Electrical Gremlins

[nomadicfireman]

I'll try and keep this short but hopefully it will help someone out there along the way. I have been reading this site for years and never posted. I have learned a lot and the info I get from you guys has kept my bike out of the shop, until now. My bike has 48,000 miles on it. It has been flawless until about 46,000 miles. On a trip to Arizona, it started stalling and hesitating on light throttle application. When I got back I cleaned the throttle body plates, new plugs, new air filter, sea foam during the trip. I also did the cam chain extenders, which really quieted the engine by the way, and it still acted up. The FI light would come on and go back off after a mile or so. I generally do not trust dealers but I had no choice. I chose a dealer in Georgetown that seemed friendly and knowledgeable when I've stopped by. They took the bike back, long story short , the wire harness, that runs from the engine to the ECU, which is next to the battery, has a wear spot where it runs over a frame rail. He found 2 wires that were worn through and shorting out. So far so good. Charged me $193.00 which I thought was fair considering the diagnostics he had to do. If something changes I'll keep you informed but so far so good.

[davidjones1]

good info to know and welcome to the site from southeast Tenn,
ride safe.

[ringadingh]

Thats actually a fairly common problem with the Nomads. A few here have experienced different types of electrical problems due to wires rubbing through as you mentioned. It almost always rubbed through and shorted in the same place you described.
Im leaving on a ride tomorrow and had my tank off the bike yesterday, checking the harness for that very same issue. I don't think I'll ever have a short there, since I added a couple of cable ties to secure the harness from moving on the frame.

[isaiahsdad]

As many know, I just recently had the same problem. Mine wore through on the front part of the rear cylinder and caused my bike to loose spark on the front cylinder. It would only do it when the bike was warm, it would run fine cold. I thought I was in need of the CDI, or even a pickup coil but after reading about others and there problems here on this site, it made me look closer and I am glad I did. Saved me a bundle, and kept me on the road. When the temp gets back down to reasonable (it is 92 right now with a heat index of 96 and humidity of 50%) I am going to pull the seat and tank and check out the harness real good.