Laney Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Tonight, just like any normal workday, I pulled into the garage, turned off the bike, got off and hung up my gear in the garage. It was really fortunate that it wasn’t a normal workday, or things might’ve ended up much, much worse. I usually hang up gear, grab my bag out of the topcase, close the garage door, and go inside the house. Tonight, Dennis and I met up after work and did some shopping, so we both stayed in the garage awhile while he was messing with his new earplug speakers, and I was putting some things away. Dennis was facing my bike while he was trying to fit the earplugs, and noticed some blue flashes just above the handlebars. He asked me what was flashing on my bike. I walked over, and saw flames popping up just above the bars. It looked small, so I grabbed a sweatshirt and tried to smother it. That didn’t work, and the flames suddenly got bigger and were spreading down towards the engine, so Dennis jumped on and pushed the bike out of the garage while I ran for the hose. A good spray with the hose killed the flames, and we disconnected the battery and took a closer look at the damage. The ignition switch is badly toasted, and the brake line just forward of the switch burned up. There’s a lot of burnt wiring below, some of it is my Autocom PTT switch and the audio line for the V-1. The ignition switch might have been the source of the blue arcing that Dennis saw – we can’t tell what got fried and what did the frying. When I hosed it down, there wasn’t any further arcing from electrical parts, and the battery is still healthy. The abrupt change in the fire I saw might have been from the meltdown in the brake line and brake fluid vapors suddenly feeding the flames, but there’s no obvious indication of where things started. I know when I got off the bike, everything was fine, and it was around 5 minutes before Dennis noticed the arcing and I ran over and saw the flames. We probably won’t know more until the bike gets to the shop, but I’m curious if anyone’s heard of any electrical (or other potentially fire starting) issues with the K13R, S, or GT? Link to comment
Guest Kakugo Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Very weird happening, glad nobody got hurt and you were able to put out the fire quickly. One thing that pops into my mind: is it possible someone tampered with your ignition switch? Many moons ago somebody attempted to steal my mother's Golf. She tried to drive home but the switch arced and caused a small fire which was put out by a kind passerby. Also I seem to recall H-D had issues in the past with ignition switches arcing and causing all sorts of problems. I personally would have somebody with the right skill (forensic expert?) to look into it to determine the exact cause of the arcing. Link to comment
Limecreek Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Sorry about the damage. I've come across several accounts of K1300 owners replacing the ignition switch due to shorting. In the cases I've read about the symptom was a no start, not a fire, but they may be related. Link to comment
TEWKS Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 That $ucks but as stated, good thing you were both near by when it happened. Let us know what went wrong. Pat Link to comment
tallman Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Glad y'all are OK. Hope they don't tell you it is becasue you ride like a girl. Link to comment
plext Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Pleased to hear it wasn't worse. I'm in touch with quite a few K bike riders either directly or via web and I cannot say I've heard of anything like this, it will be interesting to say the least to hear what the cause was. Link to comment
Laney Posted January 6, 2012 Author Share Posted January 6, 2012 Glad y'all are OK. Hope they don't tell you it is becasue you ride like a girl. Shhhh... Don't give anyone any ideas!!! Link to comment
Kathy R Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Good grief, Lane! Now I understand what you were talking about in your email. I just saw this thread. I join in the chorus of Thank Goodness It Wasn't Worse! Are there cameras trained on the area where you park your bike at work? Well, now both of those big white bikes are baptized. Hope it is fixed quick. Link to comment
10ovr Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 So is it fixed ??????????????????????????????? Link to comment
Laney Posted January 25, 2012 Author Share Posted January 25, 2012 Update… The local dealer put some time into looking for the cause of the fire and didn’t find it. Dennis thought it might have been the Garmin power cable, told the shop about his thought, the techs ran with that idea and stopped looking. I’m the lone holdout on the Garmin power cable idea - the positive lead is 26 AWG and was pretty short, and if its insulation had been cut or torn and it shorted to the frame, it’d be the same as putting that skinny little wire directly across the battery terminals. I wouldn’t expect wire that small would survive long enough to heat anything else up enough to cause a fire. But putting small wires across the battery terminals to see if they stay intact long enough to burn anything is not a test I’ll be doing when I get the bike back. I made a call to my insurance co., their 3rd party adjuster contracted with an inspection company. The inspector wasn’t really familiar with motorcycles. He didn’t identify a cause and I thought I saw “cause unknown” somewhere in the paperwork. Someone told me the first question the fire dept. would ask was if anybody worked on it recently, and the hold down wire bail for the headlight was replaced the Saturday prior. Nothing was done with wiring or hoses, and we’d been out riding for about five hours on the 1st, plus I’d ridden to work and home the day of the fire with no problems. The insurance co. is moving reasonably quickly, and they OK’d the repairs. Parts were ordered yesterday, some if not all parts should get in Thursday. I don't know how long the work will take - replacing the main wiring harness sounds like a big job. But it's progressing! Link to comment
Whip Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Soooooo....It is all Dennis's fault Link to comment
BrianT Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Soooooo....It is all Dennis's fault I'm blaming global warming. Link to comment
Laney Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 I'm blaming global warming. Be careful, this could now get mistaken for a political discussion Link to comment
Kathy R Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 I'm blaming global warming. Be careful, this could now get mistaken for a political discussion Not unless you name it after a President or Party Link to comment
BrianT Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 I'm blaming global warming. Be careful, this could now get mistaken for a political discussion Not unless you name it after a President or Party Just going for a joke, no political statement. But I would definitly vote for President Flamer or the Flamer Party if there was one. Link to comment
notacop Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 It is not impossible that a wire was pinched when the bail hold down was reassembled. A pinched wire can take a while before the insulation flows the wires are exposed and short out. Used to happen all the time at work when someone replaced a solenoid and pinched a wire. It could take days or weeks sometimes before a problem appeared. Lots of reports here of..I worked on the bike, now it's broken.... How could that happen? Link to comment
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