No power!

Attempted to start my 01 FLHTCI and upon hitting the start switch, everything went blank. No more dash lights, no nothing. Checked the battery and saw the positive terminal had melted plastic from a nearby wire jacket and the battery actually had a small hole near the terminal that was caused from the heat. Before hooking up the new battery and perhaps duplicating the same occurrence, I'm thinking about checking for a short at the solenoid or starter motor. Is this sound and if so how do I do that??

Check for shorts nearest the burn area. Did it blow any fuses? If not, the short is most likely right near the battery. Sometimes wires get pinched under the seat. Make a thorough check around that area. Let us know what you find, please, so others may learn.

Sorry for late response, didn't see it earlier. Anyone else want to weigh in?

Thanks for the reply. I did check all around the area and found nothing suspicious so I installed a new battery and it kicked right over with no issues. I'm now assuming that the battery was the issue or maybe the positive terminal was loose. The confusing thing is that I have a load check/battery tester and when I first attempted to test the battery, the analog needle bounced around a bit and showed the battery as weak, then rose abruptly to show 350 CCA's. I was going to change the battery anyway because of the small hole in the case. The battery was 2 months out of warranty and I always keep it on a battery tender.
I have put on about 300 miles since changing the battery and so far, so good. I DO however, have another issue with idling and stalling. Feel like helping me out on that one too??

Sounds like the battery itself shorted out - happens, and what you saw is a common symptom of that.

As to your next problem, fire away, but if it is an EFI issue, I'm little help. Carb guy, and not even great with them. Other folks do read these (hopefully!).

Ok, here goes. The bike won't idle when starting cold unless I hold the throttle and make it idle at about 1100 rpm's. After a few minutes it will stay running and then I'm off and riding. Now lately, it will intermittently stall when I take off in 1st gear and just yesterday I was in 4th, coming down a hill, doing about 50 mph and it stalled and then restarted on its own.
As a first resort and an easy one, I changed the engine temp sensor but that was before the aforementioned stalls so that had no effect. It's getting progressively worse also. The techs at Harley mentioned something about an o-ring kit for the fuel injector asbly. Whadda you think?

Well, it sure sounds like an EFI issue, like HRK said. Does your 01 FLHTCI show any codes? Do you have the service manual, and know how to retrieve codes? I'm guessing you do, as you seem knowledgeable, but gotta ask.

I know it ain't your pilot jet or pilot air screw adjust!

It's a "01" FLHTCI and I also have an intermittent issue with the speedo. I can however, get it to show me codes

No harm in asking. I only seem knowledgeable because I'm a refrigeration mechanic for 38 years but this is my first Harley. I will spend some time on the codes and see if that sheds some light.

Thanks! Lots of info. I did check the codes and "d02set" came up. All others were do clr. I guess that is my speedo sensor. I cleared it and now all read do(1 thru 10)clr. I have not ridden the bike yet so I have no feedback on that.
You mentioned o-rings. Would that be for the stalling/poor idle issue? If so which o-rings? I have already replaced my fuel filter but haven't checked the fuel pump hoses. The bike has 75,ooo miles on it and I have never inspected or cleaned the injectors. BTW, is that charcoal canister thing a joke? Should it be removed or replaced?
I see your point about bringing it in. Guess I'm gonna have to break down (pardon the pun) and have someone troubleshoot it for me but I would like to eliminate as many questions before doing so.

Well my friend, your advice about the fuel line having pinhole issues was spot on! I removed the gas cap, hit the ignition switch while looking into the tank and saw a little gasoline vapor cloud form as soon as the pump started! I removed the fuel pump and as I lifted the fuel line above the level of the fuel in the tank, a little stream of fuel poured out. FINALLY found the problem after chasing my tail for a very long time. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Now get a load of my intermittent speedo issue. I traced that to a broken wire inside the harness under the gas tank. You might say that would have been easy to find and you'd be right except for the fact that the wire was broken (or detatched) inside the insulating jacket. On the outside, the wire looked perfectly fine but on the inside, the stranded copper was detached! Now I just don't know how that happens. Wire manufacturing flaw perhaps, sabotage maybe. Either way, the bike runs like a champ. Self canceling signals now self cancel, the radio volume adjust to surrounding noise AND I know how fast I'm going.

Thanks again, bud. Really appreciate it.