One of my scooters is an older HD Low Rider. Has an analog (needle) speedometer and a digital odometer/trip odometer. It does not have a tachometer.
Last week it started doing something weird. When I start up and begin riding the speedometer stays at zero and the odometer/trip odometer is blank. Then, about 2 minutes into the ride, the speedo and odometers come back to life. It’s done this about 10 times now over 7 days. After they begin working again I’ve pulled over and turned the bike off and restarted and they did it again. Always lasting about 2 minutes.
My thought is I have a potential electrical problem. But the consistent 2 minute thing baffles me. Anyone else fathom a guess?
It’s a 1994. I checked the cable and it’s secure, though I suppose it could be bad internally. If it were the cable wouldn’t the odometer at least remain illuminated even if was not recording mileage? Also, the two minute thing is strange. I guess that could just be a coincidence. When the gauges start working again during the ride they remain working. They’ve never stopped working once they’ve come back to life until I turn the bike off and restart. Then it does it again.
I have a dyna wide glide, a couple of years newer than yours. I imagine the speedometer is fairly similar between the two bikes.
On my bike, there’s not much to the speedometer circuitry. There’s a speed sensor in the transmission that sends pulses to the speedometer. If the voltage from the sensor is all wonky or there’s a bad connection (there’s one connector that can go bad) that can make the speedometer do weird things. If the voltage to the speedometer is wonky that can also make it do weird things.
I don’t get the 2 minute thing either, but I would check all of the voltages when the bike first starts up. Check the main voltage at the battery and check the voltage at the sensor and at the speedometer.
If the connectors look good and the voltages all look good, I would suspect the speedometer itself at that point.
If the cable/connector to the sensor is bad, the odometer will be blanked, I believe. Does your bike have auto turn signals like mine? If so, you can have problems with those either not working or not shutting off automatically when you’ve got connector or wiring issues related to the speedometer. Have you tested the turn signals during those two minutes?
Went for a ride around 2300 just got back about an hour ago.
Speedo did the same thing, not working until 2 minutes and then started working.
EXCEPT now the odometer is blank. It didn’t return when the speedometer started working. The trip odometer works, but the mileage odometer is now not there.
Not exactly sure what you meant by the signal lights. Mine are self canceling if that’s what you mean. I checked them but they worked fine even while the speedometer was not working during the first 2 minutes of riding.
If the speedometer is working but the odometer is blank, then it’s not the sensor or the wiring or connections. It sounds like the problem is all in the speedometer/odometer.
ETA: It still would be a good idea to check voltages.
