Part II, No Spark

Sam (representative) wrote me, "
If possible, can you send the OEM wiring harness back to us so we can properly identify what you need.
If the fitment is right and it is just a faulty harness, we will send a new, good replacement right back to you."

I'm not sure I can answer your question, Jim. Not sure fitment or verify that it's faulty or both. I've been building bikes (you know, the kind with no electrical issues) for 20+ years, never been asked for my OEM equipment as a condition of return. I sent a pic of part number label still attached to my OEM harness. That seemed to satisfy the representative.
 
Maybe they were looking to compare your original to theirs and see just what was wrong with it. Quality control has been an issue with them. I think many times when they contract to have something made, the 1st, or maybe 1st few production runs are OK, but then things seem to go south. And I don't think they re-check their stuff from time to time so they don't catch these manufacturing errors. But checking a whole wiring harness would be quite a chore. Maybe we should be thankful they're mostly right, lol.

Yours seems to be about the worst I've heard of so far. My buddy's that I mentioned wasn't bad enough to keep the bike from running, but it isn't 100% correct either.
 
So, here's where we're at since last..... Received new replacement harness from Mikes XS (nice of them). Same problem. Convinced it had to be us or something else on the bike. Bought NOS headlight and starter relays - shooting in the dark and out of ideas. Relays made no difference (duh). Fast fwd a couple weeks - called biker friend, master electrician by day, over to house. His conclusion: something wrong with Mike's XS harness. Either faulty (not likely given we've bought 2) or just wrong (despite correct fitment). Perhaps the latter? Not sure but we ordered a junkyard OEM that looks pretty good. That will be here on Monday. We'll see; stay tuned. This thing is going to run again. Although I did offer it to my electrician-biker friend for $1.61 - that was all he had in his wallet at the time.
 
Same problem with the splice at the fuse box too?
 
Yup, nothing changed. We actually split the new harness to look in there and nothing was adding up. Although, instead of a splice, there was a connector. Also were two loose/disconnected wires. But, when we reconnected, didn't get better. I felt a little less stupid.
 
Sounds like your new second harness is made wrong, just like the first. Unfortunately, that's kinda typical for Mikes, they'll keep selling them until they run out, lol. To see if it is the same as the first one, has the same issues, test for power on all the fuses. The main 20A fuse should be "hot", both sides, all the time. The other 3 fuses should only be "hot" when the key is turned on.

Here's the correct power path - power from the battery runs to one side of the main 20A fuse, through that and on up to the ignition switch. From the switch, power runs back to the other 3 fuses. It is one line that splits into 3 shortly before it reaches the fuses .....

050OLGl.jpg
 
Funny story, same as first story. Only fuse hot all the time is the one labeled headlight. Can't get anything on ignition. With key, have power on fuses labeled main and signal. It's really jacked and same as first
 
Hey Wendy---I thought we had a deal , now your offering it to your electrician. What's up with that ?? Storm is coming up here but I have my shovel, scraper and a bucket of sand, the mighty Tahoe can make the trip. lol
tim
 
Hopefully when your used harness comes the install will go smooth and you will be letting us know that you have spark . Good luck.
tim
 
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