3 hour cruise!

Like on Gilligans island when you leave for a 3 hour cruise and never return! Thats What my electrical issue has been here lately. I was riding home one night a couple weeks ago and about 15 miles from home realized my speedo lights were out. I pulled over and discovered I had no taillight also. Replaced the blown fuse but the new one blew immediatly. I decided to try to make it home, Luckily I did have hazzard lights that worked so I ran them and had a very nervous ride home. Now the cruise begins...

I had read on here that many electrical issues like this are resolved by installing a blade style fuse block so I bought one and started installing it. I decided while I was at it I may as well check for a short that could have caused the problem. With multimeter and schematic in hand I began by checking the fuse wire that had blown. It tested a dead short to ground (well about 2 ohms from wire to ground. So I said to myself lets trace the wire down and find out where it is grounded. By looking at the scematic I decided to remove the tank to get to the bullet connectors. Once I got to the connectors I disconnected the appropriate one and I am no longer grounded. So I said to myself the ground is beyond the connector moved my meter lead to the bullet and tested to ground Still have continuity at bullet. To shorten this a bit I traced the short to the lights all the way to one of the turn signals only to find out that with the bulb still in the circuit I will always show continuity on the circuit to ground. (damn it) so I repaired all the cut wires I had made for test points installed the fuse block re-installed tank turned on lights, all work no blown fuses!!!. So I take a couple of "close to home" rides for testing and as I'm just about convinced all is fine I blow the main fuse 20amp (different than before). So I figure its probably related to the work I've recently done. I remove the tank and see the Brake light controller laying against the coils ,it still has the metal bracket on it so I figure its shorting out so I secured it in place (it was just laying the wire harness from PO)by taping it to the harness being sure to cover all the metal. Put the tank back on and do a couple more test rides. All Good!! So I have an afternoon off last Tuesday so I go for a good Long 100 mile ride. Nice day Nice ride!. I also notice that all my lights are much brighter now with new fuse box installed. I at this point figure my issue is solved but NO!. Next day I get ready to go for a ride and as soon as I turn on key and straiten handlebars the main fuse blows! So yesterday I take the tank off again and start tracing wires again. Found a wire that was naked after being pinched by the tank. Its obvious that this is a new pinch from my recent work. So I fixed the wire. Put it all back together much more careful with the wire placement and tank installation. Since this is getting long winded I'll leave out the part about smoke from the right handlebar switches and having to pull the wire harness from the handlebar before finding my pinched wire(pinched wire not in handlebar). I'll also not mention how difficult it is to reassemble the handlebar switches once you take them apart. I'll also leave out all the cussing and beer drinking caused by this issue. As it stands now I have it all back together and am charging battery. It ran down after being on literaly hours in the troubleshooting process.

I truly believe that the only problem I originally had was a bad fuse box. The other issues I believe I caused :sick: :sick: :sick:

Lessons learned:
The turn signal bulbs have continuity.I should always just trust what the folks on KZR say (just replace the fuse box). Be careful of the wiring harness when installing the tank. Also learned it's hard to find 5x40mm screws at home depot.Color wiring diagrams are a godsend!


I have spent at least 40 hours chasing electrical issues this month. How does one finally have confidence that the issue is actually solved?

Sorry for venting ,

Chris

Motorcycle electrical troubleshooting can be a hair pulling experiance at times. It's not something to be rushed as you've found out. What you think is fixed, now appears in a short in another circuit.

You don't fix wiring issues on these old bikes

You just move them around thinking you fixed it.

zukdave wrote: You don't fix wiring issues on these old bikes

You just move them around thinking you fixed it.

best time to drink beer is when it's broke!

1982 KZ1100 D1 Shaft Drive Spectre

My problem was not exactly like the begining of your lights problem, but somewhat similar. I was at the beginning of a long ride, the day after an 8 hr ride, and had no problems. At the beginning of my ride the next day, The bike just stalled on me. Did not know why, so I checked the fuel and some connections and the bike started right up. Well, it happend again about 10 minutes down the road, this time I noticed it happend when I pressed the front handle bar brake. It cut all power to the bike. I checked the fuses to see if one had blown, but all fuses were good, even checked with them a multimiter. After the bike cooled down a little, I turned the key on, and had power, the bike ran with no problem, until I pressed the brake. Again no fuses were blown. I parked the bike until my frustrations were extinguished, and now I cannot seem to get the bike to cut out again so I can properly troubleshoot the bike. Upon testing and reading the manual, I found there is a diode connect to the ignition switch, and ALL the lights and ALL the guages, which seems to be the trouble area. This diode, according to the schematics, and continuity test on the multimeter show that it goes to all 3 light, horn and ignition fuses as well. So the problem has to be with that wire, I think. Well, nothing seems to be different when I remove the diode, the bike runs and all functions work. The only difference is, since the diode is not there, the diode does not get scorching hot. I have heard that when a diode goes bad it will get scorching hot and ground out, but the only place I can find the diode is on the schematic. I have not seen any reference to it anywhere in the manual. So the next question is, if the diode is bad, how do I know what to replace it with. Can anyone help with this problem?

When my handlebar switches sizzle I find it very hard to replace the factory smoke. My bike has a single fuse for the whole bike talk about antiquated, when I blow a fuse I have to check all circuits until I get lucky. :evil:

Kawickrice wrote: When my handlebar switches sizzle I find it very hard to replace the factory smoke. My bike has a single fuse for the whole bike talk about antiquated, when I blow a fuse I have to check all circuits until I get lucky. :evil:

Ouch! I don't feel so bad after hearing that!

Chris

tim.jurco wrote: 1982 KZ1100 D1 Shaft Drive Spectre

My problem was not exactly like the begining of your lights problem, but somewhat similar. I was at the beginning of a long ride, the day after an 8 hr ride, and had no problems. At the beginning of my ride the next day, The bike just stalled on me. Did not know why, so I checked the fuel and some connections and the bike started right up. Well, it happend again about 10 minutes down the road, this time I noticed it happend when I pressed the front handle bar brake. It cut all power to the bike. I checked the fuses to see if one had blown, but all fuses were good, even checked with them a multimiter. After the bike cooled down a little, I turned the key on, and had power, the bike ran with no problem, until I pressed the brake. Again no fuses were blown. I parked the bike until my frustrations were extinguished, and now I cannot seem to get the bike to cut out again so I can properly troubleshoot the bike. Upon testing and reading the manual, I found there is a diode connect to the ignition switch, and ALL the lights and ALL the guages, which seems to be the trouble area. This diode, according to the schematics, and continuity test on the multimeter show that it goes to all 3 light, horn and ignition fuses as well. So the problem has to be with that wire, I think. Well, nothing seems to be different when I remove the diode, the bike runs and all functions work. The only difference is, since the diode is not there, the diode does not get scorching hot. I have heard that when a diode goes bad it will get scorching hot and ground out, but the only place I can find the diode is on the schematic. I have not seen any reference to it anywhere in the manual. So the next question is, if the diode is bad, how do I know what to replace it with. Can anyone help with this problem?

Hey did you ever get an answer to this problem? I'm doing a complete rewire, and I didn't see a diode when I started... wondering if it's really necessary... looking at schematic, I assume the diode is there to provide a voltage drop - for instance, a series diode (part # 1N4001) will have a forward voltage drop of 1.1V - that should keep bulbs from burning out prematurely.