Electrical short causing battery to die??

I have an electrical short somewhere. My neutral indicator stays on most of the time. When I turn my turn signal on the neutral indicator blinks. When I hit the brakes the headlights dim and the turn signals also dim. Cam this cause my battery to drain when the bike is off?

 

Sounds like you may have a couple different problems. I'd first look at your ground connections specifically for the odd lighting gremlins.

 

Could be a couple of problems here...

Curious that the neutral stays on - could be the neutral switch under and inside the engine doing strange things.

As for the dimming of the light, maybe your alternator/alternator brushes need looking at. If the charging system isn't up to scratch, as with these bikes they mostly aren't, then any power draw will have the effect you describe.

And I won't even go into the need to check and clean all the related electrical connections. A small amount of resistance from old and corroded connections could easily have a negative effect on the electrical power delivery on the XJ's.

 

Yes it could but I would also suspect the charging system. Mainly the alternator brushes. If they are short the charging voltage will be low. You can check the voltage with a multimeter. Remove what is needed to get to the battery. Start the bike and check the voltage on the battery at the terminals. You should get 13 to 13.5 volts at idle. Rev the bike up to 3k and see if the voltage increases. If it stays at 13.5 or less then check the alternator brushes. Do this by removing the alternator cover and measuring the length of the brushes which are inside the cover. The cover will have a wire attaching it to the bike and the brushes are at the end of the wire. The brushes have a score mark showing the minimum length. If below or close to the score mark replace both. A site member Chacal has some available.

 

dude, there aint nothing worse than a XJ that don't act right, you going to be around this weekend? get your wrenches out

 

Yeah, Im gonna be around this weekend. Friday and Saturday after 4pm.
I have a decent craftsman wrench set but all my bigger wrenches were stolen.

Let me ask you guys this? You can turn the bike to the ON, OFF, LOCK and P position. I locked the handlebars up for the first time(since I always park in a garage) and I don't remember if the key was set to LOCK or P. I don't think this would cause the battery to drain but what is the difference between LOCK and P?

 

Lock turns everything OFF and Locks the front steering tree.

P = Park Locks the Bike but keeps the tail light on for safety.

 

BINGO!!!! Man do I feel stupid! I must have left it on park and after 8.5 hours of being at work the battery died. One problem cleared up, now if have to figure out whats up with the neutral switch/short. I appreciate everyone's help.
Joe

 

The neutral light wire could be shorting with the blinker wire. I would guess it would be in the rats nest behind the headlight or right behind the indicator lights. This is all a guess so I might be completely wrong.

I don't think I would do too well if I didn't have my neutral light working.

 

Look inside the Headlight Bucket and follow the Pigtail that comes into the Bucket from the Instrument Panel.

The Pigtail coming into the Headlight Bucket from the Instruments should not have anything spliced into it. The Pigtail (sometimes two) should be plugged directly into the Wiring Harness without anything looking fishy about it.

Straight plug-in to the Wiring Harness.
No additional or extra wires spliced in to the Pigtail.
No wire of the Pigtail or the Harness used to power an accessory or light.

If there is anything crimped-on, spliced-in or Jury Rigged ... not looking straight stock ... undo it and trace the added wire to the device or accessory taking power from the Pigtail or Harness side of the Instrumentation Wiring.