Overheating Main fuse

[Guest]

My 78 GS 1000 Is overheating the Main fuse until it melts the solder & plastic in the fuse block. The rest of the wires show no sign of damage or bad connections. Disconnecting the charging system cools it down.
I replaced the R/R, Cleaned all the connections & put it back together. It seems to run cooler now, but I'm still wondering why the fuse didn't blow.
Any ideas?

Terry

[Anonymous]

3 things that come to mind are:

1>Overloaded circuit
2>Loose or faulty connections
3>corroded ground & or connections (loose connections cause arcing resulting in heat, enough to melt the holder to nothing)

Good luck,
Ron

[humhead]

Wow! Thanks for the quick reply. I cleaned the connections & replaced some of the short wires near the problem. I'll test it tomorrow & see what happens

[focus frenzy]

the tarnesh on the fuse holders builds up enough head to reach the melting point of the solder but the load on the fuse is below the point that the fuse would blow.
I have had this problem and cleaning the contacts good cures it for the short term. replacing the fuse box with a 82 or newer fuse box (or aftermarket) that uses blade fuses cures that problem permanently.

[humhead]

Cleaning the tarnish & adding a ground wire seems to have cooled things down. Changing to a blade style fuse box is a great idea. The 82 & up GS fuse blocks are too big Looks like I'll have to find an aftermarket one or modify the electric parts mounting plate.

Thanks

Terry

[paidtothink]

I'm having the same issue. The main fuse is melting the plastic around the tabs. It's tarnished, maybe part of the problem.

I was wondering if removing the front turn signals and all of the gauges was possibly overloading the wire system. I'm just testing the harness after chopping the bike. Any thoughts?

[OldVet66]

I ended up replacing my fuse box with a stock replacement and 6 connectors that had turned black from overheating. No problems after that.

[paidtothink]

I tested the fuse block by cleaning the tabs with sand paper and it ran totally cool. To avoid future problems i did replace them with atc fuses. Much much better.

[Matchless]

Dont even try to repair a fusebox where the connecters have overheated and melted the plastic. The connectors become loose and lose their grip on the fuses and you will always have intermittent electrical problems. Replace complete fuse box with blade type fuses and fix it properly.

[tkent02]

On the early bikes with only one fuse you can easily use two female spade connectors to slide directly on the legs of a blade style fuse.

[trippivot]

clean up the ground strap at both ends. especially down under the engine. check the ignition switch plug connections and the biggest gauge wires on the positive side.

resistance equals heat bad connections, corroded inside wire sheath,

sometimes extra ground wires up to the coil bases and the triple trees or a fairing mount help an aging system. wont cure it but will help.

[paidtothink]

I did open up the harness and the wiring is suprisingly clean and supple. I did replace most all of the dirty or tarnished bullet connectors with new spade connectors and soldered connections instead of crimped.

Since this is a chopper bobber project, about a third of the wiring has been carefully eliminated. Everything is working now except the right turn signal and that's most likely isolated to the indicator controller box...there's no click from the box when signalling right. Oh well. Until i fix it, that's what arms are for.

[Matchless]

Usually the flasher relay is not bothered with which side it has to flash. If the left flashers work then the flasher relay is good.

The bulbs, wiring and direction switch for the right side should be checked.

[posplayr]

Since this is a chopper bobber project, about a third of the wiring has been carefully eliminated. Everything is working now except the right turn signal and that's most likely isolated to the indicator controller box...there's no click from the box when signalling right. Oh well. Until i fix it, that's what arms are for.

You might have some interest in this 550 bobber schematic.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...84&postcount=1

[paidtothink]

Thanks for the help. This forum is awesome. The bobber plan is really close to what I did on my wiring harness. Added some new wires with an HID light kit...lol. totally worth it though since I pretty much only get to ride at night. Had a good first run yesterday.