[glfoer]

Last weekend I pulled over and used my flashers. Shortly after I turned them off the bike started to loose power, sputter and, backfire. The taillight warning light came on and my tach needle was jumping around. When I turned the key off the bike was dead. I had no 12v power to anything when i turn the key back on. My battery has 13v in it.

This is an 84 gl1200 Interstate with 26500miles. I have not yet had a chance to do any troubleshoot on it. I'm going to pick it up from a friends tonight.

 

[2580]

hello glfer, have you tried charging your battery yet. it may have 13 volts showing but no amperage to go with it, or it may have gone bad. try a buddys battery before buying one. once you get the m/c running again put a volt meter on the battery posts to see how much charge you are receiving. you should have about 14.3 volts at first than it should drop to about 13.4 volts in about 4 minutes. hopefully its just a bad battery. if the voltage is low let me know an i'll talk you through a stator test.

 

[glfoer]

Thanks for the input. I got the bike home Friday night and found the problem within a few minutes. The 30amp fuse at the starter relay behind the battery broke. Presumably it's the original fuse. The spare that was there also broke. The local cycle shop had 3 in stock, I bought all 3. They were a wopping $1.05 each. If I had had a test light in the bike I could have found the problem when it broke. I will be putting a test light in the tool kit.

 

[detdrbuzzard]

hello and welcome to GWOF glfoer. head to the auto parts store and get a 30 amp waterproof blade fuse holder and fuses. replace the dog bone fuse with the new setup and blade fuses are easier to find

 

[glfoer]

I considered doing that but the local cycle shop had three fuses in stock so I bought all three. I figure if that was the original fuse that lasted 25 years these three should last quite a while.