weird electrical problem plus a fire ball

[piester]

Ok so I was riding the bike and I believe the self canceling turn signal box melted and burnt the relay looking thing right next to it. Bike died and nothing works. This is an 81 850g. Coil relay mod. High and low beams are hooked up to relays also. My blinkers were acting up prior to that. What are the things on the right side of the battery box?

[spyug]

Where's the part about the fireball? That got my attention. There is such thing as truth in advertising you know

We'll need to have Cliff or one of the other 850 wizards give you the details on that but from the description of a dead bike I'm thinking fuse block.

Could you perhaps shoot us a pic?

Hopefully one of the gurus will be along shortly.

Good luck.
Spyug

[piester]

Ok sorry about the lame attempt at describing what happened. First some background. 81 gs850g. Has aftermarket turn signals front and rear with the stock bulbs in them. Headlight was very dim so I got a replacment silverstar bulb. Low beam is wired via relay to battery with the kill switch controling when the low is on and high is wired to batter via relay to the high beam switch. So when I click the high on the low and high are on. Coil relay mod was done. Everything was working perfect. At one point in the day the blinker relay or self cxling box would click like crazy. Then after about 40 miles of ride time with no blinkers on and the low beam on the front box on the throttle side of the batter with 347-6 on it shorted and caught fire. The fire that came out of the box burnt and melted the 3 prong relay type box and some of the wiring. The bike died and has not started since. Havnt been able to check the fuses yet. I got another one of the 3 prong relay type things and the connector from the junk yard but was unable to find the other piece that burnt. What are these 2 boxes? Can my bike run without them? With the front one I believe its the self cancleing box. Can I splice any wires together to. Bypass this? And probably more important, what do you think caused the meltdown to begin with?

[spyug]

Well I'm still not sure what those boxes are. On my 83 750 one would likely be the turn signal flasher the other I don't know as I don't have self cancellation.

If it is signal related, I can't see how this affects running of the bike so again I think of the fuse block as an issue but I thought those were all on the left side of the frame on all Zuks.

Its an odd ball to say the least.

Difficult to say without getting a look. Any chance of pics?

I wouldn't be doing any re-wiring until you can figure out what caused this by the way.

Sorry I'm not much help but standing by for any more info.

Good luck.
Spyug

[piester]

Yeah my fuse block is on the left. But if something grounded out causing that stuff to fry then blowing a fuse is probably not out of the question. And I did that rewiring before this happened. I have a new turn signal flasher and connector. I'm gonna put that on when I get home and check my fuses. I'm hoping that I blew a fuse.

[piester]

update:
when i got home tonight from work i looked the bike over and found a few things. the turn signal auto cancle had a hole burnt through it about the size of a pen. burnt from the inside. that is now unpluged and thrown into my neighbors yard. the fire that came out of the auto cxl box burnt the turn signal flasher and some of the wiring. between all of the wires that got torched some of them grounded out. blew a few fuses, tail light bulbs. and most of the bulbs in my gauge cluster, and killed a relay for my low beam. replaced all of the bulbs, the relay, as well as all of the fuses on the bike. replaced the portion of wiring that was burnt as well as the connector and flasher. all lights work, bike runs fine, and the blinkers work. the seem to flash a bit faster now thow. i was unable to locate any shorts in the wiring or anything that may have grounded out. ( is that the same thing?) so i put everything back together and everything seems to be ok. i have not replaced the auto cxl box yet thow. should i?

[mighty13d]

you dont need it. they are pricey.

[chef1366]

I have a good auto-cancel box at a good price.

[piester]

no thank you. i dont think im going to use one. thanks for the offer thow. and thank you for help everyone