This sucks! Dead short!

[OneHand]

Didn't even get to the carbs this weekend...

We had a day out fishing on Saturday, one of our suppliers spoiled us for the day. Started tinkering with some small stuff sunday afternoon.

Took off the clutch side switches, as the hi-lo was broken off. Stripped down to the metal bits. Broke off 2 wires on the turn signal switch, soldered back on. Painted the casings shiny black again.

Last night I put all together again, cleaning all the contacts etc. , fixing the hi-lo by glueing a bit on from a spare. Looks all nice and shiny. Testing the turn signals, I turned the handlebars to one side, and everything died! Main fuse keeps blowing now, when I turn the ignition on. Reads about 3V over the fuse terminals.

I knew there were some wiring gremlins, as the fuel guage only works when it wants to. Maybe I shouldn't have sprayed the connectors behing the headlight with Q20 (same as WD40?)
Could it cause a short? Guess I'll be pulling all apart and tracing
every wire from a wiring diagram.

Any suggestions?

1H

[prometheus578]

"To everything... turn, turn ,turn..."

Check the routing of the wiring harnesses.

I turned the handlebars to one side, and everything died!

Turning stretches the harness around the steering head, pulling the connectors apart.
OR
Main fuse blowing means thatyou have a bare wire rubbed through against the frame/steering head area. Wires also wear where they go through the headlight bucket.

[skids]

Re: "To everything... turn, turn ,turn..."

Main fuse controls current to all of the other fuses and (at least on the model E) also controls the running lights, gage lights and other blue-wire gizmos. I would pull the head light fuse, replace the main fuse and see if she blows again. If it does, it likely had nothing to do with that switch. The horn's momentary switch is in that asembly however.

[skids]

Re: Re: "To everything... turn, turn ,turn..."

Ahhh forget about the horn...it has hot to the horn and the switch simply completes the ground. You would hear the horn if it grounded with a short at the switch and it would not blow the main.

Originally posted by skids
The horn's momentary switch is in that asembly however.

[DiverRay]

1H,
Prom has the right idea. Check all the wires that go into and out of the headlight area. Also look for any "smooth" spots near the steering head.
I would also "recheck" the left control. If you have a little bit too much solder, or too long a bare spot on one wire, that could do it when you turn the handlebars.
Ray

[John]

Look for a pinched wire where they are clamped down inside the switch housing, or where the harness exits the switch housing. It may be the wire that feeds the emergency flasher switch, or the hot wire for the turn signals.

[OneHand]

Thanx guys,

Started pulling it apart last night, but have to find a fuse block replacement as PO had allready put an inline to the headlight circuit, and I broke some more clips changing fuses. Would've bought one from TC, but's gona take a bit long to get here.