Blowing main fuse.. And about to pull my hair out!

bike is a 82 550 maxim everything was fine until I pulled the motor to paint and clean everything I didnt pull the harness or fuse box out of the bike. Now that i have it all back together when i turn the key on it blows the main fuse every time. The fuse box is in good condition i have unpluged everything on the motor and tail lights and it still has a short across the main fuse. I have been tracing and checking wires all day. Am I missing something here thats right in front of me? can the ignition switch get a dead short in it.
Any help would be great.
Thanks

 

Yes it can, but unlikely, check you haven't got the ground to the motor switched with the wire to the starter motor (they look the same).

 

Possible you have a wire pinched under a bolt sonewhere? Alternator wiring seems like a good starting point to start. They do pass right next to the rear motor mounts.

 

nope the ground is on the motor.

 

check which wire is connected to the starter post.

dave

 

Well I have checked the Ignition switch and I have the correct wire going to the starter. Short of opening up the harness and checking every wire i dont know what else to do with this thing.

 

Ok, now, double check which wires you have connected to which battery terminals. Also, do a double-check and just make sure that not positive leads are able to contact the frame anywhere behind the battery cover.

Dave

 

Looking at the wiring diagram it's clear that pinching the brown wire to the alternator field coil will cause exactly this problem. Not only can it get pinched in the mounting bolts you can also catch it when reinstalling the alternator cover. Disconnect the 2 wire (brown, green) alternator plug and see if the problem goes away.

Other than the field coil and the regulator/rectifier everything should be protected by accessory fuses. If they're still there and not blowing you only have a couple places to look.

If you or a PO have eliminated fuses it'll be that much harder to track down.

 

Carl, you and I are gonna keep pestering him on pinched wires, and wires hooked up wrong, aren't we ??!?!?!

Seems to me that if everything was fine before taking it out, and not fine after putting it back in......then the variable would be anything that was disconnected in order to take the engine out, or----anything that got pinched putting it back in.

To go on a goosechase through the harness is not productive yet. Check every inch of the wires that come out of the engine and verify where they go. Then check every inch of the wire harness anywhere in the spots when the engine could have contacted it . Look for scuffs in the plastic tape covering.

I still bet it's something simple that got hooked up wrong.

Still Nothing?

Ok, then pull the headlight and see if anything is switch around, bared, or eaten in there Also check the turnsignal/marker lights and make sure those wires are not inserted into the wrong bullets.


Let's stop there for a minute to allow you to check those things and get back to us...........

Dave

 

Dave he said it blows the main fuse, so if it was one of those things you mentioned wouldn't it blow a secondary fuse ? I still recon he has the engine ground hooked up to the solenoid.

 

If it's got the circuitry that turns the headlight on when the key is turned on, then it would go through the primary, too, I think.

Whatever the case, I'm trying limit things to look at, to be those things that might have been disconnected then hooked up wrong later. Many connectors have all their own unique shapes that limit the possibility of a wrong connection, but crossed wires, or pinched/broken wires are still a possibility, and the headlight bucket is a good place for that to happen.

dave

 

well guys i found the problem the plug that comes out of the solenoid can be pluged into two different plugs on the harness i had them switched around. That took care of the fuse blowing problem and i got everything to work but now it will not crank over with the start button I can get it to crank over if I put 12v on the the plug with the two small wires on the solenoid and it will crank and have spark but it won't with the start button.
so i guess i will be back at it tomorrow.

 

I was right in the ball park, now you got the easy one, that start button wire just has to ground, you'll soon have that sorted.

 

Well guys i got it all working again i had a few things pluged in the wrong places (got in to big a hurry) I want to thank all you guys for the help and keeping me on it until i figured it out.
The only problem i still have is the throttle cable has a half inch of slack in it and im out of adjustment. It did this with the old cable and the new one so i dont know if i got something missing or what.
I am waiting on the exhaust and i can fire it up.
I will get some pictures posted up because the bike really turned out nice.

 

Throttle cable:

Your cable could be routed incorrectly.

or

If you have a standard length cable and your bars are not stock they could just be narrower than the stock bars. You could try moving the throttle housing out about a half inch and see if that will take up the slack.

 

Not a 550 but could be a start point?

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