Well, after searching all summer for a sidecar for my 2000 Harley Road King Classic, I finally found a 1999 TLE Ultra which I just finished setting up last night. I took it for a ride around the block and with a few minor adjustments it should ride quite well. However, this morning I got up early and tweaked the alignment and toe and headed off for work, some 8 miles away and all back roads... no highway driving in case something unforeseen should happen... and it did.
At mile 4 the bike just stopped running for no apparent reason... as if it had run out of gas or had no spark. The bike is a 2000 model and shouldn't have any TSM, TSSM or rollover module issues, right? Am I missing something very obvious here, as I did notice that with or without the bike's right turn signal connected all the running lights work, but when either the front or rear brake is applied the bike's brake lights brighten, but the sidecar's lights turn off completely.
Any thoughts ?
Thanks for any insights you can provide.
Lightnin' Lyle
P.S. The first 4 miles were a blast!
electric worm..
if (in the case you are very sure) all wiring was done right then I'd search for water in the cable tree, or false joints.
First thought the sidecar break lights have positive to ground.
Second thought (sidecar) cable tree got a short to ground over a sharp edge.
Third thought: Did you run the sidecar lights out of the ignition line for the ignition coil?
On my 1960 Willies I had the magic smoke effect on the road once simply because the new (modern and cheap) crimped terminal eyes became warm and loose by the time and fried the cables of the sealed beams. Afterwards I made them out of copper tubing and soldered again (allthough I hate soldered wires => they break)
Good luck and hope you have less rain as we do have now for weeks....
Sven from 10`N,84`W
Thanks Peter.
I've eliminated the obvious and the bike has spark, but no fuel. If I'm counting the code flashes correctly it's displaying a 56 (two different sensors). Also, it could be the bank angle module, I suppose or the TSM got freaked out because I had converted my bike's turn signals into red brake lights as well as turn signals with an aftermarket tail light package.
Any help as to where to start testing relays, etc. All fuses look okay, and the bike starts and runs on starting fluid squirted into the throttle body.
Thanks again to anyone who can help me figure this bugger out.
Peace,
Lightnin' lyle
Hello Lyle,
allthough I am supposed to be an engineer in automation, I understand only chineese from your last explanation....
I grew up with conventional wiring and understandable (replacable) PLC-controles. Always had a bad spline or bad experiences with company specific propietary electronics....
Seems like Harley and Davidson after the horrible electric crap they made in the 70tees turned into the potted black box direction where a computer hook up and expensive training corses are needed.... just another way to say: "We just want to get the best from You! .... Your money."
At the end all these boxes are or propietary electronics (nowerdays luckily seldom), or a sealed PLC (sadly seldom) or a PIC-microprocessor (every couple of month there are new models on the market that aren't compatible to the former generation) that fullfil defined funtions.
So get the most detailed documentation available and start to read and understand. With pure logic You are supposed to find the error.
In my personell case each time I step over propietary electronics that I do no get repair or spares for I simply take a Mini PLC (Siemens Logo/S7, Schneider Zelio/Twido, A&B Pico/PLC, Omrom, Unitronics or what ever the client has allready and is confortable with / or preferably the K&P DDC's I sale) and reprogram it for to fulfill the desired funtions and later throw out the junk (or often leave it as emergency back up)
In my own Van, house and shop I automated already more then one hardware. And the solo bike is on the list too as soon something starts to fail. that way I get rid of the friends of foreign matters....
Best wishes for your rig and practice with a hand on the manuals in the download section.
Sven
the roll over switch will shut off fuel
the older bikes that have the switch have a way to set it for sidecar with no extra dongle - i took mine to the dealer, they plugged in and changed something - took 5 mins.
that said - the tsm expects a bulb in the sidecar and a bulb in the left turn position but NO BULB IN THE BIKE RIGHT SIDE
any dongle you install to use other lights will have to have extra wires run over to the sidecar turnsignal & may really ruin your day
if it was me id go back to stone stock wire and take out the right bike bulb, reset it all and see if it will go
it may sound wierd but i had a 2000 with a sidecar - if i put a bulb in the right rear of the bike - it basically told me to go to school and would not work, threw a fit.
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Timo,
Thanks for the info. I have configured the rear lights back to factory spec with no bulb in the right turn signal on the bike,
By resetting, do you mean having an HD dealer hook up his $30K computer and reset the TSM so that the ECM knows it now has a sidecar attached and will allow all the sensors, delays and modules recognize the increased resistance, etc. accordingly. If it's really that simple I'll call the dealer tomorrow; however when I met with their guy at the service counter he never mentioned anything about that process and just speculated that from his experience iy probably needed a new crank sensor.
Thanks again.
Lightnin' Lyle
P.S. I'm about 25 minutes north of you in Eden Prairie. MN...
if a 2000 needs a new crank sensor - the cam bearings are toast - better get the cam cover off and look before even pushing the switch. been there done that.
when i put my sidecar on the 2000 bike - they plugged in the digital tech and pushed a few buttons and the bike knew it had a sidecar. there is supposed to be some way to key in info via the turn signal switches but i never learned how, nor do i know which years do what. once i got my 07 in the fall of 06 and got the sidecar onto the 07 my 2000 knowledge started slipping into a murky cloud.
so....
it seems really odd, but techs seem to know as much about a 2000 twin cam as they do about a shovel - ie NOTHING
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