Electrical issues on a 83 Honda nighthawk 550

B

bent wrenches

New Member
Hello all, I'm a first time poster , long time reader , lol. Thank you allowing me to join. I'm having an issue with a 83 Honda nighthawk I bought, it had a bad main wire harness that was melted due to a battery that was hooked up wrong, I was able to located what appears to be a good harness, but , here's where the problem begins, as soon as I plug the wires into the top of the solenoid (which is a good but used ) and hook up the neg to battery the starter starts rolling the motor over no matter what position the key is, the oil light is on as well as the gauge lights , the only way it will stop is if I pull the plug from top of solenoid, but that's not it, the key switch doesn't seem to do anything, on or off nothing changes, could have power to both wires on each one, no brake light, no neutral light, what am I missing , I do have a used CDI box coming, and other electrical parts coming as well. Help !!!! Thank you
 
Welcome to the forum ,total electrical 'meltdown' huh? I had to deal w/ one of those 'spaghetti' deals working for a guy back in the early 90's;it was an XS650 and his Father 'Willed' the bike to him & he got it after his dad had passed,so it had a Lot of 'senti-mental' attatchment to go along w/ the fried parts... ::) We both got an education on that one...

I think you should first do some good continuity testing on your used harness to make sure each wire goes ONLY to that same color and not jumping to any others and after you're sure the harness is solid we can go from there;switches,ground connections,etc.
 
Ok, I'll do that, thank you for the reply. I have a bunch of stuff coming for it, so I hoping to get it up and running, even if I have to make a wire harness, seems be enough info here on this forum to do it, but I plan on having lights, turn signals and such .
 
Would the CDI have anything to do with the starter button not working, it's like theirs no power to the starter (?)
How would I go about making a simple main wire harness and connect the pulsators, regulator/rectifier, and alternator, CDI box ?
Then I will need to figure out turn signals and brake and headlight, or just simply part the bike out.
 
I would make sure you have a good main harness by testing it like I mentioned before.
The main ignition switch can be a problem too.I would use the factory Honda harness.
 
If I remember correctly, your solenoid has the four pin spade connector on the top? Make sure you're plugging it in correctly. Sounds like you have it reversed.
 
You are correct, the seloniod on a 83 550 has a four blade plug, I really don't want to try to reverse than the way I have it plugged in now, I don't want to fry anything, now til I can figure out what color of wire plugs into the top of the seloniod. This weekend I'm going to start working on it, I'm waiting on a used CDI box, at least try and see if maybe the CDI that is on it now hasn't been fried, I'm sure the wire harness I bought is good, I seen no melted wires, the harness has all the original electrical tape and manufactor stickers on it. I'm wondering if maybe the alternator (generator) has reversed polarity, if I try connecting the green ground wire to the spot on the frame , the starter will start rolling the motor over, maybe it's time to start parting it out (?) I'm going to keep at it , I have found and bought all original used electrical stuff to replace the ones on this bike, I'm sure I will find the problem, thanks for everyone's input
 
Sonreir said:
If I remember correctly, your solenoid has the four pin spade connector on the top? Make sure you're plugging it in correctly. Sounds like you have it reversed.
Click to expand...

::) if it doesn't have the little clip piece that was orig. on the sol./plug then that's a good possibility;maybe go look at one that's running or find an owner and check..
 
bent wrenches said:
You are correct, the seloniod on a 83 550 has a four blade plug, I really don't want to try to reverse than the way I have it plugged in now, I don't want to fry anything, now til I can figure out what color of wire plugs into the top of the seloniod. This weekend I'm going to start working on it, I'm waiting on a used CDI box, at least try and see if maybe the CDI that is on it now hasn't been fried, I'm sure the wire harness I bought is good, I seen no melted wires, the harness has all the original electrical tape and manufactor stickers on it. I'm wondering if maybe the alternator (generator) has reversed polarity, if I try connecting the green ground wire to the spot on the frame , the starter will start rolling the motor over, maybe it's time to start parting it out (?) I'm going to keep at it , I have found and bought all original used electrical stuff to replace the ones on this bike, I'm sure I will find the problem, thanks for everyone's input
Click to expand...

It's a TCI, not a CDI, you don't need to worry about frying anything (especially since the unit doesn't interact with the solenoid in any way).
 
Ok, I stand corrected on it being a TCI and not a CDI, thank you Sonreir for for that bit of info, I was thinking it was a TCI, but I was under the impression it was a CDI. Ok, so if your telling me that the TCI should be safe from being fried, and I have the plug that plugs into the selonoid plugged in correctly ( plug matches with the grooves on selonoid) my coils are hot when o use my test light, is that normal ? Even with the key on the off position (?) and the green negative wire on the harness that attaches to the frame just above the coils has positive power to it, something is definitely wrong. Some how it's getting a positive charge from somewhere, just not sure where. I guess this is way beyond my skill kit. I can't believe that after swapping out the TCI box, pulsators, rectifier/regulator, that I can not find the problem, the only thing I haven't swapped it the generator/alternator. I appreciate all the help
 
you can unplug the stator completely and should get spark same with the reg rectifier
 
That's what I'm thinking, grcamna5. The only thing I can think is that it's getting a positive charge from either the starter or generator/alternator. I have checked everything or replaced everything, other than the ignition switch. I have dumped money into all these parts with no luck and probably time to cut my loss and either part it out or sell as a whole as a parts bike. Thank you for everyone's replies and help.
 
Keep looking for that short,otherwise it'll always be bugging you later... even if you do part it out :D

cxman mentioned unplugging the stator;I would just keep unplugging all the components of your electrical system i.e. 'the process of elimination'.. and you will find your short-to-ground.The embarrassing thing is it'll probably be something like the wrong color wire plugged in somewhere... ask me how I know.. ::) :-[
 
I'm glad to say I have solved this issue, hooray !! ;D
I had the wrong plug in the selonoid, it was the only plug I forgot when I was making notes I was making for re-assembly. Now, I'm onto other issues with this bike, whew, glad that's over. Thank you for everyone's input.
 
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