I'd track the problem down first and then replace the whole harness only if significant splicing would have to be done to repair old one. It really is a pain in the butt pulling the entire harness ... I lie, pulling is the easy part ... routing the replacement harness is the PITA

 

That's why I keep delaying it until my battery charger looks at the battery and surrenders. Might do it when I get a new LED kit tho so I can route everything right ONCE and be done with it

 

It only took 3 hours to pull out the harness, unwrap it by sections, give it a thorough look, then wrap that part and move on to the next section. Wasn't too bad, at least that's what I tell myself when looking at the 2 1/4 ton truck sitting right next to it... Also since I don't have a job, I got plenty of sweatin hours to spend tearin that thing apart. Hopefully that story changes here in the next two weeks

I think Honda should do what Ford and Chevy does, take their bikes to the hottest places on the planet and engineer test them there. That's why Ford has their testing grounds in central AZ, and my Bronco is from 87, it's an EFI, I've taken her through hell with electrical, and I've never had a short even when I shorted things out by accident. It's an unstoppable tank, tried, tested, and proven!

As for Kuroshio, that looks like an Afro Samurai there. Bad as movie just watched it last night. Had to see Samuel L do some trash talkin, and *** whoopin anime style and damn was it wicked!

 

Actually its Huey from the Boondocks. The Blind Samurai episode.

Back on topic, I guess I'm a bit lucky wih my short. My bike's alarm is keyed into the ignition system. Try to turn the key with the alarm armed, the alarm goes off and kills the bike. Except when the short is being a pita.

Right now if I turn the key, I get lights and power. But nothing from the starter switch. But my alarm will auto arm itself with the key turned on. The alarm is spliced into the harness at 2 locations: the ignition and kill switch. Since the alarm isn't sensing the key, the short has to be along the ignition line.

And the only ugly wire is the melted connector I found. True?

 

Ahh Huey was my other guess. Haven't watched that show in quite awhile. Good one though.

I would see if you can remove the alarm and try to start it or pull your starter out and hook it directly to the battery to see if it spins. Unfortunately alarms are a pain. I haven't checked the diagrams for that specific wire since I know my starter relay is clicking so that's working but you may even have a bad relay which the starter direct to battery should give you a decent idea.

 

Today's notes:

-Headlight connected
-Disconnect 4P connector for starter / no voltage drop
-Wiring harness completely unwrapped. Same F'in problem... Tried jiggling the wires, making sure they're all separated, same F'in problem...
-Disconnected the ground wire that bolts to the body under the R/R / no voltage drop... OK!
-Clip the thicker wire and mount that puppy back up / no voltage drop... OK!
-Trace that thick wire down / leads to front of the bike, spliced in several points... first point of splice is trice but two ends go to connectors that are disconnected
-Clip the splice / no voltage drop with head light connected... OK! / connect 1 wire at a time to the body to see what happens / only one causes it and that's the wire that leads directly to the headlight...
-Repair the splice and other clippings
-Shake down the fuse box wires / same problem
-Pull out the blue spade for the headlight connector / voltage still crazy
-Pull out the white spade for the headlight connector and put in the blue one / no voltage drop... white wire goes to turn signal assembly and swapping that out made no difference
Flip the brights switch / no change... somethin with this white wire
-Swapped light control out / same F'in problem...
-Voltage drops to 9-10~ when black/brown wire for temp gauge is connected, disconnect that, voltage is ok


White wire goes to turn signal assembly internally it's bridged to blue/white and goes to starter switch (swapped that out already) and is internally bridged to black/red wire which goes to the fuse box. Headlight, ignition, starter, turn signal, tail, horn, meter lights are all fed by the same wire red/black which comes from the ignition...

An interesting fact is the starter's battery power comes directly from the headlight fuse.

-Disconnect black/red wire from 4P red connector / just drops to 9-10~
-Disconnect blue/white wire from 3P black connector / just drops to 9-10~
-Disconnect white wire from head light connector then bridge spade to be connected to white wire and jump it straight to the head light fuse power source / just drops to 9-10~
-With wires still disconnected jump white wire connection point on light direct to white wire connection coming from turn signal assembly / voltage freaks out
-Jump white wire connection point on light direct to blue/white wire coming from starter assembly / voltage freaks out....
-WTF!!!!! no way can I have two bad starter assemblies....
-Idea... headlights probably going to get wired directly to the fuse box
-**** me!!!

What do I know now: Well seems I have a damn good idea as to what's happening with the voltage, however it doesn't say whether or not the bike will start without a problem...


Question!!!!!!
Does the headlight normally receive 12volts to the low wire?

 

Yes ... both high and low are 12V.

 

Cool that's what I figured, but had to make sure there's no resistors in that left hand controls. Thank you!

We'll see how the rest of the story goes, but for right now I'm gonna let that spaghetti sit there for a couple days. It's a holiday weekend!

BTW I just noticed the FJ there. How ya like it?

 

Love the FJ Would love it more if it got decent mileage but I guess you don't buy an FJ for the mileage, eh? Has gone everywhere I've pointed it so far with no problems ...

 

Yeah fuel mileage is typically out the window when you got somethin that can cut through a mud hole or a steep rutted trail like a hot knife through butter. Sorta like my Bonnie the tank. She's unstoppable, till she runs outta gas...