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Midnight repairs.... almost a bike fire

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    Midnight repairs.... almost a bike fire

    So..... I work nights during the week, keep the same schedule on the weekends for the most part. Get a call about an hour ago " Hey man, I know I didn't wake you up..... I have a problem with my bike." Me - " bring it over, I'll open the garage ". 20 minutes later he comes walking up my driveway, sweating, looking like he is going to fall out, pushing his bike... he pushed it about a mile. His battery cable shorted to the frame somehow, he would not let me take pics of the bike ( another vintage suzuki ). But here are the pics of the wires.... before and after. When I dug into it, it looked like when he had his battery replaced a few weeks back, they pulled hard on the positive after inserting the battery to put the negative on and it tweaked the cable close enough to the frame that when he got on bike after a while... "snap, crackle and pop" nice red glow. Good news, no apparent damage other than a burnt spot on a plate you will never see. Temp fix for now. Don't let this happen to you, there is a reason the rubber boots are on the wires. ( I just looked it up....since he had to push it on the back roads... it was 1.4 miles.... bahahahaha )

    Last edited by Guest; 03-04-2017, 02:45 AM. Reason: typos....I can be OCD sometimes

    #2
    Another good tip is to make sure the posts on any perspective replacement battery are at the right end of the bike....and on the electrical panel side as well. This prevents having to stretch the hot wire out. Ground wire isnt big deal as it wont cause a fire. Under a perfect storm neither wire should be tightly stretched.
    MY BIKES..1977 GS 750 B, 1978 GS 1000 C (X2)
    1978 GS 1000 E, 1979 GS 1000 S, 1973 Yamaha TX 750, 1977 Kawasaki KZ 650B1, 1975 Honda GL1000 Goldwing, 1983 CB 650SC Nighthawk, 1972 Honda CB 350K4, 74 Honda CB550

    NEVER SNEAK UP ON A SLEEPING DOG..NOT EVEN YOUR OWN.


    I would rather trust my bike to a "QUACK" that KNOWS how to fix it rather than a book worm that THINKS HE KNOWS how to fix it.

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      #3
      I ran into that conundrum when I bought a new AGM battery for the 1150. The posts were the reverse of the old battery. Had to make a new positive lead.
      "Thought he, it is a wicked world in all meridians; I'll die a pagan."
      ~Herman Melville

      2016 1200 Superlow
      1982 CB900f

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        #4
        Originally posted by Blue Falcon View Post
        he would not let me take pics of the bike

        ??? Why not ? Is it stolen ?
        82 1100 EZ (red)

        "You co-opting words of KV only thickens the scent of your BS. A thief and a putter-on of airs most foul. " JEEPRUSTY

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          #5
          I had a 1975 Triumph Trident, which I had ridden a couple thousand miles. I set out on my first cross country trip with it in 1985. My dad and I rode together from Northern Maine to Louden NH to watch some local club motorcycle racing, then he went home and I continued. On US 20. Somewhere near Seneca Falls NY, a ground wire under the seat chafed through to the frame where it had been routed accross the hot battery lead. About 6" of it, from the terminal to the hot lead, got red hot and burned all of the insulation off while I was sitting at light.

          Thoee little red terminal covers serve a purpose, but I could have routed that ground wire differently.
          sigpic Too old, too many bikes, too many cars, too many things

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            #6
            Originally posted by bonanzadave View Post
            ??? Why not ? Is it stolen ?
            I call it "Suzukistein" that should say it all... it is a mixture of different bikes.. Suzuki frame and engine at its core... I think it has 5 different colors of paint on the gas tank if that tells you more... and none of them the original color.

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              #7
              A few years ago when I was diagnosing my charging system failure I shorted something and melted my entire harness. It as one of the first things I had to fix on my GS and happened in about 10 seconds. My first thought was great now I have a worthless pile of scrap metal and y second thought was to go look on ebay to find a replacement...
              Learned a lot getting the replacement harness in and bringing my charging system back up to speed.
              1980/1981 GS450 - GS500 Cylinder + Piston Swap - "De-L'ed", custom seat, CB350 bits, 18" rear, etc.
              1977 GS550
              1977 GS750 - Cross country trip thread

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                #8
                Originally posted by sam000lee View Post
                A few years ago when I was diagnosing my charging system failure I shorted something and melted my entire harness. It as one of the first things I had to fix on my GS and happened in about 10 seconds. My first thought was great now I have a worthless pile of scrap metal and y second thought was to go look on ebay to find a replacement...
                Learned a lot getting the replacement harness in and bringing my charging system back up to speed.
                out of high school, I installed custom high end car stereo systems. I can't tell you how many "home installs" I saw that surprised me that they didn't catch their car on fire. I don't think that people really understand the importance of good power feed and ground on a 12V system. Impedance is a killer, either slow or fast. I have seen a $10K stereo system fried due to a bad ground connection and others due to a flopping power cable or a power cable not properly insulated or protected. DC systems are extremely sensitive and highly volatile.

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