Shovelhead power cut out

[james69]

Hey guys, Decided to take my lady for a spin a round town. Bike was running fine for the first 10 min or so. After than I was riding and my bike just cut out completely, no lights nothing in the year ive had this bike have never had that happen. I pulled over turned my key to OFF and waited a few min. Lights came back up and it kicked back over no problem. Rode for about another minute or two, pulled up to a light idled for a sec and it cut out again. Turned my key off and back on and no lights still. Waited a few minutes and turned the key to ON and my lights were back.

Was able to get it home after the same thing happened twice more. Each time was the same. Ran fine for a minute, then I lost all power and lights. Having to wait a few min (cooling down?) before they come back. Ended up pushing it home the last half mile.

Once I was home I took this video where it happened again within the same time frame as all the other times.

https://youtu.be/oiN63NZITXU

Points? Coil? Something else? I wanna mention this is the first day in UT over 90 degrees.

I replaced my intake seals with the FNA kit the other day and this is the first ride since then, that's the only thing I have changed since experiencing this problem. I have spare points and coil that were designated for my bag for my trip up to Oregon in a few weeks. Any advice would be tight!

[TriNortchopz]

faulty ignition switch maybe? what you got there for an ignition switch?

Weak tailight may be a poor ground.

checked all connections for corrosion, tightness and clean grounds at all connections? confirmed the breakers are good...running breakers or fuses?

[james69]

faulty ignition switch maybe? what you got there for an ignition switch?

Weak tailight may be a poor ground.

checked all connections for corrosion, tightness and clean grounds at all connections? confirmed the breakers are good...running breakers or fuses?

Taiwan 3 position keyed ignition switch. Was on the bike when I bought it.

Yeah the tail light is from prism supply, they use really really thin wires. I wouldn't be surprised if the ground isnt that great for that tail light making that the case I used a ring terminal to to the main ground. Ill check it out in the morning and verify on that.

I will go through all my connections. Stock breakers.

This winter I did replace the 30amp breaker between the battery and the ignition this last winter.

[Tattooo]

Battery cables loose or corroded or both......

[farmall]

Looks like a possible short since breakers pop then thermally reset (which got you closer to home and why I don't run fuses).

Ensure your wiring harness is in good condition (if it's original, shitcan and replace with a custom minimalist harness, nothing that ancient should be on the road).

Dielectric grease keeps threaded joints from corroding after you clean the parts. Hit your alternator plug when you pull it for inspection.

Lighting should be on a separate breaker from ignition. Even better if it's on a separate key switch position with NO (not even brake) lights on the first position so you can limp home with no loads other than ignition.

Disconnect your ignition switch then check each terminal for continuity appropriate to each key position and to ground. If any of the terminals is grounded, replace switch. (I get about ten years out of them.)

Always perform a charging system test with a voltmeter as part of comprehensive electrical troubleshooting. Was the battery charged or discharged when you got it home?

One method I use is disconnecting as much as possible then if the problem goes away, reconnect components until it recurs.

[Hatchet54]

For what it's worth, I had an identical issue on a KZ750 years ago. In my case, it turned out the culprit was a bad wire connecting to my stator.

[james69]

All my connections seemed tight but I looked them all over and noticed my ground was pretty dirty. I undid and re tightened everything after I cleaned up all my connections and took it for a rip today. Problem did not happen again! I think i'm good thanks for the advice guys!