Early Twin cam problem has been going on for 3 years PLEASE HELP

[hotbagger1]

I have a carbureted 2000 Electra glide
While riding, the bike will just turn off. The tach, gas guage and the volt gauge  also shut down but the tach and the radio stay on.
I turn the run/off switch  off and back on and it keeps running.
So far I've  changed the main breaker, plugs, plug wires, ignition coil,  run/off switch and ignition module  and I'm still having the same problem.
Does anyone know what my problem is??

[fleetmechanic]

Has the main circuit breaker been replaced?  There was a recall on these from the late 90s into the early 2000s.  The original 45 amp breaker was replaced with a 50 amp.  We had at least 15 of them done on our bikes of that era, some of which were randomly cutting out.

[hotbagger1]

Sorry  i forgot that.
That was the first thing i did.

[Pirsch Fire Wagon]

The Relay issue affected the FI Models only because of Pump Draw.

Most common place I find these issues on the older ones is in the Wiring Harness by the Steering Neck where it travels to the Fairing. And, it takes time and patients.  I just had a 2000 FI with a Broken Ground that would cause it to stall making a mild left turn a week ago. And, sometimes when the rider hit a large bump in the roadway.

[Scotty]

Most common place I find these issues on the older ones is in the Wiring Harness by the Steering Neck where it travels to the Fairing. And, it takes time and patients.  I just had a 2000 FI with a Broken Ground that would cause it to stall making a mild left turn a week ago. And, sometimes when the rider hit a large bump in the roadway.

they all seem to have broken wires in there now and it comes with age and mileage.

[ViseGrips]

..a guys older CVO had just been fixed yesterday in my buddies garage with the exact same problem going on in the fairing...turn the bars or hit a bump and it was blowing a fuse and cutting out...all's good now...

[hotbagger1]

We had the tank and fairing off and checkrd all the wiring and nothing was broken.

[smoserx1]

Most common place I find these issues on the older ones is in the Wiring Harness by the Steering Neck where it travels to the Fairing. And, it takes time and patients.  I just had a 2000 FI with a Broken Ground that would cause it to stall making a mild left turn a week ago. And, sometimes when the rider hit a large bump in the roadway.

Yes that happened to me twice on my 99 FLHT.  The problem is there is not enough slack in the harness and the harness is clipped to the steering which makes it pinch when turned full left.  I finally fixed mine by finding the break (red wire) and I ran all new wiring from the circuit breaker into the fairing for the red wires (solid red CB to ign switch, red/black stripe is ignition circuit, red gray stripe is acc circuit)  I replaced all of them, ran them thorough a separate loom and made them about a foot longer.  Later on the horn quit for the same reason and I ended up adding about a foot of length to every other wire in that harness and removing the clip to the steering stem.  That fixed it everything for good.  If you are getting power to the tach and the radio it is not the breaker.  that will kill everything.

[doubletrouble]

Similar issue with my 05 electra - Would intermittantly drop the tach & speedo while riding and it wasent necessarly easy to isolate the problem , if you will take your ohm meter to all the circuits that are in that bulkhead of wiring that runs parelell with the back bone and exits just to the right of the front of the tank , at the neck , as described , you can find it , easy hooks are your friend here as they allow you to wiggle the wire , to find out which one is dropping out

[Ohio HD]

We had the tank and fairing off and checkrd all the wiring and nothing was broken.

Wires can be broken inside the insulation. Just viewing the exterior isn't always enough to find them. You have to ring them out one by one while moving the harness, turning the forks left to right, etc.

[HogMike]

We had the tank and fairing off and checkrd all the wiring and nothing was broken.

Wires can be broken inside the insulation. Just viewing the exterior isn't always enough to find them. You have to ring them out one by one while moving the harness, turning the forks left to right, etc.

Exactly the problem I chased for weeks.
Broken ground wire inside the insulation, can't see it, but a slight pull would stretch the insulation!

[Dan89flstc]

Get out the wiring diagram, and look at the circuits that are affected, you know, troubleshooting... using a wiring diagram instead of throwing parts at it...

[hotbagger1]

Get out the wiring diagram, and look at the circuits that are affected, you know, troubleshooting... using a wiring diagram instead of throwing parts at it...

Me and a buddy of mine spent seven hours looking for a broken wire and didn't find anything! We had the fairing off the tank off everything from under the side covers we sliced open the sheathing and check each wire individually and found nothing!

