I have what I believe is a ground issue with my Harley Davidson CD Player. I have a 2003 FLHTI (Electraglide Std). A while back my buddy washed my bike for me. Big Mistake. He gives the HD radio a bath. So, he gets me a refurb through the local HD dealer. I install it and after about two hours of riding it quits. Dead. No power. I take it back and get a third (this is over a period of weeks). The third radio dies after about 1.5 hours of riding. I'm stumped. I talk to the dealer and they say it's a wiring problem. Now, my bike has never been taken apart outside of me installing the radios. I take the front off and begin removing the radio. I left the ignition on, for some reason, and inadvertently touched the triple tree ground bracket and the radio with my allen wrench. BOOM the radio comes to life! After standing there scratching my head for a while I put it all back together and go for a spin, like any self respecting rider would do (Hey, I fixed it! right?) So after another 1.5 to 3 hours it quits again. I take it home, remove the front, do the same thing with the allen wrench, and it comes to life again. This time I get a wise and add an additional ground wire from the radio mounting bolt to the triple tree ground. I fixed it again, right? No. After riding for about the same time it quits again. Back home, front off, jump the ground with allen wrench, radio comes on. What's wrong with my bike? The wiring harness is clean as a whistle. The ground connections are clean and tight. Totally intact. I'm the only owner and know that there has never been work done on the bike. No issues.

What could be causing the radio to stop working after riding for a couple hours, then come back on when I jump the ground from the frame to the case of the radio?

Thanks for your help. This one's really got me stumped...


Mike B.