Got a short

Hey all, been working on that 82 kz550 a3 got everything together and long story short found that I have a short in the harness. When i bought the bike it needed a harness, i picked this one up from a junk yard. Now i know why it was there? :S
Anyway, it happened when i turned the handlebars to the right, cut out power to the signals, taillight and the starter button, or blew the starter button. I seem to have narrowed it down to a brown wire, seems to supply power to all those. Followed it down, didnt find any breaks or chaifs, but now the short turned into a full time short.
Any tips, tricks, advice on how to track this down as simple as possible?

if that bike is like its big brothers id check back at ignition switch and start from there.disconect the brown wire and plug things in till it pops.

Well, thats the thing, I WISH something would pop, but it doesnt blow the fuse. The ignition switch is brand new, emgo replacement. The brown wire goes to EVERYTHING under the headlight bucket, but odd enough signals dont work, but the cluster does. Hoping thats one of those csi/house clues that will make you say aha- its the ...?

If it doesn't blow a fuse, you don't have a short, you have an open circuit. One wire feeding multiple bulbs and some of them work means you have a broken wire somewhere between the lit bulbs and the unlit ones. They use wire splices in the harness that one wire feeds, and 2 or more exit. Wires can break off there or it can be anywhere in the harness really. It could also be you have volts on all the bulbs, but have a broken ground wire too. If it's a power problem, the easiest "fix" if you're not into a concours quality motorcycle is to find an easily accessable brown wire on a working bulb, T another wire off it over to an easily accessable brown wire on a non-lit bulb. This bypasses the broken point in the harness wherever it may be and who cares where it is really? You get your volts, bulbs are lit and you're hacked up a bit but it works.

Makes sense, thanks ron.. Id rather not hack it up like that, but the frustrations kinda high at the moment. Ill keep that in the hat for a last resort.
If its a bad ground would the brown wire show voltage?
Sorry, i had to take electrics twice to pass.

it will show voltage as long as your tester is touching a ground

if your are looking for power often the best way is with a test light not a meter it's more immediate. some times your confusing yourself with a meter.

Ya, the test light does work better thanks for the clue. Ok, i figured out i do have power going to everything. Power comes from a brown wire off the ignition switch.
I have working gauges, oil light, neutral switch etc, but dont have any lights or the starter switch. I believe they work off of 2 seperate grounds. The only 2 i can see is one by the battery, yellow/black, and one from the starter solenoid. Now, in the headlight bucket the grounds are, i believe, black/yellow. The signals, and the speedo plug into the black/yellows. When i put the test light on the brown wire and touch it to the frame i got light. When i try to ground it to those black/ylws i get nothing. BUTTTT, the gauges that work also use blk/ylw wires. back further in the harness that blk ylw uses a splice that brinhgs it from one wire into 2 more connections. Im thinking this is the culprit?
2 more things, even with the yellow/blk ground by the battery disconnected the gauges still work. (except the speedo). 2nd, this all started after it was running and everything was working. Put the headlight back into the bucket turned the key again and no lights or starter. I cant find a split or break in that area.
Im going to try and start at the bucket trace those blk/ylw all the way back to the disconnected ground see what happens. This the right direction, any suggestions?

You may have a broken wire inside the insulation and the only good way to find is by using a continuity light or multi-meter set on ohms. The continuity checkers are self powered and do not need the 12 volts from the battery.

I like setting the meter to ohms times one(on an analog meter or the kind with pointer and scales)touch the two red and black probes together and zero the meter to indicate continuity. Any time you change scales the meter needs to be re-zeroded for accuracy.

If using a digital meter most have a built in beeper or sound producing device indicating continuity. Start at the lowest scale setting to trace down the broken/pinched wire(s).

Thanks for your help on this, it was the 2 grounds in the headlight bucket. Both were bad.
Well, good news and bad news.. Good news is, its together, runs, took a test ride yesterday. Bad news is it isnt charging. Only getting 11.52v at any rpm.
Where and how do i check the charging sysytem? Should i just assume its going to be the reg/rec?