UTMC

So I'm sure some or most of y'all are familiar with how I bought my now ex girlfriend a Ninja for her birthday, then crashed mine and sold it to her (super cheap) for parts, then how she ditched out and left both bikes in my garage.

Well I finally set out to finish the project. I pulled the carbs and cleaned 'em again, and was gonna rig up a fuel tank (since the one on the bike needs to be cleaned and etched), and throw in a battery to see if I could get it fired up.

Well, apparently the previous owner decided that it would be a good idea to use red wire for the negative lead of the battery. Me, being me, and being sick and out of it, went on autopilot and wired in the battery backwards. Yay sparks. Yay no electrical.
I can't seem to find a main fuse anywhere on the bike or online.
None of the fuses I CAN find are fried.
I wonder what is.
I'm glad I have an entire donor electrical system sitting right there that is in perfect working order.

I wish I would've fixed my bike instead of letting it go to that girl. It sure would've been easier than doing another entire project bike, and it's too far down the process both with the bike and DMV to go back.

Found it.
That was a cleverly placed fuse. It's inside the wiring connector to the starter solenoid. I am a fan of this spot; it's fairly ingenious.

See, and here you were bashing the good engineers at Kawasaki a minute ago. Just shows that you really can learn something every day.
I feel your pain, however, I need to go scope out a short somewhere in the vast depths of a 2001 Dodge Ram 1/2 ton.

Bigshankhank wrote:See, and here you were bashing the good engineers at Kawasaki a minute ago. Just shows that you really can learn something every day.
I feel your pain, however, I need to go scope out a short somewhere in the vast depths of a 2001 Dodge Ram 1/2 ton.

Tried a OBD scanner to help trace the problem? I know you mentioned it's electrical, but...might help using one?

WAFS - Glad to hear you worked through the problem. I hate chasing electrical gremlins.

rc26 wrote: Tried a OBD scanner to help trace the problem? I know you mentioned it's electrical, but...might help using one?

Huh? Not a real mechanic, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn last night, but I have a circuit tester and a good digital multimeter. In other words, I do not know what that is, and must work with what I gots.

Bigshankhank wrote:

rc26 wrote: Tried a OBD scanner to help trace the problem? I know you mentioned it's electrical, but...might help using one?

Huh? Not a real mechanic, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn last night, but I have a circuit tester and a good digital multimeter. In other words, I do not know what that is, and must work with what I gots.

OBD - On board diagnostics. Shot you a PM, I have a INNOVA that's great for the garage mechanic. Already used it to pinpoint a bad #6 coil on my friends 00 F-150, pinpointed it right off the bat and saved himself a $300 bill by taking it to his mechanic. Let me know if you wanna borrow it, could ship it down to you.

Somebody say electrical gremlins? I happen to have half a dozen or so of their heads on pikes in my lawn.

WeAintFoundShit wrote:I wish I would've (insert your issue here) instead of letting it go to that girl.

Another of life's lessons learned the hard way.

ninemileskid wrote:

WeAintFoundShit wrote:I wish I would've (insert your issue here) instead of letting it go to that girl.

Another of life's lessons learned the hard way.

Lol... Yeah.

And I wasn't bashing the engineers at Kawi, I was bashing the previous owner who used red wire on the negative battery lead.
Who does that?
Of course it's my own damned fault, as I should have immediately recognized the wiring scheme in there; it's not that difficult, after all.
That's what I get for deciding to wrench when I'm sick and out of it.

I had a '72 R75/5 once that had been owned by some deranged fuckwit who replaced EVERY (and I mean EV-ER-RY) wire with red 10-gauge wire. He even soldiered the ground wire for the turn signal to the back of the turn signal housing.

Try chasing problems in that loom!

WeAintFoundShit wrote:I was bashing the previous owner who used red wire on the negative battery lead.
Who does that?

someone that's color blind?

WeAintFoundShit wrote:, I was bashing the previous owner who used red wire on the negative battery lead.
Who does that?

Old lucas electrical systems sometimes used a positive ground. Hence a Red wire as a grounding lead.

I am familiar with the reverse pattern of the prince of darkness.
Maybe the old owner was a Triumph owner in a previous life.
Judging by the amount of electrical gremlinery, in this bike, it would not surprise me.