[hotbagger1]

One thing I didn't mention, the first year this happened it did it twice the second year it did it it did it once, now it's starting to do it within a couple of miles after me leaving the house & will do it five times a day. Now the thing is it never happens in a turn it's always when I'm going straight on the highway which is probably by coincidence. Also I was thinking it could be the battery because my battery is 17 years old BUT when we hook it up to a battery tester it's doing 12.6 volts. Every Bike Shop I've brought it to told me it's not the battery. But being 17 years old ,maybe

[lilchief]

Could it possibly be the ignition switch itself? 
I dunno, just guessing here if it's not a broken wire.
Lil Chief

[Ohio HD]

One thing I didn't mention, the first year this happened it did it twice the second year it did it it did it once, now it's starting to do it within a couple of miles after me leaving the house & will do it five times a day. Now the thing is it never happens in a turn it's always when I'm going straight on the highway which is probably by coincidence. Also I was thinking it could be the battery because my battery is 17 years old BUT when we hook it up to a battery tester it's doing 12.6 volts. Every Bike Shop I've brought it to told me it's not the battery. But being 17 years old ,maybe

A 17 year old battery? I'd be replacing that. There could be issues with the plates shedding and causing short outs of the plates. Given the age of it, I'd not trust it to ride any distance anyway.

[Dan89flstc]

   my battery is 17 years old BUT when we hook it up to a battery tester it's doing 12.6 volts. Every Bike Shop I've brought it to told me it's not the battery. But being 17 years old ,maybe

Voltage does not tell all...

A 17 year old battery and you are having an electrical issue...wow

Any shop that would troubleshoot an electrical problem without first replacing a 17 year old battery should be avoided.

There are a lot of professional bike mechanics out there that are incompetent when it comes to electrical issues, sad to say.

Get a new battery before you attempt to troubleshoot.

[smoserx1]

Could it possibly be the ignition switch itself? 
I dunno, just guessing here if it's not a broken wire.

Well remember he said that when this happened he still had power to the radio and the tach.  If it were the circuit breaker failing or the battery itself I don't see how that would result in some things continuing to work and others not.  That doesn't make sense.  On these bikes a single red wire goes from the breaker into the ignition switch.  Two wires exit the switch, a red one with a black stripe and a red one with a gray stripe.  The one with the black stripe normally powers the bike's ignition circuit and headlight.  The one with the gray stripe normally powers the ACC circuit, but more than just the ACC plug under the seat is powered.  The power going to the starter solenoid comes from the ACC circuit as well as other items.  If the ignition switch is functioning correctly both IGN and ACC wires leaving the switch will be hot when the switch is in the run position.  So yes a defective ignition switch could be the problem if one circuit is not being switched reliably.  Like Dan said earlier, look at that wiring diagram.

[hotbagger1]

I just went out and bought a brand new battery, it's still doing it!😡

[Admiral Akbar]

Could it possibly be the ignition switch itself? 
I dunno, just guessing here if it's not a broken wire.
Lil Chief

This is likely the issue.  OP is loosing main power but accy stays on. Look at the wiring diagram.

[PoorUB]

I just went out and bought a brand new battery, it's still doing it!😡

Sorry to hear that, but that old battery didn't owe you a dime. If it didn't die this week it would be soon.

A week ago my wife's Trailblazer was cranking slow. I drug it into the shop and checked cranking amps, seemed ok. Battery voltage was low so I pulled the battery and looked it over. I am not sure how old it was, but 6+ years, plus it was starting to bulge a bit. I tossed in a new battery and it was better, but still not right. A new starter cured it, but I don't feel bad about replacing the battery.

[hotbagger1]

Heres an update.
Today i bought a new battery  and installed a new ignition switch. And I'm still having the same problem.

[Admiral Akbar]

Noticed that you said run/stop switch and not ignition.  Not sure why VM would die but it's likely a bad BAS.  IIRC they can move out of place on that year but don't know for sure.

[barny7655]

hot wire your coil wire to a fused wire,to  battery terminal ,if its cured, your on your way to solving the problem, wiring diagramme a must, wiggle test etc

[doubletrouble]

On your gravity fed bike , it almost has to be an issue with loss of power to the coil , easy enough to verify , as was suggested . start here.