1979kz1000 wire melting/

Hi i have a new to me 1979 kz1000 ltd. 47k on the clock and its been sitting for a while. I think 5- 10 years or more. New battery, carbs have been cleaned. Got it running with kick start. Wouldnt fire with electric start. But did turn over strong. Now batery gets weak afyer engine turns over 3-4 times.
The ground wire from battery broke off where it connevts to bike. I have it touching and held with tape untill i get a new one.
My problem is the black and yellow wire that comes off the battery is heating up and melting. I noticed it first when smoke was coming out of headlight. The black and yellow going to blinker was melted pretty bad. I took it apart and was trying to figure out why and i noticed it melting at the connector right after where the ground bolts to the bike when i hit the electric start. It only heats up when im trying to start it.

the bike is trying to ground everthing through those small wires instead of battery cable,stop cranking the bike till you replace battery cables!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy:

I thought that may be effecting it.
thank you fot your help.

Ok so i replaced the batery cables and melted ground wire that goes from under headlight to right blinker.
The wires are still heating up when i try to crank it over, weather i hit the start button or take a skrewdriver to the start sylanoid. My right coil seems to be getting warm as well. Not sure if its related because i disconected all wires going to the coil and the groun wire still gets hot.
any other sujestions please?

wireman wrote: the bike is trying to ground everthing through those small wires instead of battery cable,stop cranking the bike till you replace battery cables!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy:

do you have a good connection between ground on battery and engine cases now?
pull spark plugs and dump a little gas/tranny fluid down the plug holes ,then pull points cover off of right side of motor and try turning motor over with a wrench on the bigger nut on advancer bolt.
not the little one on the end,the one thats closer to motor leave plugs out while doing this.
if the motor wont turn over this way youve got bigger issues,if it does turn over then its time to
start cleaning electrical connections throughout wiring harness.

Do yourself the favor of the decade and buy an OEM Service Manual off ebay or wherever, or download. YOU WILL LOVE IT and need it.

Perform the maintenence chapter, starting with an oil and filter change, and valve clearance checks, then pull apart and clean every single wiring connector on the bike till they are shiney new, else you will always have electrical issues of some kind. Especially the charging system!

Make sure all your ground wires are NEW, connected TIGHT, and to nice CLEAN, PAINT FREE surfaces. 1 Main ground through harness, 1 ground to frame, 1 large ground to engine case.

Best of luck.

TeK9iNe wrote: Do yourself the favor of the decade and buy an OEM Service Manual off ebay or wherever, or download. YOU WILL LOVE IT and need it.

Perform the maintenence chapter, starting with an oil and filter change, and valve clearance checks, then pull apart and clean every single wiring connector on the bike till they are shiney new, else you will always have electrical issues of some kind. Especially the charging system!

Make sure all your ground wires are NEW, connected TIGHT, and to nice CLEAN, PAINT FREE surfaces. 1 Main ground through harness, 1 ground to frame, 1 large ground to engine case.

Best of luck.

thank you for your help. I have a manual. I have done alot of the maintenance. I wanted to do another compresion test when i noticed the wires burning. So i have been working out the wire issue. The ground wire wasnt grounding. And i couldnt get it to make a connection where it was located so i moved it.

Here is where the ground was located.

This is where i moved it to.

theres too much rust/corrosion between the motor and rest of bike to make a good ground would be my guess.
you always clamp a ground cable directly to motor and run 12v from a battery cable directly to the lug on the starter to see if it will turn over enough for a compression test,disconect cable from solenoid to starter before doing this and make sure bike is in neutral.
bike might be a candidate for a complete stripping/rebuild to deal with the rust/corrosion issues

wireman wrote: theres too much rust/corrosion between the motor and rest of bike to make a good ground would be my guess.
you always clamp a ground cable directly to motor and run 12v from a battery cable directly to the lug on the starter to see if it will turn over enough for a compression test,disconect cable from solenoid to starter before doing this and make sure bike is in neutral.
bike might be a candidate for a complete stripping/rebuild to deal with the rust/corrosion issues

i have been considering the tare down rebuild but i want to make sure engine is good first.
When i first. Got the bike it had real low compression.

you can do compression test with motor out of frame

wireman wrote: you can do compression test with motor out of frame

Trying to figure out what exactly the bike will need. So i can figure cost.
so i fugured get everything operational than do the tare down if thats the route i want to go. I have a friend who has a body shop and will paint for $100 so if the engine is good i will probabyl taredown clean and have it painted from frame up