Dam proud of myself!

[americanbadass]

You guys may have noticed that I haven't been terrorizing you much over the last few days. I have been working to resolve an electrical issue with the Victory Pitboss I picked up a few months back. When I first got this trike in November it was blowing headlight fuses, and the spot lights did not work. Could not figure out what was up-so I took it to the only Victory dealer in northern Utah. They charged me 2 hours labor and the lights worked on the way home. The next day I go out and start it, and much to my horror, it blew the fuse and no HL or spotlights. I call the dealer and they said bring it back and we might have to replace some switches and wiring (more money!!!). So I am wondering whether to take it back in (40 miles away). Snow came and I just decided I would tackle it as a winter project.

I hate electrical stuff, it is like reading Chinese to me. Saturday I began to tackle this beotch, all day I traced wires, removed the gas tank, windshield, and opened the headlight housing clustercasm!

I replaced the wiring and switch to the spotlights, tested connections- started it up-shut it down, started it again and blew the Fu@#king fuse again. Still no spotlights!!!!

Today, I go back out and start over, bypassing power to try to get the spotlights working, retracing my wires and testing everything. About 4 hours in, I decide to pull everything out of the headlight housing-going thru it wire by wire......and what to my eyes should appear-and unsheathed wire junction between the head light relay and spot lights. I wrapped it up in electrical tape...and walllaa-it works!!!!!!! I guess it was contacting the metal shell of the headlight housing when I moved the handlebars, I almost started crying...and am going to CHURCH next Sunday. YIPPPEEEE!!!!!!pepper

Sorry about the pics-cell phone and dark garage.

[saab9k]

congratulation.

[SEAlaskan]

You guys may have noticed that I haven't been terrorizing you much over the last few days. I have been working to resolve an electrical issue with the Victory Pitboss I picked up a few months back. When I first got this trike in November it was blowing headlight fuses, and the spot lights did not work. Could not figure out what was up-so I took it to the only Victory dealer in northern Utah. They charged me 2 hours labor and the lights worked on the way home. The next day I go out and start it, and much to my horror, it blew the fuse and no HL or spotlights. I call the dealer and they said bring it back and we might have to replace some switches and wiring (more money!!!). So I am wondering whether to take it back in (40 miles away). Snow came and I just decided I would tackle it as a winter project.

I hate electrical stuff, it is like reading Chinese to me. Saturday I began to tackle this beotch, all day I traced wires, removed to gas tank, windshield, and opened the headlight housing clustercasm!

I replace the wiring and switch to the spotlights, tested connections- started it up-shut it down, started it again and blew the Fu@#king fuse again. Still no spotlights!!!!

Today, I go back out and start over, bypassing power to try to get the spotlights working, retracing my wires and testing everything. About 4 hours in, I decide to pull everything out of the headlight housing-going thru it wire by wire......and what to my eyes should appear-and unsheathed wire junction between the head light relay and spot lights. I wrapped it up in electrical tape...and walllaa-it works!!!!!!! I guess it was contacting the metal shell of the headlight housing when I moved the handlebars, I almost started crying...and am going to CHURCH next Sunday. YIPPPEEEE!!!!!!pepper

Sorry about the pics-cell phone and dark garage.

[saab9k]

Is the dealer going to give you money back, since they did not fix it.

Because you replace parts, don't mean a thing, IF you don't fix the problem.

Have to find it first. Enough said.

[SEABILL]

Good Work!!!

[Gorilla]

Congrats you are now a trouble shooter. Thats how its done

[87Trike1200]

Electrical stuff like that can make me crazy. You stuck to it and didn't give up. Good job!

[rmrc51]

That reminds me of what I went through with the headlight bucket on my Valkyrie Trike.

When you first open those damn things up, it looks like a ball of mulit-colored spaghetti. How-ever, after you've pulled it all out and start to separate the pairs, trace what they're connected to and their source, it slowly begins to make sense. Definitely a scary and humbling experience when you start. But once you find the problem, you feel like you're David and you just beat the crap out of Goliath, lol.

