First big ride

I can't say much now since I'm at work, but I took my first big ride yesterday and I loved it! We went up to Bear Mountain and then to dinner at some TGI Fridays-esq place (UNO?).

Anyway, the Buell threw a check engine light, but it was just about to eek up on 7,000 miles when it did (perhaps it's programmed to do so?). Otherwise, it ran great and really fits me well in both comfort and personality. We're going to hook it up to the ECM Spy and see what the code is all about.

Sorry, no pictures. I was too excited to do anything other than ride.

Congrats! How many miles did you put on her that day?

check your fluids, it could be low on oil (not that HD Motors use oil)

We did like 100 miles. We rode again today and did 150. Another perfect day today as it turns out.

The code was for a short or open circuit in the engines cooling fan. The fan doesn't work apparently. I'll figure it out. It does need an oil change though. And a coolant flush (hehe. Just kidding).

Opus wrote: check your fluids, it could be low on oil (not that HD Motors use oil)

If it's not leaking oil, it ain't running right.

Funny that the cooling fan doesn't work on an air-cooled engine

wherethefmi wrote: Funny that the cooling fan doesn't work on an air-cooled engine

It does have one, if your joke implies that it shouldn't. I still laughed anyway. The fan only runs when you shut the bike down or possibly if you idle in hot weather for a long time and it heats up a lot.

But I think the radiator has a hole in it . . .

Get the factory shop manual if you don't have it. It should have a sequence to display the CEL without a reader. Some of them are like turn ignition on for 3 seconds, off for 3, on for 3, off for 3, on and wait or something like that. I'm sure the various Buell boards will have something. I've never heard of a programmed in CEL like BMW's or whatever have on a HD. Low on oil probably won't throw a CEL. And the Sportster motors are surprisingly oil tight.

The newer big twins have a cooling fan on them too, along with some kind of "parade" fuel map or something. Twinkies run hot.

I have a computer program that, when my computer is plugged into the bike's ECM, it can read codes, tell me what they mean, and reset them. It does other cool stuff too but I haven't looked at it too much. It told me about the fan in plain, easy-to-understand English. I think I'm going to like this bike.

Blown fuse. Swapped out the blown one for the spare. Now it all works.

Look for a short/damaged insulation in the wire between the fuse and the fan or relay to the fan. Check the current load on the fan. Sportsters are not known for huge electrical systems and if you have a fan sucking down enough to blow a fuse, that could be a problem down the road.

Thanks. I'll take a look tonight.