Baffling Electrical Problem? someone HELP!

[Sable]

     Ok, I know someone out there has dealt with this before, here?s the Reader?s Digest version of events:

     Rebuilt and sync?d carbs, POR?d the tank? started riding for a couple of days and it ran awesome! On the last trip around the block, all of my signal lights, tach, horn and indicator lights just cut out. Get it home to find a blown fuse. Visually checked the wires and they appear fine, then checked everything with the multimeter by using the Haynes manual and it indicates the switch is bad. Pull switch off, clean and replace, put it back on the bike, now tests fine. Replace fuse, turn bike on, fuse blows. Decide to disconnect all of the components attached to the fuse (turn signals, switch, horn and speedo / tach) then replace fuse, turn bike on and plug them in one at a time to see what causes the fuse to blow.
     Replaced fuse, turn on bike and plugged everything in one at a time and everything works fine. I just don?t get it, what would have caused this? I would hate to have this happen when I ride to the garage for the State Inspection?. Any help is appreciated  ;D

~ Sable

[Walt_M.]

Obviously, you have some kind of intermittant short, and, just as obvious, they are the devil to find. Rather than blowing fuses, try pulling the fuse and putting one lead of your ohmmeter on the load side of the fuse and the other lead on the frame. Now start jiggling/pulling on the wiring harness, turn the handlebars side-to-side, whatever, and watch for the ohmmeter to read less that 1 ohm. That should help narrow it down.

[Jon]

Also, make sure you have the correct fuse.   The main is 30A, the three others are 10A, and the one in the headlight bucket is 5A.

[Lucky]

I think I talked to jon on the phone about this one, if I did i'm sure it's been checked, but worth mentioning "out loud":
the ft turnsignal wires accumulate more activity than most any other wire on the bike (except charging system, lol) and often rub thru right where the exit the stalks.
--Lucky

[Sable]

Walt - Thank you for the good direction to head in, I never thought of doing that! I guess this problem has me so frazzled that logical thinking went out the window a while ago, just one question, which side is the load side of the fuse? I would guess the one with the smaller wire? ? :-/

Jon - Are you sure that the fan fuse is 5 amp? When I took the old one out, it was 10 amp. Also, three weeks ago, I cut out the old fan fuse and replaced it with an in line fuse holder with a 10 amp blade type fuse ? :o

Lucky - I sure did check the front and rear turn signals! I bow to your uncanny knowledge of this bike and follow your advise to the letter! ;D

 ? ~ Sable

[wolfman]

Keep in mind that it will take a short to GROUND on the POS side of the protected circuit to blow the fuse.  To test for this, remove the fuse that blew and with the key ON determine which side of the empty fuse socket is hot.  It is the DEAD side you want to use for your giggle test.  Connect the POS terminal of your meter to a source of POS (hot all the time) power and the NEG lead to the "dead side" of the fuse socket.  Then giggle etc.. the wiring harness switch, turning the switches on and off,  connectors etc.. while observing your meter.  You should see NO meter activity, if some thing you do does causes a reading on the meter (even a brief jump) you have found the problem.

[Jon]

Sable. I checked the wiring diagram for the bike and the fan relay is a 10A fuse.  Sorry.  Mine had a blown 5A and so I just replaced it.  Seems to work fine, but I'll replace it with a 10 to be safe.

[MotorPlow]

the ft turnsignal wires accumulate more activity than most any other wire on the bike (except charging system, lol) and often rub thru right where the exit the stalks.
--Lucky

Ha!
I just had this happen yesterday.  Quick 10 minute fix, but annoying just the same.

Chris

[kiawrench]

sable,
   one other thing to watch out for on light sets and fuses,, sometimes, not often, but sometimes, a bulb will go in wrong, and work fine , then blow fuses
yamaha, honda and kia are all known for that problem,,
 for some reason, you cn actually make a bulb go in 180 out, most of the time it just doesnt work, but there is always that one time when some other owner just had to twist it on in there and make some kind of connection.
  (also can find some bulbs in right , cranked to point of breaking bub bonding, letting bulb spin around inside the collar, making good contact in most cases, shorting circuit in others)
  test wires as you were taught by lucky and others, if it still does it , check each bulb very very carefully,,, with gloves on
   hey,, that box should be in your house by 5 pm friday .... watch for it ,, see lucky or post me here for any questions,,, it is a fast bolt on !

[Lucky]

what's in the box?

[Sable]

I traded Kia my crash bars for his shark fairing ;D BTW... Kia, did you make it to the post office yet?