Diagnosing Electrical Short - Assistance Needed

[tribal]

Yes, I have torn most of the bike apart looking for shorted wires but have not encountered any dampness - its actually quite dusty and grimy up inside after 100K miles.

 

[tribal]

Update:

1. Installed new Odyssey Battery
2. installed new Regulator wired on its own 30A fuse
3. Still waiting for the Beaver to send me my headlight wiring kit.
4. I did find a frayed wire up under the rear fender but it didn't appear to be touching metal - I need to pull the tire off to repair it.

Still reading 10-11V across negative terminal to cable - majority is coming through 10A accessory fuse. I have no accessories so am thinking about pulling the tachometer apart and see whats going on inside.

I was having withdrawals, so I put it all back together. It ran OK but has a hard time idling.

 

[Lester532]

Still reading 10-11V across negative terminal to cable

I'm not sure what you mean here.

Is the negative cable disconnected and you are measuring the voltage from the negative battery post to the cable?

 

[tribal]

I'm not sure what you mean here.

Is the negative cable disconnected and you are measuring the voltage from the negative battery post to the cable?

Yes, thats what I have been using as a baseline.

 

[tribal]

Update:

1. Installed new Odyssey Battery
2. installed new Regulator wired on its own 30A fuse
3. Installed Eastern Beaver Headlight kit - very nice mod but didn't fix my issue
4. Fixed frayed wire up under the rear fender and retaped and tied up all wires - no change
5. Cleaned and retaped many other misc wires.

I ordered the wireless remote to take the keyswitch out of the equation and will put that in next.

Still reading 10-11V across negative terminal to cable - majority is coming through 10A accessory fuse.

Bike idles much better with fuse #3 removed.
The 10A one for Instrument panel & accessories.

I have no accessories so am thinking about pulling the tachometer apart and see whats going on inside if bypassing the keyswitch doesn't fix this problem.

 

[Gothlander]

Check your diag plug for bent pins, the place where it sits can sometimes go in to the plug instead of the outside.

 

[Gothlander]

You can remove the bottom of the ignition switch without removing it from the triple clamp and check the wires have not shorted. The plastic cap has clips, be careful not to break it.

 

[tribal]

Thx - I updated my post that it was fuse #3 that I pulled to get her to idle better.

I could live w/out the tach but of course having a neutral light helps.

I will check the ignition switch too - always thought you had to do major work to get it off.

I'll also check the ECU cable although I downloaded a map a few weeks ago after the idle issue got unbearable.

 

[STRIPES]

My bet is the ignition switch. When it gets overheated, the solder joints melt and can cause short or cross wiring. Being these bad connections are like cold solder joints, they can be intermittent causing weird intermittent problems. (Been there.) I'm betting when you get the new remote switch installed it will alleviate the problem. Good luck.

 

[atomsplitter]

You might look at the schematic in the manual. Sometimes that will narrow down the possibilities.