My ignition switch may be going bad. Bike died on the highways this morning on the way to work but I put it in neutral and hit my start button and it fired right back up and i went on in to work no problems. Its an 86' 883 Sportster. Twice in the last couple of weeks when I tried to start it, when I pushed the start nothing happened. After pushing a few times it fires up. This is my problem and question:
Saturday I'm riding with some friends to K.C. to the Easyriders bike show. If the bike should die on me again on the road and the iginition just wont work, is it possible to bypass the swicth using the 3 wires that is connected on the back? I'm pretty sure one is a ground, and the other two just need to be hooked together but not sure wich ones. Hopefully I will have the problem fixed befor saturday but incase I dont I want to have an idea of what to do in the worst case scenario where the bike will not start back up. Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated. And b4 you say it, I have a repair manual on order. I just havent got it yet!

 

This one I'm a little confused on, it almost sounds like you have more than one problem. I'm not sure if this bike has a starter relay or not, but that could be one of the problems, you said you had to push the start button several times and it would start, but engine died going down the highway and one push of the start button and it fired.

It could be the key switch and or a combination of the start button switch or relay. You will have to eliminate each system one at a time with an ohm/volt meter. Get the manual and go from there and if you know someone with knowledge on this bike see if they will help you. You could have some corrosion, loose terminals etc. might even be a bad kill switch.

 

id still put a switch in it its a 30 minute job. when i did mine id never seen one before, and trust im not the sharpest knife in the drawer. it will rule out that problem the switch is like 20-25 bucks at most. and just think youll have a shiney new key for your bike!!

 

Boy I hope this post goes buy without too many seeing it. My problem with the bike dieing, was low fuel! I really need a gas gauge! Ok, stop laughing and go read another post somewhere!! [:-]

 

Not laughing, it's happened to more than one person. Enjoy your ride this Sat.

 

I'm laughing, Almost spit coffee on the 'puter screen. BUT, I'm only laughing because I've been there and done that.

 

If you ride much it has happened to you

 

hey i ran my glide out of gas and that bitch has a gas gage!

 

hey ragin, on the subject of runnin out of gas the little lable on my petcock was screwed upside down and it turned out that i was running on reserve. finally got it figured out, took it off reserve aint run out since!

 

Think mine might be the same way. What happened was I usually watch my trip meter to kinda guage how much gas I got. I have a 3.5 gallon tank.(it took 3.4 gallons to fill!!!) I was at an even 100 miles when i filled it yesterday. I shoulda had plenty since I been getting about 45 mpg. What I didnt take into account was the fact that I put alot of in town miles on over the weekend. I only get about 29 mpg in town. I burned alot more gas over the weekend than I would have on the highway. Anyways, I know to keep my eyes open a little better now!!! Do they make a glass gas tank for harleys? [X(]