Just bought a sexy 1994 Cbr 900. Was wiring the rear license plate light and I got a pop! Nothing works or happens when I turn the key on.

all fuses checked
just replaced the whole starter solenoid

still nothing. Tomorrow I have a whole new China ignition key set coming. What else can it be? Put 54 miles on last weekend and now I messed it up

thanks in advance!

Love the bike help!

 

Did you find the 30a main fuse?

 

yes replaced twice and then replaced the whole solenoid.

 

That's the starter fuse. There should be a main fuse somewhere else.

Nice bike. Is your exhaust can on upside down? The tip should be pointing back, not up.

 

It’s a 30amp fuse, really hope there’s another fuse I’m missing but I have looked everywhere. Even the wiring diagram



Yes scratched on the other side. Ordered a nice one off eBay.

 

They are using it as a main fuse too. Is there power at it? Is there power to any fuse or at the battery? Are you battery cables clean and tight?

 

Yes clean and tight. Even put my battery charger on it. Borrowing a volt a meter from work today. I really think it’s the ignition switch not working. Sucks bc everything was great until I started working on the brake lights

 

What kind of work were you doing on the brake lights? I'm just thinking that if you're blowing a fuse every time the key is turned, you're probably looking at a short to ground causing overcurrent on the main circuit. The last thing you touched is always the first to blame

I'd unplug whatever you were working on and see if it changes anything. While you're at it, visually inspect the wires in the tail and under the seat (prone to pinching, weather damage and breakage) and take a good hard look at any splices you've done. Hook a multimeter onto them and wiggle the wires to see if you have a short. You might even see carbon leftover from the smoke where the wires burned up. The giveaway is the pop sound while working on the bike. Definitely sounds like a red wire is connected to a black one, or more likely a red wire has pinched against the frame. Goes without saying, but any burned or brittle wires need to be replaced, or else the increased resistance will only cause them to fail again in the future

I'd really avoid throwing electrical components onto it before properly isolating the issue. Ditto for batteries. It gets expensive and it sucks if a new component gets damaged by an undiagnosed electrical issue

 

The rectifier 3 wires melted together. Cut and spliced back together. All good! Bikes done. New clutch and all