Instrument Cluster fuse blows immediately

[Guest]

Hey guys longtime lurker fresh new account :P With the help of our holy divine stator papers I no longer have to plug into the battery tender once every few days and the '85 GS1150 is running stronger than ever. I do have one more issue before she's perfect though. As soon as i turn the ignition switch to on, it'll blow the 10amp cluster fuse.

It didn't get like this overnight either, it started doing it once a week or so mid-ride, I dismissed it as a fluke and would just throw a new fuse in and it'd work fine. Then it started blowing one roughly every two days. I then knew something was up. Now it's degraded to blowing instantly, at the turn of the key.

I have a wiring diagram but cant for the life of me find anything out of place and riding without blinkers is a PITA lol .

[fastbysuzuki]

I am not an expert with the instrument cluster but the symptoms sound like a short to earth either in the cluster or chafed wiring. A chafe in the wiring may match to it getting worse over time( intermitant shorting to earth)

[MidnightSpeeder]

I've actually been studiously checking out wiring diagrams and I think I want to blame the ignition switch. The taillight (which never actually worked) that turns on as a running light (not the brake light) has a wire and the instrument cluster/blinkers have another wire that are all electrified when the key is turned to the on position. I'm thinking I might have a cross between those two wires. That's all I can think of from studying the diagram. I'll have to do some testing when I get home.

[cowboyup3371]

It can actually be any wire along the way; inspect your harness very carefully to see if something is bare starting at the headlight bucket and move backwards methodically.

After re-reading your above post, I would start at the taillight instead as it sounds like you may have a problem there

[MidnightSpeeder]

Hey just wanted to follow-through so the fix is in our archives. I figured out the issue, it was the simplest thing ever, a corroded fuse box. All I had to do was buy a can of CRC electrical contact cleaner, pull out all of the fuses and the main connector on the bottom of the box, and spray everything down. Spray directly into where the fuses plug into, as well as directly into the female connector, and the male tabs the connector plugs into. Let it dry and it's perfect. Rear tail light came back on (thought it needed a new bulb), the blinkers are more rhythmic, headlight is brighter, and most of all, no more blown fuses!