Topic: CB400f Blowing Main Fuse

[strynboen]

you are absolut shure you not have reversed the polarity on the battery..


there is reversed types vho had the batery poles reversed..and put on the tharger from total new,,you can fill it backvers...and then the diodes in the bike gets reversed voltage and blow up..or shorten aut..
so thek carefull the battery poles ..and marking..and test for positive ..are positive..
think a reversed battery dont get full voltage..so 10 volt can be a varning somthing are vrong

[Stev-o]

+1 battery is toast.   If the R control is bad, either repair the short or replace the control. 
Tape is just a temp fix and could come back to bite you at a bad time. 

[FuZZie]

I was able to determine that the new battery is acting up and was causing everything to not work. After charging it a second time it's still showing 10.3 volts. I'm charging it again now. Does anyone know what could be causing that? The initial short out? overfilling acid (it's a bit above the lines)?

They are usually made of 6 cells around 2.1v each, so math suggests one bad cell. Possibly a warped plate if I had to guess. 

[jakec]

you are absolut shure you not have reversed the polarity on the battery.

The battery has big + and - symbols on it that I've been hooking up with red and black, respectively.

Looks like its battery time.

How should I go about repairing the short? If you look at the initial post on this thread the black wire has a bit of exposed copper and the yellow/red wire next to it has a dab of solder. I think one or both could be touching the bar when it's installed. A mechanic friend of mine said to put some liquid tape on the whole mess and call it good.

[Flyin900]

That is a good option and you can usually get that product at an automotive store. Did you check where the wiring goes down into the cutout in the handlebars for any frayed wiring in that area?

[jakec]

Ok, I will pick up some liquid tape, hopefully tonight. My friend says he will sell me his antigravity battery for $80. So I am considering that. $120 new. He has only charged it like 3 cycles or less.

The bad battery was showing 11.6 volts today when I took it off the charger so it may be improving.

[jakec]

Liquid tape is curing now. I very generously covered the exposed area so I am thinking this will be a good solution.

In the mean time I am trying to remove the decals from the sides of my tank. They are pretty baked on there and will only come off in little flakes. This is while using the hair dryer.

At this rate I think it would take me a couple days to get them off. However I'm tired so I stopped the night after getting about 10% off of one of the H's and one of the A's in HONDA.

I have the decal that I'm working on soaking in some wd-40 for now to see if that can soften it up any for tomorrow.

[jakec]

Just confirmed that the liquid tape did the job. Turns out that it was the wires to the start button shorting on the bar. Thank you everyone for your replies.

Now if any of you guys know a secret to get these old decals  off, let me know.

[Stev-o]

Is the bike running now? You ride it??

[jakec]

I haven't tried starting it again yet because there are no wheels and it's resting on some wood blocks. The battery is showing about 12 volts now after being on the charger for a few days. Once I have wheels back on and a working battery I will roll it outside and try starting it again.

Oh, and the tank is off for the stickers, too. Good thing though because the petcock was very clogged with varnish when I took it off.

[Flyin900]

How's the interior of the tank? You may want to flush that too while you have it off if your petcock was gummed up.

[jakec]

The interior is good, a little orange tinge toward the top / neck area where you might expect, since the tank isn't always full. The lower area is good.

When I got the petcock off and dumped the fuel a few bits of varnish came out. I think that the petcock was gummed up because it sat so long with the petcock closed. Crossing my fingers that the carbs aren't gummed. I drained the bowls and they drained nice and fast so I'm hoping not.

Right now I have the tank off, it has probably an oz or two of fuel in it that I couldnt get out, as well as some WD-40 that i fogged with. The cap is on and I have the petcock hole plugged. I think I am going to order one of these 3M eraser wheels this morning to get the decals off.

[calj737]

Try some Denatured Alcohol to remove the decals. Works well, won't damage the paint, available at the Home Store near you.

[jakec]

Yeah, although it's not concourse or anything, the paint on the tank is really nice and I'd hate to damage it. Using fingernails was a bit scary and was starting to make my fingers hurt. I bought a plastic scraper and the scraper's sharp edge immediately got bent out of shape by the extremely tough sticker.

I found this thread on the forum and contacted the OP to see if he could show me a before and after of using the 3M wheel:

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=165907.0

He sent me to an album where you can see how well it worked:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/smudgemo/sets/72157671460992575/

Before

https://flic.kr/p/TWcukr

After

https://flic.kr/p/UzDeau