When I Use the Brake it Blows the Ignition Fuse.

KZ1000 Police

I'd disconnect the rear brake and tail light(at the rear of the bike, or under the seat), and try again. You may have a rubbed through wire or wires, causing the fuse to blow. Look for places where the wires rest, possibly a sharp edge has cut the insulation.

The Dreaded Shorting/Intermittent Electrical Problem!
Here is the most basic method I know(Taken from www.kzrider.com by member Patton)

1. Charge your battery and have it load tested if you can. The floating ball hydrometer can be used to check the specific gravity of the charged cells in the battery.

2. Disconnect the Black lead from the (-) Battery terminal... or Red from the (+) Battery terminal, it does not matter which one.

3. Connect one of the following test setups in series with the Battery terminal and lead:
3.1 A 12 V light bulb,
3.2 A 12 V test light,
3.3 A 12 V test buzzer or,
3.4 A 12 V horn... you get the idea.

4. With the Ignition Switch OFF, go through your harness and wiggle the wires while looking/listening for the test setup to go on/start buzzing.

5.With the Ignition Switch ON, repeat the test except this time the looking/listening for the test setup to go on/stop buzzing.

6. Be prepared to open the Ignition switch and check/test for solder joint failure and or circuit board micro breaks (don't ask how I know this ).

7. Be prepared to pull the wires out of the Head Light to test for failures at or near the grommet.

8. Be prepared to open the harness at or near the Steering Neck for failures. This is where wires tend to exhibit fatigue due to repetitive movement.

9. Be prepared to open the left and right switch gear to search for rust and or broken parts. CAUTION: watch out for flying springs, ball bearings and stuff. Do indoors on White sheet (again don't ask ).

10. Be prepared to follow the heavy gauge wire from the Starter Solenoid (Relay) to the starter for bare wire exposure. Especially near bends and grommets.

11. If you can reproduce the fault symptom your are pretty much home free. Be prepare to find and repair/replace any internal wire breaks, insulation break downs, exposed wires, rubber grommet failures, etc. Often, shrink tubing will solve the problem temporarily until something better can be done.

12. I use a very good electrical contact cleaner/preservative called De-oxit made by Caig Labs in San Diego Ca. Their website is www.deoxit.com It can be purchased at Radio Shack and any other electronic supply store. I use it on all of my motorcycle’s electrical connectors , in my home entertainment center’s stereo patch cords and cordless phones charging cradles.

Thanks so much! I'll try that tomorrow.

Topic: When I Use the Brake it Blows the Ignition Fuse

Front brake?
Rear brake?
Either brake?

Good Fortune!

I had this problem with my KZ900 in the past. The fix was really simple, after I determined the problem.

And the problem was the wiring that goes through a "tunnel" in the rear fender (from the under seat connector to the brake light). The aged wiring was frayed and shorting out on the metal fender when I hit the brakes. As the wiring jiggled around slightly, the light would work intermittently. Eventually the brake light fuse would blow out.

I replaced that wiring sub-harness and the problem is gone.

Yeah, it blows out on both of them. Thanks for your help!

I will check into that on the back fender! Thanks!

Thanks for all of the help everyone! It turned out to be the wiring at the tail light. I put new connectors on and trimmed down the harness. I also polished all of the connectors on my fuse box. Everything seems a lot brighter now!