wiring questions

[FeartheZuk]

ok i just hooked up a new starter relay when i put the wires back to where they came from a black wire witha white tracer from the wire harness started to smoke and burned the rubber coating in spots any ideas why?? i was looking at the wiring diagram and it shows this is supposed to goto the starter relay im so lost i think i might need a new wiring harness. Oh this is a 1982 suzuki gs650g

[FeartheZuk]

looking at it the black and white wire looks like a ground for the whole bike if im reading this right

[flyingace]

The wiring diagrams for the two bikes are different. For some reason, there is a black/white wire coming from the negative terminal of the relay on the 650 that goes back to the main harness ground. This is not the case on the 1100 where the relay grounds directly to the frame. Disclaimer - I have neither or these bikes, I'm just looking at the diagrams.

Which segment of the wire is burning? The part from the relay to the harness or some other black/white segment? Is it possible the starter switch is shorted out and you have constant voltage to the relay? You'll have to test that with a multimeter.

[FeartheZuk]

i wounder why it had been wired to the terminal before???
How would one go about replacing the wire????

[FeartheZuk]

ok the ring from the black and white is not on same terminal as the red power. the black and white shares a terminal with a heavy duty black wire comming from somewhere behind the battery. This black and white wire goes into the harness and all through i can see most of harness and can see where it has burnt the tape all the way up under the tank.

I do have a starter switch problem which is the reason this whole thing started....

[flyingace]

Thanks for adding this info. I don't have a wiring diagram for the 650, but I do have a book for the 550.

What do you mean by "negative terminal of the relay?" Unless it is different than the solenoids I've seen and in either of my models (which is possible), the ground is through the body of the solenoid via the mounting bolt, which is also attached to the black/white wire.

Both large terminals should be positive and the wire from the solenoid would be from...the starter button...right?

FeartheZuk- can you post a pic of the solenoid (relay)?

I *think* you put the ground wire ring on the solenoid terminal instead of on the ground/mounting bolt. Mine had a ring on the end of the wire, same as a terminal would have.

Regardless, this much is universal. A ground wire can NEVER share a terminal with a hot wire. In this case, hot is RED, ground is BLACK/WHITE. (This can change depending what is being wired, especially with black, so be sure to check your diagrams)

First, be sure this is correct. (pics help) Once we see your setup (or someone with a 650g pipes in), we can tell you for sure.

To replace the wire, you will have to find where the other end is grounded. Hopefully it will be in the same place in my pic- check there first as it is very easy.

Then run a new ground wire from that point to the ground/mounting point on the solenoid.

That's the good news.

The bad news is that if it does connect to another ground wire in the harness instead of being a dedicated wire, there may be other components grounded through this harness and you will have to track those down. Either using a wiring diagram or opening your harness.

More to check: If that wire is in your harness and connected to other things as flyingaces says, it is *possible* this wire could have melted and created other shorts inside the harness.

How long was it connected and/or smoking? What did you do to stop it? Did it only smoke when you hit the starter (depends which terminal of the solenoid you used)?

IMHO, if your harness has any melted wires in it, you would be wise to consider a replacement harness. You can post for that under the Wanted section. People are dismanteling all the time and someone may have one.

Good luck and let's see some pics of the solenoid and the wire if it shows damage (we can tell a lot by how much the insulation is melted)

- JC

JC - The diagram indicates what appears to be a neg terminal on the relay with a B/W ground wire. But I have no way to tell if that's really what it is. It also indicates a ground directly to the frame, so maybe the setup is actually the same, but the diagram is different? BassCliffs site has color diagrams for both bikes if you want to see them.

Zuk - There is some confusion you'll need to clear up. As GS1100 asked, did the frying occur before the ignition was switched on or after? Was it before you hit the starter button or after? Is the starter switch still broken or is it repaired?

If it were me, I would disconnect that green/yellow wire to the hot relay terminal and plug multimeter leads between that wire and the ground (black lead ground). You should not get any voltage to that wire until you hit the starter button. If that is the case, everything up to the relay is working as it should. The problem then is in the relay or the relay grounding.