This bike is starting to be a nightmare. I'm only put about 400 miles on it and it's died on me about 6 times. The first couple times it died on me for just a second or two each time while I was cruising along but came right back to life and would do the same thing two or three times on the way to where I was going. Because of past experiences with my other bikes I immediately thought relay and replaced both of them and that seemed to solve that problem. I got about another a hundred miles out of it the next day without any issue and figured the problem was solved. The next two times I took the bike out though it died on me while idling at red lights. The question is do you think I'm misdiagnosed the problem the first time and it is still the same issue or do you think that was a separate issue? When it first started acting up and I replace the relays I made sure battery terminals were tight. I did notice there was a fuse missing from the fuse box listed as 2a max p&a ign..

the only other thing I can think of that was a common theme when I had these problems was that I had already been riding for a while each time and was at or below half a tank.

 

You misdiagnosed the problem.

 

care to elaborate? The only other possibility I can think of would be the cracked fuel line inside of the tank.

 

You asked an either/or question. Max answered correctly; you mis-diagnosed the problem. ie, you still have the same problem. It wasn't the relay(s).

 

yea I was kind of hoping to have him confirm my suspicions LOL I like the easy solutions but as soon as the bike died at that first red light after replacing the relays and I realized being below half a tank was a common theme I was pretty sure that the inner fuel line leak was the culprit. But I'm not exactly mr. Fix it so I was hoping to either have a little reassurance I wasn't about to tear it apart and be wrong or get Super Lucky and someone have a simpler issue that I didn't think of. I'm not really looking forward to opening that tank up. All the symptoms point that direction though

 

If you had the HD service manual, you would see that replacing that fuel pick up line in the tank is not that difficult to do. Not sure that is the problem but easy to check.

 

I have the manual. Like I said I was really hoping I was wrong. Not that it is something super difficult just that it is more involved then any of the other issues that came to mind and I get zero enjoyment out of wrenching on things. I'm going to look into it a little more when I run this tank down but I would bet money that it is the issue. Now I just need to figure out how far down that rabbit-hole to go as in just do the hose and the bolts that you're supposed to replace or just replace everything in the tank while it is open and I don't want to have to open it again anytime soon. From the little bit of research I have done about this in the past with my Dyna it would cost me about the same to replace everything in the tank as it would be to let the shop just replace the hose or I could be a complete cheap-*** and just replace only the hose and bolts myself and only be out $30 or so

the good news is the biggest thing standing in my way of finding out is that there is too much gas in the tank, now that is my kind of problem

 

Every time I think I have this problem figured out it shows me I'm wrong. Just went to take it for a ride to empty some of the fuel out and ended up being brought home on a rollback I didn't even make it a mile from the house before it cut out and wouldn't start again acted like there was no battery attached to it. The grow back guy hope they jump box up to it that was pretty much dead but he thought there might be just enough to get it started and it crank over barely but wasn't enough to start it. So at this point it is looking like the stator isn't charging the battery. Donna wonder if that is actually the only problem or if is a combination of the stator and the line in the tank or if I was just wrong about the line in the tank I'm going to have to charge the battery and probably safe and most of the fuel out of the tank before I can even test that

 

LOL so I look in this giant expensive manual for the troubleshooting information to try and figure out if it is the stator or voltage regulator and the first thing that either of them say is for Diagnostic information see Softail models electrical diagnostic manual you would think for the price they charge for these things you wouldn't need three manuals. They give you at the junk one with the bike charge you a hundred and fifty bucks for the giant one and then tell you you have to also buy the one for the anything electrical

 

I'm not so sure that a fuel line leak would cause a motor to shut off completely. Seems to me that the motor would simply start to run lean. Might get lean cough or poor throttle response but I don't think it would completely shut down. I guess if the hole is sufficiently big enough it could lose enough pressure but it seems to me that it would continue to run rough until filled back up.

There really isn't enough information as to what is going on..

1. Do the lights go off?
2. What does the speedo do,
3, Are there any ECU error codes.
4, How long before it restarts?
5. Does it take a lot of cranking?
6. Does the engine light come on at all?
7. do you hear a hissing in the fuel tank (cap off) when the fuel pump shuts off at key-on?


No codes typically mean something mechanical is wrong. The exception is a full power cut out.

It's always worth while check fuel pressure with a gauge. It's a worthwhile investment, especially to check your work after working in the tank.