I have an Electrical short somewhere

[North]

I have bad short somewhere and I was wondering if there is a known spot where I should be looking first.

My Bike is a 2005 GS

Thanks

Rick

 

[ducatiparts.110mb]

It would help to know why you feel you have a short.

is something not working, are fuses blowing, does the bike not start, has the bike caught fire etc?

Once you've narrowed down the function thats not working, then look for any areas where the wiring flexes where that function could be affected.

eg the loom flexes where the rear wheel speed pickup leaves the frame and passes along the swingarm, but that if the engine is not sparking then that is unliklely to be the source of the problem. However if one of your indicators has failed and the bulb is ok then look around the headstock and if you see any chafed wires then thats a likely place to start chasing out the short.

If its a short to ground, then put one wire of a multimeter on the battery -ve terminal and buzz around the connectors looking for continuity. When you find 0ohms to ground then you've found either the bike's earth connection or the wire thats shortcircuited to ground.

Happy hunting.

 

[North]

Thanks,

My battery negative terminal caught fire. I though it was caused by a loose negative connection arcing.

I put a new battery in. Connected the positive and then when I connected the negative I got a big arc.

 

[davegs]

Arcing

Are you sure youv'e connected all the leads correctly?

 

[Myke Rocks]

My first port of call would be:

Disconnect the heavy cable going to the starter. (easiest at the starter end)
& try again. If the arc is no longer there, fault lies in the starter area.
Anything else which generates a large arc will usually also generate a smell of molten plastic, rapidly followed by massive damage.
Myke

 

[North]

Are you sure youv'e connected all the leads correctly?

Yes...

 

[Deleted account 190920001]

I would do as Myke says. Anything capable of that kind of load without catching fire has to be big and the starter would be the first port of call. Alternator would be the next. The only other places generally likely to suffer wear would be round the headstock area as it moves but that would have burnt out by now and its all protected with the ZF unit anyway.

 

[North]

Thanks guys

 

[North]

I just took off the starter cover and the Positive cable has worn and the wire is in contact with the starter housing. It's looks like it kind of welded to it now.

I put some electrical tape around the positive cable, put the battery in and started the Bike up.

Thanks Every-one!

 

[Myke Rocks]

Great result.

I just took off the starter cover and the Positive cable has worn and the wire is in contact with the starter housing. It's looks like it kind of welded to it now.

I put some electrical tape around the positive cable, put the battery in and started the Bike up.

Thanks Every-one!

Electrical tape is an abortion. It will fall off or be cut thorugh with a couple of months.- and it looks disgusting.
Use shrinkwrap. ( A double layer.)
Myke.

 

[North]

Electrical tape is an abortion. It will fall off or be cut thorugh with a couple of months.- and it looks disgusting.
Use shrinkwrap. ( A double layer.)
Myke.

Thanks again Myke. I owe you a couple of Beers.

I didn't have anything else at home. I took the battery back out and I will get some of that Shrink-wrap.

Rick