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Faulty milometer

RICHY

Member
Hi just started my 98 FXD LOWRIDER for the first time in a couple of months and noticed the numbers on the digital milometer are faulty it looks like a series of dashs and 7s its like the lines that make up the numbers arent all showing to form the correct reading. the bikes battery is fully charged.anyone got any ideas.
 
Welcome Richy to the HDTimeline forum. While others will probably weigh in shortly, I suspect the problem is in the display terminal connections having a bit of corrosion or slight warpage due to aging of the plastic/installed PCB, which will be shall I say a rather "vigorous" amount of work accessing it without damaging things and elicit a ton of expletives.

If you get access to the LED/LCD display, check the solder connections first for bad or cold solder joints, and if display is directly soldered, probably nothing you can do. If push on connector, carefully unmate the display carefully, you do not want to distort the terminals or bend the display as they are very delicate. It may work, but the best solution is to use contact cleaner from Radio Shack, mating and unmating contacts followed by a bit of dielectric grease to prevent further corrosion

In HD' defense, the displays are about $15-20 and are generally not made to be serviced. The overall guages are not made to be disassembled and require tons of patience. You might look in the service manual, but likely does not have the detail to break down the assemby. Good luck and tell us how it comes out.:coffee
 
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Welcome Richy...

No way to fix the problem you are seeing. My 96 did it a couple of years ago. As long as it's just the odo and the speed needle is working your are ok. Unless the odo reading is important to you. On thin you can try is hold the trip odo reset button and turn on the igintion switch. If memory serves that put the odo in a mode that displays version number and a couple of other bits of info (what I can't remember) and I believe it also does an LED segment test.

A bit of additional info... The the old speedo's do not have the trouble code functions/diagostics that the new ones do. But they will display some info.
 
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Thanks for the replies i had a look in the service manual and its saying with this fault replace the speedometer <expensive> i will have a go a stripping it down and look at the connection's etc if i can get it to work again i will post a reply .
 
Be advised that messing with the speedo is generally not advised, and will affect the resale of your bike as they are designed to prevent "mischief". Also, if you decide to replace speedo, be prepared to provide the VIN and mileage to the HD dealer, as you are on your best behavior (I would do the same thing just because...) LOL! :newsmile07:
 
I had a problem with my odometer too...Unfortunatly there is nothing you can do about it. A whole new speedometer with reinstated milage must be purchased from a HD dealer. I just bought mine a couple of weeks ago and my wallet is still on life support because of it.
 
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