Last March I took my Heritage to the dealership with an issue.
They couldn't find anything wrong.
Installed a new battery & billed me $900 for the labor & tests .
Said they "couldn't find anything but it's running fine now "!!

Didn't instill me confidence but I ran it last year without issue.
I have been able to ride much following knee surgery & a back injury.
It didhabe a couple instances of being harder than usual to start a couple times .
This year I'm healed up & we'd been out 5-6 times again with a couple hard starts.
Saturday we headed out and stopped 8 miles from home for gas and it failed to start after fueling up.
I got a ride home , hooked up the trailer & towed it back.
Hooked the batter up & in an hour it was fully charged.
But once again when I hit the starter I got nothing but clicking.
I found this YouTube video of a guy with a twin can that gas the same issue.
This is exactly what mine sounds like.
Any thoughts ?
Dropping another $900 for some idiot to install another battery is off the table.



https://youtu.be/1hfgIp_s6Xo


My ground is in good shape (the bike is in very good condition).
The battery is fully charged as well.

http://blog.jpcycles.com/step-...eys-charging-system/

I had that happen with my 00 Heritage, it had a 124 SNS engine, and from time to time it would not start, the click click issue.

The problem was the aftermarket higher power starter, drawing more power than could be supplied, changed back to the stock starter and lo and behold the problem went away.

That link has several tests you can do, one is to pull the green wire out from the side of the starter, check voltage on that wire when you press the start button, see if you have a large voltage drop, if so it could be the starter button itself or a frayed wire in that circuit, if you are getting enough volts then that circuit is good.

There are tests for checking the charging system, the voltage regulator and the stator/rotor as well.

The other thing could be something that is pulling power out of the system after the ignition is turned on.

If you let the bike sit unattended for a week, no battery tender, no riding will it start or does the battery draw down, if so you have a wire grounding on the main power circuit.

Another good thing for softails is to run a second ground from the battery directly to the starter mounting bolts, you can get a 10 to 12 inch ground wire from Napa to avoid the HD tax, bolt it directly to the top allen bolt mounting the starter to the inner primary, and run back to the ground terminal on the battery,

Softails ground with a short wire to the frame below the tank, even so, sometimes a second ground to the starter helps.

Your charging system should be putting close to 14.2V into the battery while the bike is running. My FXDL 103 motor with compression release was charging 14.1V into a 3 year old OEM battery.

I suggest you check the starter solenoid which has been a problem for HD baggers for years. Another suggestion is a Solar battery charger hook up if the bike is left outside during the day. It won't recharge a dead battery but will extend the life of one.

It's possible the solenoid has issues but I've found generally it's due to a lack of voltage, the place to check solenoid voltage is at the end of the green starter trigger wire that goes into the top end of the solenoid under the oil tank,

I suggest pulling it when the bike is cold, there isn't much room to get at it, but you can reach up and pull out the plastic cover on the end, it's a press in tab connector.

Once you have it out then you can see if you're getting all volts you need at the starter, if you have the ignition on the ECM is powered, spot lamps, head lamps, turn signals dash etc, so you won't get 14 at the starter unless you disconnect all other power sources.

Start there, then work around the charging system.

All your wiring looks new.

I would hook an amp meter in series with the battery output and positive cable and see if there is any parasitic drain. With a computer, there is usually 10 ma parasitic drain on most vehicles.

I have seen some vehicles with a diode across the terminals to short out negative spikes that go bad and draw current since they are now a resistor. Diodes can go open circuit or look like a resistor when they go bad.

A wiring diagram would be helpful to troubleshoot possible problems.

$900 is out of this world and reminds me of friends taking their John Deere lawn tractor in for service.

Would a bad starter relay cause anything like this ?

You could check the relay by disconnecting it and then run a cable from the starter terminal to the battery positive. If it starts, then you know it is the cable or relay. Cables can get corrosion and cause a voltage drop.

Relays or solenoids can get some corrosion at the contacts and sometimes work and other times due to the high resistance not allow sufficient voltage to turn the starter over.

quote:

Originally posted by GrumpyBiker:
Would a bad starter relay cause anything like this ?

Yes

You have to have a few things.

Good battery with cranking amps, not just good voltage.
Good starter.
Good cables and connections.
Good relay. The contacts in the relay will arc/pit/wear. When they get bad enough, they can let voltage through, but not enough current to produce the torque needed to turn over the engine.

I doubt it relays either work or they don't

It sounds like the battery is taking a charge but it might not be putting out under a load, pull it and have a load test done

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
I doubt it relays either work or the don't

They can depending on the contact surface. I had one that lasted several months before I replaced it.

What did they do for $900? Did they give you a list of parts replaced and the old parts?

The relay is simple enough and cheap enough to test take it up to a auto parts store you can get one for a few bucks to swap out and test or putt it out and put your meter on it to see what the reading is when you press start

So this is the second year on a new battery and you have starting problems.

If it sits for any length of time like a month or more, the battery will discharge and lose some of its capacity long term.

I don't like to let any of my vehicles to set over two weeks without running them and charging the battery.

