Topic: 1973 CB350F main fuse..

[crousos]

Ok, here it goes. My girlfriend was riding her  350 this afternoon going north from Frenchtown on Rt 32 in PA (if anyone is from the area) and the bike totally cut out for no reason. Luckily it was by the parking lot of the Indian Rock In, in any case the main fuse was blown but even after replacing it I still got nothing. I friend riding with us had a multimeter so I got to work, I got 13 V from before the fuse and ground and after the fuse and ground but turning the ignition on gave me nothing totally dead. After an hour of waiting and a couple of cold beers we towed the bike home.
Looking  at the wiring diagram just now when we got home I can see that the red wire goes form the fuse straight to the ignition, is that correct? if that is the case if nothing else the lights should come on when I turn on the ignition and the light switch on. I get nothing... so I am thinking that it either fried the red wire or the ignition switch is fried (is that even possible? ) as always any and all help is appreciated.

Constantin

[MoMo]

You could have something as simple as the plug that connects to the ignition switch loose, happened to me once with a 400F. Check that and get back, Larry

[crousos]

All I have to say Larry is WOW, I will have to to take some time tomorrow to take a closer look (the ignition is covered by a rubber booty)  but all I had to do was put my hand behind there and shake it a bit and everything came to life I did that again and everything went out again. Something is definitely loose back there.

Thanks for your help,

Constantin

[MoMo]

You're welcome, plus what I had to do because the switch was an aftermarket was put a cable tie around the plug and switch so that it would not loosen again. It was that or buy another switch. glad it was simple, Larry

[HondanutRider]

Its fairly common for the soldered connections on the back of the key switch to come loose - happened to mine.  Those connections are under the rubber boot at the back of the ignition switch, and can often be re-attached with solder - as long as you are careful not to over-heat the base.  Its also pretty easy to hot-wire the ignition by disconnecting the switch at the 4-wire connector and inserting a jumper wire across a couple of the correct connectors. (Look at the wiring diagram and its easy to see what is hot and where the switch connects it to.)

[333]

I can't tell you how many times I've had to re-solder one of those.  The contacts inside also sometimes go bad.  But it sounds like something might have helped this to happen.  I've had fuses blow because of corrosion on the battery cables(not easily seen- just clean them) or even low fluid in the battery.