Congratulations Mark (David) pepper

[Gold Rush]

GOOD FOR YOU!!!

Sparks are my life so I actually do enjoy chasing them. Can be really aggravating at times (as you know) but so are a lot of other things. Glad you can move on to the next mountain now.

[Rosy]

Dealers hate electrical problems because most of the time they charge an arm and a leg looking for the problem and there is nothing to show the customer.

In your case, 4 hours or more and a piece of electrical tape to solve, that's a hard sell to a customer. But, they are correct, if they didn't fix it, then try and get some money back! Good Luck!

Regards,

Rosy
From NH

[Big Dog]

Good for you Mark , now you are a fix-it wizard

[kam582]

Always feels good to fix a troubling, annoying problem. Way to persevere!

[americanbadass]

Is the dealer going to give you money back, since they did not fix it.

Because you replace parts, don't mean a thing, IF you don't fix the problem.

Have to find it first. Enough said.

Dealers hate electrical problems because most of the time they charge an arm and a leg looking for the problem and there is nothing to show the customer.

In your case, 4 hours or more and a piece of electrical tape to solve, that's a hard sell to a customer. But, they are correct, if they didn't fix it, then try and get some money back! Good Luck!

Regards,

Rosy

From NH

Thanks for all the cudos. This project was under procrastination for 3 months- so it was a BIG DEAL for me, because I suck at electrical, and usually end up throwing my hands in the air.

As far as getting money back from the dealer (they charged me 180.00 bucks, and solved nothing), I think I am just going to grin and bear it. There are only 3 Victory dealers in Utah (40 miles, 58 miles, and 280 miles away). If I burn that bridge, I will screw myself when I really need them! One thing I have learned over the years, is not to burn a bridge down, when it is the only way to get back.

Ten years ago I would have been in their face, and I for sure would be 180 bucks up right now.

[bustedwing]

I do a lot of electrical troubleshooting and the worst ones are the ones that only give you a problem once in a while. But doing what you did, looking close to the wiring for problems after you stretch it out, sometimes lucky enough to find the problem. It can be daunting at times but with a volt ohm meters you can do a lot.

[Chumbly]

I do a lot of electrical troubleshooting and the worst ones are the ones that only give you a problem once in a while. But doing what you did, looking close to the wiring for problems after you stretch it out, sometimes lucky enough to find the problem. It can be daunting at times but with a volt ohm meters you can do a lot.

Boy, you got that right. Another thing that bugs me is when someone who knows nothing about automotive electrical gets in and starts cutting and splicing. Other than that, electrical has never been and issue and it helps if a person has a lot of patience and can take their time. One motto, I've always tried to follow is- "Do it properly the first time, and do it once". Congrats to the fellow who didn't panic and jumped into the project in the first place (I would have started in the headlight bucket, but that's just me and what I know about "cycles")...hope ya learned something.

[oneup]

as an electronics technician, and an electro-mechanical engineer, ive seen more than a few intermittant or periodic faults, and they are the worts to deal with. next point is many circuit diagrams are average to poor. these types of faults can be a brain strain to a tech so having the grit to get right into it AND to have a win, is a huge accomplishment. well done.

[oneup]

worth a rep point i think

[Tinbasher]

I certainly would be asking them why they failed to notice an obvious short.

It is a special kind of satisfaction tracing and fixing stuff yourself.

[americanbadass]

I certainly would be asking them why they failed to notice an obvious short.

It is a special kind of satisfaction tracing and fixing stuff yourself.

Yes...I did ask them about it, they said "bring it back-we wil probably have to run some new wiring or replace switches". I was pissed and just decided to tackle it myself, because I did not want to get ripped off again by them. I do most of my own maintenace anyway-but electrical has always been a pain in my ass. LLike I said-I did not want to burn a bridge, and not have a place to go when I do need a dealer!

[americanbadass]

worth a rep point i think

Well where is it-I'll give you oneup as well!