About two weeks ago I made a post about the clock and trip odometer on my bike always reseting after I turned off the bike. Today I was working on the bike so I decided to check the fuse for the clock. Its was missing! I figured an easy fix so I went and got a fuse for the fuse box and bingo it worked. The clock came on and stayed on after I shut the bike off. I then spent a couple of hours painting my stator cover, to get rid of a few scratches, which I must say came out awesome....it looks great. I let the paint dry for a few more hours and went to start the bike, here is where the problem is. I tried starting it for about 5 minutes and all I got was the starter cranking and cranking and the bike would not turn over and start. I know painting the stator had nothing to do with it so the only thing I could think of was the fuse for the clock. I removed the fuse for the clock and tried the bike again, it started right up.

Has anyone run into this issue before? How is the fuse for the clock related to the bike starting at all? It was nice having the clock working for a couple of hours so if anyone knows how I can keep the clock working and have the bike start please let me know.

 

it's possible there's a short circuit somewhere after that fuse. So if you put in the fuse, it draws a lot of current and your bike doesn't start up... see if you find any insulation peeled back and wires touching or some such... it's quite likely this electrical issue. The other way to check is, if you have a multimeter, remove the fuse and check the resistance between the clock/gauge side end of the fuse holder and ground of the battery. If it's too low (say in the 10s of ohms range) then there's a short for sure! If that's the case your battery might drain just leaving the bike off (since clock is always on)

 

Sounds like there are wires crossed somewhere. I'm of no help other than that, I'd have to hardcore look over the wiring to find exactly where it would be

 

+1 crossed wires could cause an issue too

 

sounds like you are having electrical problems (obviously) what I mean is, did the previous owner (if applicable) change any wire-ing, maybe for new turn signals or an undertail kit...They might have reconnected the wires so that they are creating a leak on the power source that drains the battery... in my car I had a fuse problem which kept the radio off and the windows from opening, turns out it was the body modual kit... I don't think bikes have this though... just something to think about.

 

I agree with ampfp, check everything on that side of the circuit, i don't know if you can read wiring diagrams, but those saved my life on my ford a few times.
P.S. normal resistance of a wire should be around .05 to .07, well at least in automotive wiring.

 

Amp. how do you use the multimeter to check for the short?? Do you plug it into where the fuse is supposed to go. Sorry if I sound like an idiot, but ive never used one. the bike does have an undertail kit installed, but that works fine. I didnt want to say this at first because I didnt want to lead anyone into and answer but, the fuse for the clock is a 10 amp, I used a 20 amp that was a spare in the bike. I didnt think this would have any issue but could I be wrong, is the fuse too big? As you guys can tell im not real good with this electrical **** so bear with me. I appreciate all the help, thanks alot!!!!!!

 

That wouldn't really do anything, the job of a fuse is to prevent a surge of amperage. The worst case, if a spike were to happen, your post - fuse side instruments might fall. When a starter cranks over, all power is diverted to the started and the primary computers to send the info needed to start the bike * again all from a car knowledge, but a motor is a motor right *, so i mean the fuse might be a constant pull of power just under that 20 amps, enough to hinder the starter from properly doing it's job. You need to check the post fuse wires all for a short.
Do you know how to check the "continuity" of a wire, it is the same concept, start at the beginning placing a lead there, and another lead at the end of that wire and check you continuity that way, you may need jumper wires to do this. Just play around with it. You will figure it out, oh and have absolutely no power on the wires at all, take the battery out, if you don't and the wire shorts, you may be putting your meter at risk to blow the $20.00 fuse in your meter.
Hope that helped..

 

Im electronically retarded, when it comes to cars and now I guess bikes!!! I have no idea what your talking about. Could the under tail that I got with the bike be the source of the problem? How do I check for a short in the wire from under the seat all the way to the dash? What would changing the under tail have anything to do with this short, how is one related to the other. I dont know. If I have this short does that mean something else was changed, other than the under tail that I dont know about??

 

If the previous dude changed any of the blinkers or lights (which s/he most likely did with a new undertail) they probably also messed with the wiring. I'd check the wiring to the blinkers as a starting point.

o/t but what type of paint did you use to cover the scratches on the stator? any special type of paint?