Topic: Help!! Bike quit while riding, now no power.

[aaverett]

Everything appears to be working fine.. except the left turn signal. :S haha If it's not one thing, its another. I find it really odd that that issue would arise in the middle of a ride. :S Grr. I have no idea. I hope it doesn't happen again. Thank you everyone for the help! I'll be sure to let you all know when it acts up again.

[aaverett]

The phantom struck again! However, this time I saw it. I was trying to sort out the turn signal issue and was looking at the turn signal relay (I suppose), switching it on and off and between left (working) and right (not working) when all of a sudden that long, white fuser tube sparked when I turned the left turn signal off - I almost missed it, so I switched it back, then off again and it started sparking like crazy! Big white sparks inside of the tube, probably three or four of them and then everything went dead and it's back to where it was. Which would kind of make sense, because I had just finished turning left (probably switched the signal off) when it died. but what connection would that white fuse tube have with my signals?? :S Give me your thoughts.

[aperry]

Earlier in this thread you mentioned that you changed the handlebars recently.  My guess is that the wires inside of the turn signal switch (mounted to the handlebars) are being crushed by the handlebars and one of them is shorting out against it. I don't have the wiring diagram handy, but I'm pretty sure all of the power to the blinkers goes through the main fuse (15A), and if you're seeing sparks in there then it means the fuse is in the process of blowing.

I would take that switch off and look for exposed wires or metal parts.  Make sure the wires are not getting squished against the handlebar when you tighten the switch back on.  I think those wires have to go a certain way around the bar. 

Hope this helps,
Aaron

[scottly]

That is a light duty fuse holder, probably rated for 5 amps. Replace it with a blade type fuse holder, rated for 20-30 amps.

[aaverett]

That baby was blown to smithereens. It says it's a 15amp fuse, but you're saying the holder is probably only rated for 5? I included a couple pics of the switch housing.. It looks really clean and sits in that groove pretty nicely. Both signals were working for a couple weeks after I changed the bars and obviously when I had the safety inspection done (right before it died for the first time), so I guess change that fuse? fuse holder? and go from there? There is obviously a reason as to why it's blowing.. :/

[scottly]

all of a sudden that long, white fuser tube sparked when I turned the left turn signal off - I almost missed it, so I switched it back, then off again and it started sparking like crazy! Big white sparks inside of the tube, probably three or four of them and then everything went dead and it's back to where it was.

This statement is the smoking gun that points to a bad fuse holder: a fuse can only blow once, the sparks had to be coming from a bad connection between the end of the fuse and the clip. You may have an intermittent short in your turn signals, but your original problem was due to the bad fuse holder, IMHO. You may have skinned the insulation off one of the wires when pulling them through the bars?

[aaverett]

Well... She should be fixed for good now. There was an obvious short on the horn wire (as seen in the picture), so I insulated it with electrical tape against the brass bracket it was shorting against and the right turn signal wire had come out of it's bullet connector in the headlamp and was maybe shorting against something in there? :S Not sure. We'll see if the problem presents it's self again but until then... thank you all for the help! It turned out to just be something trivial like a wire short/blown fuse. :/ haha I feel lame! Thanks again.

[2wheels]

Sounds like you got it.  Celebrations are in order.

[aperry]

Sounds like I was wrong, but nice job figuring it out!!

Aaron

[scottly]

Here is a pic of the type of fuse holder I was talking about. The one you have is very poor quality.

[aaverett]

Gotcha! I saw I can get one for a couple bucks on JP Cycles, I'll go ahead and do that just to be safe.

Here is a short video of my bike, for those of you who are curious.

1974 Honda CB350F Cafe Racer Project

Thanks again for the help!

[scottly]

You're welcome! Sweet looking 350!! You might want to reduce the idle speed a bit...

[cameron]

Yay!

Plus... I bet you learned a lot.
I know I did the first time I had a mystery short.

You can't put a price on wisdom

[aaverett]

You're welcome! Sweet looking 350!! You might want to reduce the idle speed a bit...

Thanks. lol Yeah, my brother is the kid who started it and I think he was looking for the adjuster but obviously didn't find it.

This is what she's going to look like once I'm done with her.

[aaverett]

Yay!

Plus... I bet you learned a lot.
I know I did the first time I had a mystery short.

You can't put a price on wisdom

I definitely did! I didn't know jack about motorcycles and was probably the leasy handy kid on earth prior to getting this bike but am slowly getting there. haha Now I just need to fix the multiple random misfires in my Audi. :S haha If it's not one thing, it's always another.

[scottly]

Now I just need to fix the multiple random misfires in my Audi.

Check the resistance of the radio suppression spark-plug wires, assuming your Audi is old enough to still have spark-plug wires.