Hi everyone, first post so please bear with.
I have a 2002 Night Train Softail. Everything was working fine until the last ride. Halfway through the ride I stopped and went to restart the bike. I noticed the speedo wasn't working. Then i noticed my turn signals were not working. Nor were my my horn and brake lights.
The bike still starts and runs fine. The headlight works on low and high beams and the tail running light works fine.
I rode the bike home and parked it. The next day I started scouring the HD Forum for answers. Found several threads that pointed out the accessory fuse. Sure enough, it was blown. I replaced it and turned the bike on but it blew the new fuse. Repeated that about 4 more times.
I then found a few threads saying it may be a bad speed sensor and that they were sometimes related to the horn, signals, speedo and brake light not working. I bought a new speed sensor, installed it and put a new 15 amp fuse in...pop! Same thing.
I've scoured the wiring to look for crimped wires or anything that might be grounding out...nothing. It's weird that the components all went out together. Feels like there is some sort of controller or culprit that is affecting all the dead parts. Any suggestions on something else that may be causing it? Hoping it's a common issue. Thanks in advance!

 

Keep in mind that people can not see the bike.
It is unknown if there are any changes from stock.

The accessory fuse was my first guess.
Keep in mind that a fuse is a protective device.
There is a hard short someplace.
Review the wires that lead to those areas.
Sometimes the rear lights and signals are a common area for a short circuit and can be isolated by disconnection of wire harness to that area.
What is the history of ownership?
Did somebody change grips, handlebars or levers just before thsi started

 

I went back and did a re-read.
You state " It's weird that the components all went out together."
The components are fed power by the same line..A short in one item will cause fuse to blow and protect that entire line.
If you have an add-on device like a run-stop-turn signal device then perhaps that device/box or the wires to that connect device are shorted.
Generally it is a bad idea to replace parts without confirmation of function since new parts introduce additional variables.

 

The ACC fuse feeds 12V to all the Orange/White (O/W) wires on the bike (diagram here), so somewhere one of those is pinched to ground ( through frame, switch housing, handlebars, etc).
O/W feeds to :
Stop light switches (F&R)
L&R Turn signal switches (inside the handlebar housings
Speedometer
Taillamp
Position indicator (loose O/W wire inside headlamp bucket)

 

Hello IM and Rigid Thumper and thx for the responses. I should have added that the bike is EFI. I bought it as a totally stock bike and changed a few things out to customize it: Sportster tank, chopped the rear struts and added a small rear fender mounted to the swing arm.
The only mods I made to the electrical system were to:

• Relocate the ignition swtich under the tank but kept the wires stock and intact.
• Swapped out the stock speedo and replaced with a smaller Daytona speedo. The wiring on the speedo was pretty simple and it was easy to install and calibrate.
• Replaced the tail light and rear turn signals for aftermarket.

The whole system and set up has been working and running fine for the last couple thousand miles. The only new change was swapping a set of bars recently. It's the most obvious place to start looking but I've already taken the hand controls on and off 2 or 3 times searching for a pinched wire. I even cut some of the black protective housing back to look for pinches.....nothing but nice clean wires. I think the timing of the bar swap and the electrical issue are coincidental but I may be wrong there. The issue didn't appear until several days later and after a few short rides. BUT, never rule anything out, until you are 1000% sure.

I have been seeing a bunch of posts about ignition switches going bad (maybe even especially on 2002 models?). May have to look into that.
I will get back in the garage and will disconnect each of the separate parts of the harness to isolate the problem and see if it enlightens me at all.
Thanks again for any suggestions!

 

The bike looks nice.
A significant amount of electrical items have been altered, replaced or moved from factory location.
From a distance it looks like you will need to replace the fuse with a test light and then start removing items one by one until the light turns OFF.
From the picture, I would start with tail light wiring and rear signal wiring.
Then i would review the front signal wires and light assembly.

 

Thx! Yep, i guess when you add them all up it's substantial. I will take a fresh look at it tomorrow. I have a few test ideas and a new box of 15 amp fuses on hand.
Will update if I find anything. Cheers!

 

Instead of going through a bunch of fuses, get a mini fuse circuit breaker, it will trip when the current flow is too high, and you can use a smaller amperage for troubleshooting.

 

Thx Dan! I ordered a breaker set from Amazon, will take that advice. See, ya learn somethin' new every day!

 

Issue solved!!!

Happy to report, i found the issue and fixed it. The wires inside the rear bullet style turn signals had gotten twisted up and shorted on each other. Must have happened when i swapped the bulbs last week and they just didn't short the bike for a few days. They are on the same circuit as the horn, speedo, turn signals and brake light and were causing the accessory fuse to blow.

Thx for the suggestions and advice from everyone, much appreciated! I started by unplugging each of the front sections (hand controls, turn signals & headlight) of the wiring harness to rule them out. I was relieved to unplug the hand controls and determine the issue wasn't there. My biggest concern was that I was going to have to undo all the wires in one or both sides to spot the shorted wire. I worked backwards on the bike and started digging into the rear signals. Bingo!