Intermittent ignition interruption

[tomdehaan]

Hi, new to this group. I have a 2004 royal star venture I purchased last August with about 96,000 kms on it.  While riding one day the engine just stopped.  This has happened a number of times, usually after a short stop to get gas or lunch. It is a complete ignition stop as if I turned the key off or hit the kill switch.  Bike has always restarted after a few minutes.   Has anyone experienced this? Looking for some direction in diagnosing.  

[Freebird]

It could possibly be the ignition switch.  Certainly not unusual on these bikes for the switches to go bad.  Could also be that the emergency stop switch could need a good cleaning.

[Du-Rron]

12 hours ago, tomdehaan said:

Hi, new to this group. I have a 2004 royal star venture I purchased last August with about 96,000 kms on it.  While riding one day the engine just stopped.  This has happened a number of times, usually after a short stop to get gas or lunch. It is a complete ignition stop as if I turned the key off or hit the kill switch.  Bike has always restarted after a few minutes.   Has anyone experienced this? Looking for some direction in diagnosing.  

If you bought it used... it may have an ignition bypass relay installed by the previous owner.  I installed a relay on mine a few years ago and recently the relay went bad.

If you have to turn the ignition key ON/OFF several times to get any power, see here

 

 

[saddlebum]

Ignition switch is a very common issue with these 2nd gens. It appears the load put upon them is higher than the switch can handle. Sometimes the switch can be taken apart and cleaned up (as in the link provided by Freebird ). An alternative is to replace the switch.

In either case the next step I would take, is to remove or cut any wires supporting a heavy load (or entire load if you wish) and transfer them to a relay switch (terminal 87), You can even use two relays one for the accessory side and one for the run or ignition side. Next run a wire from terminal(s) 86 of the relay back to were you removed/cut the wire(s) to the ignition switch. Run a wire from terminal 85 to ground or Bat neg- . Finally run a wire from Bat pos+ to terminal(30) recommend this wire be 12 gauge. This will take the load off the ignition switch while still leaving the Ign switch in control.

 

I would also do the following:

Load test your battery depending on its age it may be breaking down.

Check charging system performance same as you would on a car (results should be no different than a car). At least 13.9 preferably 14.2 as measured at the battery engine at about 1500 rpm.

The second gens are also notorious for intermittent issues with the rectifier/regulator it is mounted at the lower front of the bike. 

Check your wiring connections including grounds. Connections from stater and rectifier are notorious for corrosion.

Edited January 18, 2022 by saddlebum