Short circuit

[Nubian]

I keep blowing the 20a fuse controlling the brake, turn signals and center x-mas tree lights, rpm and fuel gauge. After the first blown fuse I operated all the affected switches everything seemed fine but somewhere doing the ride the fuse blows. Where do I start to troubleshoot without tearing up the harness?

[TopCatGr58]

Wires around the steering neck and headlight bucket are a common area for them to get rubbed raw and then intermittently contact the frame and ground/short which will then blow the fuse.

Using an ohmmeter, connect the positive to the harness side of the fuse panel, NO FUSE in place, and then the negative to frame ground, and check the reading, then start turning/wiggling the bars, etc while monitoring the ohmmeter, and if you see the ohms drop to very low, then you've activated the SHORT, and then start inspecting there.

Others may provide other techniques, but sometimes it just takes diving in!
T.C.

[Nubian]

Wires around the steering neck and headlight bucket are a common area for them to get rubbed raw and then intermittently contact the frame and ground/short which will then blow the fuse.

Using an ohmmeter, connect the positive to the harness side of the fuse panel, NO FUSE in place, and then the negative to frame ground, and check the reading, then start turning/wiggling the bars, etc while monitoring the ohmmeter, and if you see the ohms drop to very low, then you've activated the SHORT, and then start inspecting there.

Others may provide other techniques, but sometimes it just takes diving in!
T.C.

Thanks for the quick reply, I'm on it.

[Nubian]

Wires around the steering neck and headlight bucket are a common area for them to get rubbed raw and then intermittently contact the frame and ground/short which will then blow the fuse.

Using an ohmmeter, connect the positive to the harness side of the fuse panel, NO FUSE in place, and then the negative to frame ground, and check the reading, then start turning/wiggling the bars, etc while monitoring the ohmmeter, and if you see the ohms drop to very low, then you've activated the SHORT, and then start inspecting there.

Others may provide other techniques, but sometimes it just takes diving in!
T.C.

Well, I dove in and found a green/white wire leading from the brake lever into main harness was rubbed raw. All other wires were intact, must be the one will find out tomorrow after AGGRESSIVE maneuvers

[clcorbin]

Wires around the steering neck and headlight bucket are a common area for them to get rubbed raw and then intermittently contact the frame and ground/short which will then blow the fuse.

What he said. I had a short one of the wires around the neck that started very suddenly. When I turned the wheel more than about 70% to the left lock, POP! The main fuse would blow. It took a bit to track down the problem (conductor partially exposed because the plastic connector housing has partially broken), and more time to replace ALL of the connectors around there (after 32 years, they ALL sucked!).

Good luck finding and fixing the problem.