no gauge lights? 81 750ltd

Get a multimeter so continuity and voltage checks can be performed. The taillight circuit may be seperate from the instrument bulb circuit.

The only way to see is with the wiring diagram. Check the fuses and fuse clips for corrosion. These type of glass fuses can fail internally and look good. The only good way is to pull them one at a time and with the multimeter or self powered continuity light see if the fuse is electriclly good.

With mine the fuse blows. I put in a new one (fuse marked 'rear') and the tail lights and guage lights work for a while. Then the fuse blows again. Seems to me I have a short somewhere but where and how do I start to narrow it down?

Make up a 12 volt light with some small alligator clips and wire(Radio Shack stuff) and put it in circuit where the fuse goes. If the light comes on you have a short. This will envolve disconnecting the circuits until the light goes out. This way the process of elimination is used to locate shorts. Possibly a wire rubbing through the insulation to the frame or an adjacent wire in the harness is the cause of blowing fuses.

To amend my above post: a good way to check for a short is to make up a 12 volt light using wire and alligator clips from Radio Shack.

Disconnect the positive battery lead, put the new test light between the positive battey terminal and the positive battery cable and turn on the ignition but do not start the bike. The light will burn out if the starter is used.

If there is a short the light will come on. Disconnect the circuits one at a time to find out where the short is. any place the harness is flexed or rubs the frame is suspect causing the fuse(s) to blow.

keith1 wrote:

kztee wrote:

Do you have a tail light? On my '80 750 LTD I have a blown fuse, caused by a yet to be found short, that causes me to loose gauge lights and tail light (the brake light still works).

same disfunction on my 78 1000 ltd...no tach lite no speedo light, no running lite.brake lite is fine and everything else works...i have guage bulbs....i m just wondering out loud if i change them, will they help restore a circuit and make my
running lite work?....

Nope, they can't do that. The running lights are wired from an accesory terminal bus line off the ignition switch.

MFolks wrote:

Get a multimeter so continuity and voltage checks can be performed. The taillight circuit may be seperate from the instrument bulb circuit.

The only way to see is with the wiring diagram. Check the fuses and fuse clips for corrosion. These type of glass fuses can fail internally and look good. The only good way is to pull them one at a time and with the multimeter or self powered continuity light see if the fuse is electriclly good.

Any glass tube fuse more than a couple of years old needs to be chucked and replaced.

MFolks wrote:

Make up a 12 volt light with some small alligator clips and wire(Radio Shack stuff) and put it in circuit where the fuse goes. If the light comes on you have a short.

radio Shack also sells a cheap 12V buzzer you can use for troublehooting like this so you don't have to keep watching for the light.