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09 Touring bike possible wiring harness issue.

93K views 68 replies 47 participants last post by  SCHMIDTY 
#1 ·
Found this. Passing it on:

Possible 09 H-D Touring Bike Wiring Harness Issues
Some Technical people I trust reported a potential wiring and ECM connector problem on the late model Harley-Davidson Touring bikes through other channels. This issues is something that others have probably found on some of TC96/103/110 Touring bikes. These wiring problems can cause Check Engine lights to occur and possible engine running issues.

While any unconfirmed report like this should be treated cautiously by any rider, there is strong circumstantial evidence to support this information. There were reports within 72 hours of additional 12-14 2009 and possbily two 2010 Touring bikes exhibiting the symptoms described in this article.

This issue is only seen the FL Touring models (fly-by-wire) and may have appeared as early as 2008, but has been confirmed on 2009 bikes. It has already been seen in the 2010 Touring bikes. This problem can occur while sitting still or riding. It affects Throttle Control, there-by affecting cruise control and other engine speed functions. The primary area impacted seems to be the +5VDC and ground circuit wiring harness connections at the ECU, but all portions of the connector can be a problem. The +5VDC and sensor ground disruption can also affect the sensors for emission control throughout the bike.

On a side note, this situation would explain the problems noted with riders attempting to use XiED's on their 2009 Touring bikes. Nightrider has always contended the XiED's were not working on the 2009 Touring bikes because of a ground fault issue with the H-D ECM or a problem with the +5-0V Throttle sensor signal. A situation were the +5VDC sensor signal and sensor ground signal from the ECM was being disrupted by the ECM wiring harness connector would explain the symptoms seem during XiED testing on the 09 Touring bikes.

One simple test for this condition has been to remove the seat, start the bike and wiggle the harness near the ECM connector and watch for a check engine light. An effected bike will have a CE light come on intermittently and in some cases, the light may stay on after a code is set.

We do not know if this is a systemic problem with all the late model fly-by-wiring Touring bikes or an anomoly, but circumstantial evidence indicates the situation is very easy to recreate on 2009 and few 2010 bikes the simple test has been tried on.

Some of the temporary fixes to this situation seem to be:

*Move and secure the wiring harness while trying to relive the strain against the connector
*Using some washes or spacers under one end of the ecu, changing the angle of the 2 mating connectors on the ecu.
*In some extreme cases, strain relief slots may need to be cut in the seat pan to prevent pressure on the ECM or wiring harness
*Some aftermarket seats do not appear to fit as tightly against the ECM and wiring harness.

Any of these methods may provide temporary relief to the strain on the connector, but the problem would seem to be a poor job of engineering or manufacturing of the ECM connector or wiring harness connector by Harley-Davidson. Our unconfirmed 'inside information' indicated that these connectors were designed with a very limited insertion life. What this means is that the connector may not properly seat after couple of removal/insertion cycles or in the case of the H-D, simple flexing of the connector because of routing of the cable under the seat of engine vibrations. If the connector is not properly seating, very critical sensor voltages are not available or the grounds may not be made, which can create situations were the sensor are misread. The resulting failures when associated with the throttle circuit or O2 sensor circuit can be unpredictable at worst or cause Check Engine lights at their most benign.

If you have are able to recreate this issue with your 2008, 2009 or 2010 Harley-Davidson Touring bike, we recommend you contact your local Dealer and show him the problem. You may want to cosider filing an incedent report with Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to ensure that H-D gets the message.

We are attempting to gather more information on this situation and will report any changes. If you test your bike for this issue, please e-mail your results good or bad to Nightrider. If this report is true, we want all riders to be aware of the situation. If the report is isolated to a few bikes, then we want to be able to correct our reporting to accurately reflect the correct information.

As of Aug-13-2009, we have even more circumstantial evidence that there are issues with the latest engineering revision of the H-D wiring harness connectors at the ECM. There were specific indications of 2009 Touring bikes with different connector types where the newer part number exhibited issues with the XiED's and the older part number more commonly used on the 2008 Touring bikes allowed the XiED's to work without any problems. We cannot explain the older revision connectors showing up on late manufacture bikes. Nor is it our intent to speculate on this high incedence of the connectoris showing up towards the end of the 2009 Touring bike run. Our only intent is to identify and resolve the issue so 2009 H-D Touring bike riders can use the XiED's on their bikes. We will continue to report updates as they occur.
 
