I have a 91 Harley Softail Custom....me and my buddy changed the rear tail light and rear turn signal bulbs, and doing so we had to sodder some wire together for the Right turn signal. Well my Left turn signal went out a few weeks later. Then my bro noticed my tail light wasn't working the other day....and on my way home from his place I was haulin' a$$ down the highway and when I hit my brights it killed my headlight completely..scaring the shit outta me, When i turned my brights off..my headlight comes back on...And when I slow down my headlight dims. But my turn signals in front stay bright and work great. Don't think its the battery.....wats up?
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Electrical problem on Harley Davidson FXSTC?
- Thread starter John F
- Start date
The Freak Show
New member
This is one of those times that you should just start over. Get a wiring diagram from a manual and see what you connected to and what all the affected circuits have in common (if anything). Then you can start to trace where you're having the short circuit. Also, be sure you are shrink wrapping any splices. I recently saw a "how to" article that said wires should be soldiered, then a crimp-on wire splice should be slid over and put on. too. The whole thing then needs one or two layers of shrink wrap. I don't know if that's overkill, but I may try it the next time I need to add an accessory or fix something.
Just take your time. Electrical can be frustrating, but if you are methodical, you will figure it out.
Just take your time. Electrical can be frustrating, but if you are methodical, you will figure it out.
first get a shop manual because it has the wiring schematic, carefully go over the wiring diagram, then undo your previous repair,redo it and make sure that you follow the factory wiring as it is in the manual. The fact that your headlight dims leads me to believe you may have a charging problem,make sure the battery is fully charged and then with a voltage meter and the bike running check the battery.Should read about 13.5 volts while idling and go up slightly when you increase the R.P.M. If it doesnt then you simply have a charging problem.Those turn signals dont use as much voltage as a headlight. As for your brights the filiment may be burned out or broken check to see that both filaments are intact. Often times electrical problems are small simple matters such as these.
urs solder job was shitty.......u either didn't get a good connection or u are grounding out......or u soldered the wrong wires...
this is one of the reasons i tell ppl to twist wires together and test stuff b4 the bother soldering....but o well need to fix it now.....good luck
this is one of the reasons i tell ppl to twist wires together and test stuff b4 the bother soldering....but o well need to fix it now.....good luck
first thing you gotta ask is...did i have this problem before i made the modifications? if not then you have definitely made a mistake in your connections along the way.some of the guys are right in that you need a shop manual and look over your wiring.was this a custom taillight or a plug and play replacement? Im not sure how your taillight is wired but my sportster has has a module that everything including the turns plug into.I am guessing that you have some wires crossed somewhere which can make all your lights act strange.trust me on that one cuz ive done it myself.so...i suspect you need to undo everything and start over.watch the color coded wires and mate them up accordingly.you can twist and tape as a temporary thing until you have it right.then go back and solder and shrink-wrap.you don't need a crimp if you solder.