| Author | Message | ||
     Fcbuell |
What up all... well, I've been hovering these posts for a while reading about these recent electrical problems.. thought I'd chime in and say "I feel your pain." My '05 City X keeps blowing the headlight fuse. The shop has had it for over a week, apparently its stripped down, last I called to check the mechanic had "gone home due to frustration." I'm definitely not giving up on the Buell, but seriously... I've never had a bike with so many little-big problems. Ugh. Thanks for letting me vent. | ||
| Ginzero |
Man sorry to hear about your bugs. I've been using my 05 XB9SX as a commuter since May. Other than having to adjust the idle I haven't had any issues (knock on wood). Keep us posted on how it goes... | ||
| Buellerx |
I had a similar problem (the first of my 2 electrical problems). It turned out to be a wire worn through and shorting to the fairing bracket. It was a very small bare spot and difficult to find (the dealer had it twice). It is a $.05 with a piece of electrical tape once you find it. Also I have heard of there being shorts in the bulbs themselves. If they cant find a short in the wiring, have them switch the bulb and see if it solves the problem. In addtion to that I had a bad relay. I wouldn't say that it has detered me at all form Buells as I see the problems as minor and were both fixed under warranty. The relay is just an off the shelf part that is prob used on dozens of bikes of different brands. Mine just happened to go out at a bad time (very bad time). | ||
| Typeone |
Over the weekend I installed a race ecm and discovered the rear shock reservoir has been cutting a nice slice through the main grouping of wires going to the ecm, sorry dont know proper name, I've got a 12S. Luckily I was already in the dealer parking lot (rather than out on the road with a major headache) waiting to get the TPS reset, they used some thick heat shrink wire cover to repair it. Hmm. | ||
| Fcbuell |
Well, as an update... Turns out the dealer is having a hard time locating the actual root cause. Meanwhile, they have had two other Buell's come in, a Firebolt and another Lightning (both 04-05 I think) that are having the same fuse-blowing problems as my bike. I was told "we're setting them aside until HD Buell factory gets back to us" Um... OK, guess I'll wait... but they didn't offer a loaner bike. I have no idea when I'll actually get the bike back. | ||
| Dagwood |
The lightning models have crappy wiring, period. I kept blowing the key switch fuse and I had to get the bike towed to the dealer. Instead of inspecting the wiring for chaffing, they decided the bike needed a whole new harness. I suspect that the spot where the wiring runs past the left side of the neck is where it rubbed through and grounded out on the frame. At least this happened while it is still under warranty. A buddy of mine had the same problems with his S. BMC should do something to remedy this recurring problem IMO. | ||
| Opto |
The wiring and connectors on the XB's are really high quality, most of the switches are fully sealed too. Typeone, I also didn't like the looms on the 12S running past the edge of the rear shock reservoir so I removed the clamps that hold 2 looms parallel and made them into 1, then wrapped some inner tube around it all and held that in place with cable ties. It's interesting that Buell have gone to a lot of trouble to house looms in plastic conduit inside the LHS frame rail (very good practice), and use quality components throughout, yet still have some failures. I have not seen a late model bike with better quality wiring. It must be driving Buell nuts. I appreciate their efforts. One other thing that is sad to see is that when a Buell does have an electrical problem, it looks like there is a lack of training in electrical faultfinding for the poor techs who have to fix it. To contemplate changing an entire wiring harness is one way of saying it's too hard to find the fault. It's not a tech's fault if he is not trained well in finding the cause of electrical faults, but the customer suffers. Enough ramblings... |
