Electrical Gremlins...

[airborneXS]

Fuse box isn't stock? Oh great....so basically put a meter to everything? So im thinking I start unplugging everything and lettering and ohming every part of the harness? Ahhhhh!!!!!

[bikerphil]

First off, this forum is awesome...every problem I've encountered, I've been able to track down with help from various members of this forum...

Last night I got my bike running better, with help from here on checking things in my carbs...now , for some strange reason, my oil light came on for awhile, then flickered off, and stayed off

Could be the light checker unit (79SF only) thinking the tail light is burned out because of poor fuse connections causing the oil light to flicker. Sometimes the wires going into the LCU itself can be flaky, I've had this happen. The unit is under the left side cover on the front frame rail, sometimes it helps to twist/jiggle the wires, JAT.

[crazy steve]

Fuse box isn't stock? Oh great....so basically put a meter to everything? So im thinking I start unplugging everything and lettering and ohming every part of the harness? Ahhhhh!!!!!

The OEM harness on these isn't that complicated, but yours has obviously been altered. The only way to know how/where is to trace it. Better to check it now rather than have a meltdown on the road....

[ViperRon]

Steve that is the document I sent him earlier. Airborne you really do not have to use a meter on most wires as you can trace them back to color codes on the harness. The back of the clymers manual has a wiring diagram and for my bike I have not found a mistake. I know it may take time to figure out but you do not need for the harness to burn out while on the road. At worst case you can use a light bulb to trace wires. One wire of bulb to ground only one fuse connection hooked up and the other end of the wire checking to see what circuit has power.

[airborneXS]

so basically i need to disassemble every electrical connection and go through it? dielectric grease everything, fix shorts, and burned plastic, take apart all connections and clean them ( what do i use, a wire brush to scrub ). the fuse box looks thrown together. should i try and track down every wire thats supposed to be there, or try and put it back together the way the PO had it? sorry, its been a long nite, couldnt sleep, now im wired on coffee and cant think straight...

[crazy steve]

Wiring troubleshooting is almost always complicated by PO mods, and there's no help for that. You just have to be patient and methodical in the tracing to see what's there. It may all be OK, the PO made good repairs but just didn't have the right wire colors, but then again, maybe it's a fire waiting to happen. You won't know until you check...

For cleaning the connections, use this: http://www.caig.com/ You can find this at RadioShack, most electronics stores. The really critical connectors are the ones in the alternator and ignition switch circuits; these are the ones that see high current (amps) and poor connections in these will lead to melted plugs and possible fire. If these show signs of having been hot, you probably should replace them. The remainder of the connections, if poor, will usually just mean something won't work right or at all but aren't the fire hazard the ignition/alternator circuits are. I'll note that that these two latter circuits aren't fused, so a problem there can cause a fire.

[3Phase]

The White wire

That looks a whole lot better than some of P.O. fuse box messes I've seen!


The solid Red wire should be the Main 30A fuse and runs up to the ignition switch.

The Brown wire is the Signal circuit and it's 20A. It runs the turn signals, horn, Low Fuel, Neutral and Oil lights.

The Red/Yellow striped wire is for the 10A headlight circuit and it runs up to the headlight relay on the frame under the front of the gas tank.

The Red/White striped wire is the 10A Ignition circuit. It runs from the fuse box up to the kill switch on the right-hand handlebar control, then back down to the TCI.

I have no idea what the solid White wire connected to the Ignition circuit along with the Red/White wire does but it should not be there.


Happy hunting!

[crazy steve]

One thing I probably should have added to the 'troubleshooting' tutorial is the statement that when checking for problems is to be methodical and check one thing at a time. When you have multiple issues, they may not be related and even if they are, checking one circuit at a time prevents confusion. Best bet is to start with the simplest of the problem circuits (the one with the fewest parts/connections), tracing/fixing it's problems. This may fix your other issues, but if not, move on to the next-simplest and repeat. Do this, and pretty soon all the problems will be gone...

I know that it sometimes seems like an electrical 'guru' will wave their 'magic wand' over a problem and announce from their lofty height 'there lies your problem' while pointing with the wand, but it ain't always so... There's rarely any 'magic bullets' when fixing electrical issues, slow and steady will always get you there...

[old_skool]

( what do i use, a wire brush to scrub ...

Before you do any wire brush scrubbing on connectors and wires, disconnect your battery, hit hot and ground together and your wire brush becomes a mini arc welder.

[airborneXS]

so i found a broken wire in the ignition line, and the white wire that is spliced in on the ignition side is going to a connector that seems to be plugged in to the brake lights....im changing over to tc's box today, we will see what happens....

[airborneXS]

got the box changed, its not mounted to the bike yet, just hanging there...got everything wired right, but now im not getting any power...does it need to be grounded somehow?

[crazy steve]

...does it need to be grounded somehow?

Nope........

[airborneXS]

nevermind...found a broken connector...and she starts!!!