SuzukiSavage.com - Electrical issue

paul33329

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SuzukiSavage.com
Rocks!

Posts: 4
Cheyenne, WY
Gender: male

Electrical issue
05/23/12 at 21:10:10

Yesterday I turned the key to on and the lights came on, but then when I hit the ignition it went dead and nothing would come on. two guys at work helped me test the battery which was fine. We took the seat off and found one of the 20 amp fuses was blown. We replaced the fuse, but it blew again right away. My coworker looked for a chafed/exposed wire making contact with the frame. We never found one, but after messing with the wires and putting another new fuse in it's running fine. I started the bike 6 times today with no issues.

So how likely is it to happen again? Any way to narrow down which wires are the issue? Any other possible causes? My coworker mentioned taking the gas tank off would let me get to the rest of the wires to check, but that seems like it would be too big a project since it's now running.

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Paul Lews
Cheyenne, WY
2006 Suzuki S40

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verslagen1 YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline Where there's a will, I want to be in it. Posts: 28886 L.A. California Gender:	Re: Electrical issue Reply #1 - 05/23/12 at 21:29:38 very likely take the tank off, also the wires are fed into the headlight, where they go thru the hole is the usual place.
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justin_o_guy2 Serious Thumper Offline What happened? Posts: 55279 East Texas, 1/2 dallas/la.	Re: Electrical issue Reply #2 - 05/23/12 at 21:34:35 If you havent fixed the problem,, you still have it. Better to struggle with finding it at home than anywhere else, Get some fuses & wiggle some wires, wiggle in an area & pop the fuse, youre gettin warm,, literally,.
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verslagen1 YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline Where there's a will, I want to be in it. Posts: 28886 L.A. California Gender:	Re: Electrical issue Reply #3 - 05/23/12 at 22:06:17 pull the fuses and use a 12v light bulb in its place.
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justin_o_guy2 Serious Thumper Offline What happened? Posts: 55279 East Texas, 1/2 dallas/la.	Re: Electrical issue Reply #4 - 05/24/12 at 01:10:32 Ya know,, Ive done that, on cars,, Thanks for the rebrainer//
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Digger

Serious Thumper
2005 No Login

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Ya gotta be tough to
ride singles!

Posts: 1604
Colorado Springs, CO
Gender: male

Re: Electrical issue
Reply #5 - 07/25/12 at 20:51:33

paul33329 wrote on 05/23/12 at 21:10:10:

Yesterday I turned the key to on and the lights came on, but then when I hit the ignition it went dead and nothing would come on. two guys at work helped me test the battery which was fine. We took the seat off and found one of the 20 amp fuses was blown. We replaced the fuse, but it blew again right away. My coworker looked for a chafed/exposed wire making contact with the frame. We never found one, but after messing with the wires and putting another new fuse in it's running fine. I started the bike 6 times today with no issues.

So how likely is it to happen again? Any way to narrow down which wires are the issue? Any other possible causes? My coworker mentioned taking the gas tank off would let me get to the rest of the wires to check, but that seems like it would be too big a project since it's now running.

I went through this thrash a while ago:

http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1274415984/8#8

Here is some info about the circuit tester I made:

I made a tool to assist me in doing wiggle checks on suspect circuits. I find that using this tool is easier and cheaper than blowing out lots of fuses as you search for shorts.

It is a license plate light fixture and wiring harness that I removed from an old pickup truck eighteen years ago when I was putting a rear bumper on it:

I cut off the OEM connector and crimped on some spade connectors to the ends of the two wires:

You can see where I filed down the spade connectors so that they would fit into the holder for the fuse.

I pull the fuse on the suspect circuit, plug my tester leads into the fuse holder, turn on the ignition switch, and wiggle away. If I find a short to ground, the light gets really bright.

If you are testing the headlight/taillight circuit, you may want to disconnect those bulbs first, since, if said bulbs are drawing juice, the test lamp will be burning brightly and thus making it harder to detect shorts.

IHTH!

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Digger
2001, Metallic Glacial Blue, Raptor Petcock, Verslavy (first hole) (otherwise, mechanically, the bike is stock), 13,xxx miles
I don't own a cage.
www.astronautbiker.com

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