I found much oil draining around my filter on my '09 FLHT. Found out it was the HD Oil Cooler leaking. Pulled the cooler and tried unscrewing the oil filter and it took my 350 lbs buddy to finally unscrew it. D#mn Harley Techs. So we decided that's what caused the oil leakage. Anyway, after everything was done I cranked the bike, but didn't start it, to get oil in the filter because I forgot to put a little in it before putting the new one on. Then I cleaned the oil with engine brite and took the scoot for a test run. When I ran it for about 5 minutes I pulled up to the house and my buddy noticed my check engine light and battery light were on. I checked the VR and felt one of the plugs was not seated properly. Okay, I made sure the connection was good and we rode about 15 miles and for the first 5 miles I saw my Voltage fluxing between 10.5 to 14. Then it leveled off around 11. I took the bike home and it stayed around 11. The engine and battery light remained on. I rechecked all the connections and everything looked good. I figured that running the bike would recharge the battery if it was a little weak but to my dismay I was wrong. I now have it on a battery charger and will check it this afternoon. I will also check to see if any the VR has any oil between the fins cause I know this can make it run hot.
My question is has anyone else ever experienced this problem with the low voltage, engine light, battery light, and what did you do to fix it. I have a long run this friday and want to the bike to be worry free. Thanks!

 

Did You check and clean the connections at the voltage regulator?

 

Yes sir, that's what I was refering to about checking connections and making sure it was clean..

 

I'd suggest checking your charging system. Just follow the troubleshooting in your service manual. If you don't have one, it's time to get one...

A quick check to to make sure it's not your guage it to attach a muli-meter, set vor VDC, on the + - of the battery. You should see the voltage go up (13-14VDC) when you rev the motor to about 1500 rpm. I'm not sure to the exact rpm level, but I'm close. If the voltage doesn't increase, further troubleshooting is required.

 

Sounds like the voltage regulator and that is the area you had a problem in. Check connections again and check voltage regulator.

 

I let the battery charge a good 16 hours and started it up. I still hade 11 volts reading on the gauge so I parked the bike and removed the Voltage Regulator and wiped everything down and made sure the plugs were seated after putting it back on the bike. I started the bike and the Voltage was 11 again so I throttled to 2000 rpm and held it and the voltage climbed to 14 where it's supposed to be. I took the bike on a 20 minute ride and held 14. I started it this morning and the Voltage was 11 again and the engine light came on but it only did this for 5 seconds and it climbed back to 14. I rode to work, 30 miles away, and the voltage held 14 the whole time. Today when I leave I'll see if the Voltage is at 11 again. Hopefully it will be at 12 where it's supposed to be.

 

You need 13.8-14.2 to have a correct charging system operation. If its anything lower and continues to go down as you drive, you are working off battery voltage and it will continue to drop until theres nothing left in the battery to run the bike.