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#31 ·
ECM pin connectors

I just replaced the battery in my 2008 RK. 3 days later I started having issues during acceleration. Bike would just shut down. Once restarted it would idle at approx 2000 rpm.
This happen twice. Before I could get it in (AZ bike week), it happen again. This time there was no throttle response, idle was still around 2000 rpm. Talk to the dealer about my issues. Before I could finish my little speech, I was told that it was the ECM pin connectors. He describes my problem to me, he was right. They have fixed this problem in that past. Time to get her fixed..
 
#52 ·
09 Road King Classic - Throttle Sensor Cutout Problem



Hello Guys,

Does anyone know of the HD part numbers and the locations of the pin / connector problems with the touring models? My bike had cut out 3 times a few years back and after I greased them up with di-electric grease on all the connectors I could find on the bike it ws all fixed.... So I thought! Now the problem is happening all over again... I want to replace some pins and I don't know if they're the male or female ones at the ECM, Throttle Body Sensor / Air filter etc....

Any help is appreciated... I almost got cleaned up last Friday by 4 cars whilst getting onto an expressway to a bridge and damn near crapped my pants!

Thanks,

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#33 ·
Ok so is there a solution I can do to fix this problem? I bought my bike a few months back and started having this same problem that was detailing stated. Now my bike has been in the dealership for this same issue 3 times getting shit replaced and no luck fixing it:cussing. I have the extended warranty so its costing me nothing but DAMN i dont wanna keep putting my bike in the shop for days at a time for nothing when i just wanna ride:cussing. So far shutting it off and going threw the start up sequence 3 or 4 time without starting usually fixes it but I want it fixed for good. Anyone have a tested and confirmed fix? Can i use a different years harness or something? Thanks
 
#36 ·
Throttle loss

My 08 Ultra Classic started having issues with the bike going into limp mode. Just enough idle to get it moving in first gear and up to a little over 20 in second gear. Throttle response was not there. Cleaned the connector to the Throttle body and it ran for a day then went out again. I could reset it by cycling the ignition switch the same way I had to when the bike was new and went into high idle. Turns out there are a lot of bikes with this problem. The suspect is the throttle body itself. I will let you know after the dealer I traded it to fixes it. Took it in and left with a 2012 Limited.

PS. My 08 had 43,000 plus on it. That same dealer had a 2012 on the stand with the same problem.

PS.S I used the self diagnostic in the speedometer to get a couple of codes that led me to a lot of online discussion about this. Can't remember the codes and a tossed them.
 
#40 ·
Hi to all,
Haven't been around in a while...too busy lurking I guess ?
At any rate, my 2005 FLHTCU has a similar issue with the cruise control, in that everytime it is connected, it will blow it's fuse and the brake light whenever the rear brake pedal is depressed to disconnect the cruise control. When switching it off at the
dash...no problems. Thanks for the guidance...there are a few more connections I am going to check now.
-John
 
#43 · (Edited)
My throttle quit working on the way home late one night on the interstate. Good thing there was an exit close. The problem with that was it was not a good part of town. Had to idle all the way home. Good thing there are no hills in Louisiana.

After looking for broken wires in the handle bars, light, and under tank. Found the problem to be corrosion on throttle body connector. Cleaned it and now works good. You would think Harley would have address before releasing product! I could have been run over by an 18 wheeler.

So dont get to confident with this wire thing.
 
#44 ·
2009 wiring issues

Hey, new here just wanted to throw this out there to see if anyone was subject to this problem.. I ride a 2012 FLTRX, out for a ride today and as I was pulling out from a light the bike does the HD cough. Then no throttle response for aprox. 3 seconds, then just as I was about to freak out with the throttle at about a 1/4 turn, it starts working normal, normal except the problem of the throttle being a lot past 1/4 now because I was trying to diagnose the issue while rolling along.... SES light came on after I decided it was time to go back to the house and get a clean pair of underwear. Stopped about an hour later for a break, once the bike was shut off for a few minutes the SES light reset. I rode about another 45 minutes with no issue. Stopped again for a break, and when turning out from a traffic light at a 4 way, it did almost the same thing, except this time the throttle response went away, then full on, almost shot me into on coming traffic...:ughwerd: Anyone have this problem??? bike has a little over 7k on the clock.
 
