high current) for an extended period of time.
The seat bottom looks fine. No injuries there. Only the driver seat backrest.

And you're right. The upholsterer didn't think it was a chemical problem either. That would have been an easy fix.

So, I'm left with somehow a bolt of lightning coming from the backrest somehow and me not feeling it.

It doesn't add up.
I'm going to disconnect the negative terminal and measure the voltage from positive post to the negative cables and hope for no voltage. Yeah? With it off. Shouldn't be a draw not on.

 

You dont happen to ride with anything on your hip do you? Maybe a overheating cellphone? Lol.