Charge the battery up and take a reading the next day or at least 12 hours later and see how much the voltage drops.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
The relay is simple enough and cheap enough to test take it up to a auto parts store you can get one for a few bucks to swap out and test or putt it out and put your meter on it to see what the reading is when you press start

The voltage he reads with his voltmeter will tell him nothing. You can have voltage and no current.
Having bad contacts in a relay/solenoid can lead to intermittent problems.

This is one reason to keep hitting the ignition on 'click' malfunction (with a good battery). Sometimes it will bang/clean the contacts enough for them to work again. Might get ya home instead of walking/calling for help. Dodge was known for this problem years ago.

I still doubt seriously it's the relay, having dealt with HD starter issues over the past 17 years I've never found a relay to be the problem, since they are cheap I have a spare known good one that I can test with, it's never solved the problem but it has eliminated the relay.

Back to solving the problem

What year is the bike
Is the engine stock compression or high comp.
If not stock do you have compression releases
are they electronic, are they working

IIRC
1) Bike sat for a year
2) bike takes a charge but won't start
3) battery is 2 years old

My bet is the battery isn't holding charge, it's showing correct volts but doesn't have the CCA to start the bike, everything else, relays, switches position of the moon have nothing to do with it.

All you need is a phillips screwdriver remove the Positive and negative cables from the battery, take it to a reputable auto parts store and have them do a test, I'm betting a cell is bad. HD batteries have a 2 to 3 year shelf life.

Softails are hard on batteries since the battery in encased in a metal oven warmed by the engine oil.

You can get batteries from HD for the most money, or find a Deka East Penn location, Deka makes HD's AGM battery, so you'll save some money, even Advance Auto sells a motorcycle battery that has more CCA than HD batteries in AGM for about half the cost at $90, also if you buy it online for pickup at a store you can get a 20% off code for the battery.

https://shop.advanceautoparts....=L1*14920%7CL2*15000


The shop diagnosed a good charging system and the bike sat for a year without being charged then it's probably the battery. Doubtful that a bike sitting in the garage for a year had a failure in the charging system not being run, but hey anything is possible.

The link I gave you earlier has all the HD tests for charging system analysis step by step and all you need is that digital meter and some time.


1) Remove the battery and get it load tested, if it passes, go home and reinstall, if it fails buy a new one.

2) Get it started and check the charging system
if the charging system works, get a new battery and keep it on a tender during down time

3) if it (charging system doesn't work) then get out the checkbook or get greasy...

HD starters are very robust, I was cranking over an SNS 124 with 11 to 1 compression with the original starter that was 10 years old on my heritage.


HD has a new "special battery tester" the only way they warranty the battery is to have it tested on this "tester" I had one that was failing, the bike would start fine after riding but hard to start cold, obviously the battery was dying. HD's "tester" said it was fine, even though the tech saw the bike start hard with the battery in it, so no warranty, a couple months later it took a dive, same as your bike, click click click, no warranty as it was too old. I think the tester was designed to turn down claims, so I bought the Advance Auto battery and ran it for two years until I sold the bike, it was still good when I sold it.

What does the meter read while trying to crank the engine? If the voltage nose dives while just clicking, you may have a weak battery. If the voltage doesn't drop very much at all, I'd start checking the starter.

Could be worn plunger and contacts in the starter solenoid.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
I still doubt seriously it's the relay

My bet is the battery isn't holding charge, it's showing correct volts but doesn't have the CCA to start the bike, everything else, relays, switches position of the moon have nothing to do with it.

The question was asked if the relay could be the issue. Yes, it can.

Everything in the circuit has something to do with it, or it wouldn't be there. You have to rule out the simple things too. Otherwise the problem may never be found. When all else fails, you have to start somewhere and that begins with everything that could cause the failure.

And for $900 the dealer should have tried everything, if not replaced everything!

The $900 would be a dealer breaker for me and never go near the place again.

Heat is also bad on the life of the battery. Charge the battery and check the voltage 12 hours or longer later to see if the voltage holds.

This is a 2008 Heritage Classic.
Zero engine upgrades, period!
A set of slip ons is all.
I'm not a speed demon or concerned with 1/4mile times. Looking good going slow is my thing these days.
Also I wanted no reason for issues down the road. Oh well!

As for the bill, I'm done with the dealership.
I buy from them because they sell at MSRP.
Which isn't the norm around here.
But the hourly labor rate around here is over $100 am hour.
If you get away from the local HD dealership for under $1,000 you almost feel lucky.
I hate Harley Davidson Dealerships, love their bikes, hate their dealerships.

This bike has never needed any work.
Tires & brakes are all anyone's done to this bike.

My mechanic I used on my rigid sportster & FLH Shovelhead moved to another town.



This bike is very well treated & cared for. LoL.
I give it all the OctoberFest it wants.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GrumpyBiker,

On my way in from working on my Anvil I noticed the trickle chargers yellow charging light was on vs the green charged light.
I checked the battery & it showed 14.3v.
13.4 was as high as I'd seen earlier so I attempted to start it.
It cranked twice (like normal) then went to clicking.
I checked the battery again & it showed 12.6v.
That seems a little low after one attempt to start.


I'll pull it & get it checked.
15months of life from a new Harley battery is really short.
I always get 5yrs from a battery.
Of course I usually ride a lot but these past 24 months I didn't ride it more than 15 ones due to my knee & back.
Was on a trickle charger while it sat.