#47 ·
The "Limp Mode" problem is now covered under the Harley-Davidson Emissions Warranty. It is the connectors and is finally a recognized problem. I had my bike shut down twice on me before I had it fixed. First they said it would be $200 but when I went to pick it up 1 1/2 hrs later, they said NO CHARGE, under the Emissions Warranty!

If you haven't got this fixed yet and the engine shuts down to an idle, shut it
off for 60 seconds, restart and it will reset and you can go again.
 
#48 ·
I took my bike in the shop 5 times before one guy finally listened and changed my pins. No problems since and it was all cover but just a real pain in the ass dealing wiht taking it in for something they could have fixed the first time round...
 
#49 ·
On the road this week in New Jersey, had the CE light, miss in the engine, and loss of cruise. When CE goes out, cruise returns. Took it to dealer locally, they replaced the plug, supposedly behind the breather, worked for about two hours, came back again.

On here though I'm getting the sense it's in the wiring under the seat? If so, that would explain my fix not solving the issue. Good thing though the dealer only charged me $52 to Replace plug,so at least that's done. They did say they've heard of the issue, thought the switch would correct it......
 
#53 ·
They were replacing the complete harness assy. to correct the problem. The ECM connector pin replacement is a bitch. Best advice is to have the MoCo electrical service manual in hand.
 
#54 ·
Hey Schmidtys,

Thanks for your reply,

Did HD recall the wiring harnesses or how do I get this sorted the most efficient way... my bike is an 09 and I am back in Australia? Would I be better off buying a new harness and although I am guessing this will be a HUGE job... is it the only option?

I am surprised, that as a major safety issue, nothing has been done by Harley to correct this problem! Obviously the lives of customers don't mean that much since I was nearly taken out by 4 cars...

Any thoughts or recommendations are appreciated.

Cheers,

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#55 ·
Today while on the way home from lunch, the bike went into limp mode. I pulled over and checked for codes and I had P1511 and P2135. Cleared the codes, started the bike back up and made it a few hundred yards and it did it again. Limped back home and got to reading about the fretting problem at the TCA connector. Went out and cleaned the pins and added some di-electric grease. Couldn't test ride it today but I will try tomorrow to see if it fixed the problem.
 
#58 ·
Hello Guys,

I am having re-occurring problems with my bike losing all throttle control again, the bike continues to run but won’t accelerate and I coast to a stop until I turn the bike off and re-start it.

The most recent time before this week it was in Nov 15 and although I had cleaned all terminals and applied silicon grease to try to minimize any corrosion as per HD Technical Bulletin # TT418 – DTCs P2135 and P2101 Theory and diagnostics sheet, it is believed that FRETTING CORROSION is a major contributor of this code. All was good for the last 4-5 months, so I thought....

A poor connection at the Throttle Control Actuator (TCA) can affect the sensor voltages reported to the ECM and this will set this DTC. In the General Information section on the bulletin, the sensor voltage only needs to be altered by 0.13 VDC to possibly set the codes… (I am also getting a P1511 as well). Vibration is believed to contribute to the FRETTING CONDITION.

I want to change the ECM [plug 78] connector terminals (part # 72605-08) for the TPS1 signal on pin #37 brown/violet wire and the TPS2 signal on pin #36 brown / red wire of the ECM. Also, I want to replace some of the connections to the TCA - Specifically all pins that use part # 72168-07 at the TCA connector [211B].

Does anyone have an alternate or OEM part number that I can use for these pins? Such as a Molex terminal part number or a JP Cycles number etc… etc…?

I am capable of replacing the pins and have the crimping tool at work, but don't want to pay a ridiculous amount of money to HD and wait weeks for them to do the job... Any help is appreciated.

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