ST1300 dies when shutting down throttle

past history 2010 ST1300, installed a few add ons, audio vox cruise, oxford heater grips, PC8, power wire to radar detector, air horn, handle bar risers. Cruise control remote on/off switch installed below left storage box on fairing. Metal switch, no rubber boot. Showing signs of rust.

bike ran fine until today. Went to meet a group of riders, stopped the bike, left key on, batt dead. Wife brought truck, used truck to jump bike battery. Bike started.

Rode for about 50 miles, high speed. Came up to a stop sign, pulled in clutch and grabbed front brake. Tach went from about 4500 to 0. Bike dead. Hit starter button, fired back up. This happened intermittently for the rest of the rider. Sometimes I grabbed the front brake and clutch and it died, sometimes it didn't. Sometimes I did not grab the front brake, just the clutch and it died and sometimes it didn't.

Sometimes the tach would drop to 0 and than bounce up to standard 1000 rpm idea. Sometimes the tach would drop to 1000 rpm and stay there, as it should be expected to.

Bike ran fine otherwise, other than the typical hesitation in the throttle, which appears to be common with an audio vox install. Cruise control also worked fine.

No really sure the dealer is an option at this point.

Any help would be great.

Thanks

Rocc

I just experienced a similar problem that started out like yours and then rapidly progressed to where sometimes it would restart and sometimes it wouldn't. Sometimes when it restarted, all the dash lights started flashing at me. My local Honda dealer's solution was to replace the ignition switch, which they said had failed. Had to wait nearly a month for the back-ordered ignition switch to be released, which they tell me is now a "retooled" part.



Just my experience...

How long was the bike sitting with the key on? If it was just a few minutes, check battery condition, it may be weak, and how old is it? For other things check to make sure battery connections are all good, especially ground. Your alternating between normal operation and totally dead sounds like an intermittent connection going in and out. Only other thing to do is wait for the intermittent failures to become more permanent failures so you can start troubleshooting various systems. Check main fuses as well, and any fuseable links.

Start with the easy stuff, try some SeaFoam in the fuel tank as you may have some old gas in there giving you troubles.

The battery in the 1300 is relatively small and the headlights will suck them dry in no time flat without the engine running. Lead-acid batteries don't take kindly to being fully- or near-fully drained, and if yours is the one that came with the bike, I'm in for a toasted battery.

Take it home, charge it up and do a load test. If it fails (voltage drops below 10 while cranking), replace it.

--Mark

Since the bike starts back up, after it dies, I don't think you have a battery problem. It doesn't take as much current to keep it running as it does to start it back up. You might check the cruise control wire that taps into your coil circuit. If it is shorting, I think that would kill it, but it would probably also show up while moving.

My second guess would be bad gas.

John

Mine was doing the same thing as far dying and restarting right away. Battery was 7 years old so I replaced it. Never died again.

Thanks guys, sorry for the delayed response. Took bike out Sunday, ran very hard, burned a tank of gas. Bike ran very well, cruise control was operating as expected. Bike died approx. 2 times early on. Got tired of it and used front brake to slow down in most cases. This kept RPM's up. When I had to use clutch, just prior to stop, I released the clutch keeping the tach from going to 0.

Will keep you apprised. Have no idea what to do at this point.

I'm betting a issue with the cruise control. Un hook all the electrical and vacuum lines for the cruise and see if that fixes the problem.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is just a loose battery cable.

+1 on the battery, mine was 3 1/2 years old and died without warning. Bike always on tender when not being ridden

CarSalesman said:

I wouldn't be surprised if this is just a loose battery cable.

Click to expand...

+1 on the loose cable!