Need some advise on finding possible electrical short

Hi,

If my bike (83 KZ1100 LTD) sits for more than 4 or 5 days, the battery is nearly completely discharged. The instrument lights barely come on. After recharging, everything is fine and remains fine if I ride it every couple of days. It definitely can not sit a week without the battery going completely dead. This just recently began happening a couple of months ago. I have replaced the battery and it still discharges. Anyone have any tips on how to diagnose a problem like this?

Thanks-

Post edited by: DJ, at: 2007/05/12 14:48

If your battery *was* in otherwise good shape, it's pretty much a dead-bang certainty you have a minor short to ground in the wiring harness somewhere.

They can be a real PITA to track down, and sometimes happen in a couple of places at once.

Leading candidates are the nests of spagetz inside the headlight bucket, the harness routing between the frame backbone and gas tank and within the switchblocks on the handlebars - particularly the turn signal circuit.

If you're not familiar with the harness, it helps to have a wiring diagram.

Any broken or frayed insulation is a potential suspect.

In the headlight bucket, separate and insulate any visible copper/contact surface.

Under the tank, look for any obviously frayed spots along the harness insulation, and you may have to peel it back to some extent to get a good look. Any cracked insulation or visible copper should be isolated and insulated.

In the switchblocks, the fine wires can rub together over time and make contact with any of a number of itty-bitty pieces in there. One symptom if the turn signal block is the culprit is you'll notice that the signal will blink *far* more slowly than normal.

Not an easy or a fun job, but it's gotta be done. :whistle:

Once an auto mechanic told when all else fails, as all wire has smoke in it just bypass the fuse and wait till the smoke comes out and you'll find the bad spot. :evil:
Mark

Mark Wing wrote:

Once an auto mechanic told when all else fails, as all wire has smoke in it just bypass the fuse and wait till the smoke comes out and you'll find the bad spot. :evil:
Mark

And here Mark shows us *how it's done*...

:huh: :blink: :dry: :S :pinch:

Nice side job for a 180 amp arc welder... :woohoo:

Simple test, pull the main fuse or disconnect the battery the next time it is going to sit for that long and see if it goes flat while sitting like that. If it does you know it's the battery, if it doesn't then get a test light, pull the fuses and connect the light clip to one fuse clip and the point to the other and see if it lights at all. do the main fuse first, with the other 2 fuses out. If the light doesn't come on, it may be real dim, then put the main fuse back in and test the others. if one of them lights the light, again it may be dim, then that is the circuit you want to test.
Ride safe,

Post edited by: The Milkman, at: 2007/05/12 19:51

I would do this... test battery using a hydrometer. Test each cell. If any cell has less than all balls floating, get a new battery and charge on a slow, low amp trickle charger. Then, to check for a "short" or drain on your battery, pull the main fuse.

Let the bike sit for a couple days. If the battery discharges, it is surely the battery bad.

The power from your stator/alternator goes to your reg/rec where it comes out and splits. One leg goes to battery which charges the battery and the other to your main fuse and then to your ignition switch... if the fuse if out, the only possible place a short could occur is in the wire from reg/rec to fuse block... easy enough to go over that and look for problems.

The Milkman wrote:

Simple test, pull the main fuse or disconnect the battery the next time it is going to sit for that long and see if it goes flat while sitting like that. If it does you know it's the battery, if it doesn't then get a test light, pull the fuses and connect the light clip to one fuse clip and the point to the other and see if it lights at all. do the main fuse first, with the other 2 fuses out. If the light doesn't come on, it may be real dim, then put the main fuse back in and test the others. if one of them lights the light, again it may be dim, then that is the circuit you want to test.
Ride safe,<br><br>Post edited by: The Milkman, at: 2007/05/12 19:51

dittoB)

Thanks for all of the excellent ideas. Before I put the bike up for the week, I pulled the fuses. I'll check back next weekend to see if we have juice or not. Hopefully we do and I'll begin checking the wiring next weekend. Again, thanks for all of the advice, I really do appreciate it.

D