Left stranded!

[thebronze]

Thought i'd take a spin tonight and made it about a mile down the road. Slowing down for a stop sign all of a sudden the lights and motor cut out on me. I coasted into a parking lot and tried switching it on and off but nothing. Peeped in the fuse box and the 15a was blown. I believe its the ignition switch fuse. Walked to the autozone and bought a pack. New 15a got me half way home before it died again. Threw another fuse in turned on the ignition key, lights and gauges came on for about 5 seconds and then the fuse blew again. I went through 5 fuses like this. I never even got to the starter button. Any ideas whats wrong? I had to leave the bike at a neighbors house. I had a fresh charge on the battery but the bike has been sitting all winter in the garage. I have noticed the past few days of starting that the starter motor seems a little slower than normal. It might even have a slight pause before it turns. Guess i'll start with cleaning the solenoid and battery connections.

Thanks

Toby

[mznyc]

Regulator or battery?Try having the battery load tested to see if its healthy You will blow fuse trying to start with near dead battery.charging a battery that's on it's way out ,will work for a short period but die quickly.

[thebronze]

Not sure, but i'm blowing the fuse just turning the ignition on. It doesnt last long enough to hit the starter. I need to go rent a trailer and bring the bike home and look around.

[mznyc]

If nothing had been changed and bike just sat no reason for anything to be shorting and blowing fuses.But cleaning and checking connections cant hurt.If you need a battery the Odyssey 545 is highly recommended,I have one sitting in the closet by the original Spark is in the bike working just fine,....

Couple of out members are 'lectrical experts,so Im sure they'll help.

[GuzziMoto]

Not to sound stupid, but if a fuse is blowing without the motor running you probably have a short. I would use a meter to find the short, and fix it.

There have been at least a few that have had issues with the wires for the ignition switch. You could start there.

Take a wiring diagram and a meter. Trace out which wires are are in the circuit feed by that fuse and see where the short to ground is using the meter.

[docc]

Not long ago, I helped sort a beautiful Coppa Italia that had some telltale signs of rodent damage. The PO had replaced one section of wiring entirely that ended up all melted. Just because the bike's been put up doesn't mean nothing has happened to it. Have a close inspection of all the wiring you can see.

[Kiwi_Roy]

You need to tell us what bike/year you have

It's a short circuit for sure, perhaps under the tank, has a mouse been chewing on the wires (oh, I see Docc mentioned that already)?

Did you disconnect something before you parked it and forget to re-connect it?

I have seen the wires break off where they are soldered to the ignition switch, have a look up there.

 

It's hard to find a short by blowing fuses, it happens so quick.

If you take a lamp and put it in place of the fuse then wiggle all the wiring the lamp will light full brightness when the short is in place, an old headlamp bulb is great for this because it passes enough current to power up the circuit, much more visual than trying to find a short with a digital multimeter.

Roy

[docc]

Funny, I went back upstairs to finish reading Peter Egan's column, Leanings, in February's Cycle World in which he names each month by the moon related to motorcycling.

 

He calls January, "The Moon When Mice Eat Your Wiring Harness and Put Corn Nuggets in Your Air Cleaner."

[thebronze]

2001 vll lemans.  Ive never seen a rodent chew wires in Texas.  Isnt there anything in the pantry for them overseas?  I have removed a mummified mouse from a benelli 350 thumper case.

 

I'm guessing the battery since the bike has sat for a few months but I may have bumped the ig switch wires when I put the airbox back on the bike.

[docc]

The Coppa with the damage was from Arizona which also surprised me. We think of these things as long winter storage issues.

 

No doubt, the battery is first thing to check, although I don't remember them blowing the ignition switch fuse. I presume you mean Fuse 4?

 

My 2000 Sport has a 10 amp in the #4 position (ignition switch). Some chance the previous owner upped the fuse size to solve a problem short in the circuit?

[thebronze]

Well we had a rat chew up our icemaker line to the fridge and flood our house so it would figure.  Maybe he needed some wire for his christmas lights.  I figured all the snakes we have take care of the rodents but they are proly on holiday.  I think they are all unionized snakes.

[GuzziMoto]

I do not see how a battery issue would blow A fuse without the motor running. If you hooked up the battery backwards it might blow some fuses but I would not think it would be just the one.

You almost certainly have a short.

I am not a fan of applying power to find the short (ala jumping the fuse out with a light bulb) but to each their own. I use a digital volt meter to find where you have a path to ground where one should not exist. Disconnect the power and ground(s) for the wiring harness and then use the meter to see where you still have a path to ground. Or jump the fuse out and follow the smoke.....

[thebronze]

I do not see how a battery issue would blow A fuse without the motor running. If you hooked up the battery backwards it might blow some fuses but I would not think it would be just the one.

You almost certainly have a short.

I am not a fan of applying power to find the short (ala jumping the fuse out with a light bulb) but to each their own. I use a digital volt meter to find where you have a path to ground where one should not exist. Disconnect the power and ground(s) for the wiring harness and then use the meter to see where you still have a path to ground. Or jump the fuse out and follow the smoke.....

I agree with ya, but I'm not really an electric wiz.  I have a multimeter but I dont know how to test for a path to ground.  Is it as easy as turning the dial to resistance and prodding around?

 

I was basing my guesstimates on KiwiRoy's post but now I cant find the thread "..Testing the theory that a bad contact in the solenoid will cause the 15

Amp fuse to blow resulted in it blowing in less than 1/2 a second."  He created a very helpful pdfs "Starter Circuit" and "Relay Base Repair"

[mznyc]

My solenoid was isolated as the culprit when I was blowing fuses when hitting the starter a couple years ago.Think it shorted when removing battery and touched the ECU ground.Replaced solenoid and no problems or blown fuses in thousands of miles.Relay Dan talked me through the diagnostics and was dead on.I'll see if I can find that correspondence. 

[mznyc]

Here it is,From Dan Prunuske

 

Here is a simple test to check the starter, solenoid and battery.

1. Pull the starter relay.
2. Turn kill switch off. Turn ignition off.
3. Using a big screwdriver or a needle nose, carefully, but very
firmly, jump the 2 big terminals on the solenoid. One of these goes
directly to the battery, the other, directly to the starter motor.
4. Does it crank? If so, rule out battery and starter.
5. Disconnect the small lead to the solenoid. (This comes from the
start relay) Using a test lead, jump from the small terminal on the
solenoid either directly to the battery positive terminal or to the
big solenoid terminal connected directly to the battery.
6. Does it crank? If so, rule out the solenoid.

If all the above tests are OK, you almost certainly have a short in the wiring.