Wiring Problem
- Thread starter fatbob
- Start date
Maritime
Over 10,000 Posts
I wonder if your ign switch is bad? with it in the off position check you have + going to it on the red and nothing at the black or brown. If you do it's bad and you need a new one or a repair. we also check you don't have a + red wire connecting to the black anywhere else in the harness as that will cause you grief too. The + black are all your switched and should never have 12V when the key is off. make sure you use a meter or test light and check at anywhere a black wire plugs into something in the harness with the key off, preferabley one at a time, meaning unplug every plug with a black and plug one back in and test, if you get 12V Key off anywhere doing this you will narrow down the issue.
Hmm. I'll check the ignition switch tonight. I have not done that yet. Also, I have LED tail lights and and I read on another forum that LED lights can back feed. Have you heard of this before? I also have an LED headlight that is wired to a plug but not plugged in yet. Do you think this will cause and issue?
Maritime
Over 10,000 Posts
Not heard of it but now that you mention it I noticed on the little CB I just fired up for the first time last night that with the headlight off when I pulled the brake it lit the brake light and the speedo and tack lights and I converted that whole bike to LED. Being LED shouldn't make a difference. You got something miss wired or broken that is allowing the black to be hot all the time. You got a red or red/white that is somewhere getting connected to your Black outside of the Key or because the key switch is buggered.
I unplugged all the headlights, tail lights brake lights and turn signals and still getting unkeyed power to the black wires. This narrows things down quite a bit. I'll keep checking circuit by circuit and should find it somewhere. Not too many places left to check. Did I mention that I hate wiring???
Let's see the rectifier/regulator please. Does it have a black wire? If so if you disconnect that wire from the harness, is the black wire still live?
If I understand the wiring correctly, that bike has an electromagnet, so the black should have power only when the main switch is on and that power is used to energize the rotor. It should not have power unless the main switch is on.
If I understand the wiring correctly, that bike has an electromagnet, so the black should have power only when the main switch is on and that power is used to energize the rotor. It should not have power unless the main switch is on.
Thank you everyone for the suggestions and help. Worked on the bike yesterday afternoon and got almost everything working properly. I'm not sure exactly what the issue was, but I did get it solved. My best guess is that I was back feeding power through the tail light circuit from the fuse box. The key switch shows the tail light as only having power when the key is turned to position 2. I had power at the tail lights in position 1 which I think was back feeding. I do not have the stock tail lights which I believe used the turn signals for running lights. I just ran a keyed black directly to the rear running lights and unplugged the parking lights. This works as it should and I no longer have the back feed issue. I also found at least 3 more problems in the headlight bucket that were related to the 3 different brown wires that once sorted fixed all the rest of my issues except 1. As of now, everything is working perfectly except the neutral light and the clutch safety. The neutral light stays on regardless of whether the bike is in neutral or not. It does get brighter when I put the bike in neutral making me believe that I am somehow feeding power into that circuit from a wrong source and then feeding more power when I put the bike in neutral. I can turn the starter over with the bike in gear and the clutch out. Somehow, I have bypassed that complete system. I thought that maybe the diode was bad and allowing the power to run both ways through the circuit. I brought it to work with me this morning and the diode tests out fine. I did check the wiring from the neutral switch through the diode. I did not check the wiring from the clutch safety switch. One of the diode wires goes to the clutch safety switch. The other wire, I did not verify where I had it plugged in. Tonight I will look over what the relationship between these two components are and see what's up. If anyone knows how the neutral switch, clutch switch and diode work together to block out the starter I would appreciate the insight. If not, I will most likely figure it out from the wiring diagram. Although it can get confusing following everything, it is all there and can be figured out. If anyone thinks I'm chasing the wrong problem, let me know. I am not an expert and will take advice from people that have already solved the problem. Knowing where to look is way easier than figuring out where to look. On a good note, she ran for the first time yesterday with the engine in the bike. I fired the engine on a test stand before I put it back in the bike, but this was the first time everything worked in the bike. She took a while before she would idle without the choke on. I assume I had a cylinder down as the floats were drained after I test ran it. Once everything kicked in, it ran beautifully. I have an oil leak at one of the tank fittings that I'll need to fix. Not sure why because it's pretty tight. I'll take it off to make sure that there are no nicks or dirt on the face, but I assume I had that pretty clean before I assembled. Didn't leak without oil pressure but is a slight weeper when the bike is running. Anyone have an upgrade solutions for this? Thanks again for the assistance.
Maritime
Over 10,000 Posts
Good news. As for the neutral light, I have the same issue on the little CB I am working on and I was about to put a meter on it. I switched it to LED and I think that the switch is allowing just enough juice through to light the LED where it wouldn't light an incandescent. I know the neutral switches will do that. My GL I just turned it off as it was always lit then got brighter when in neutral and to fix it was pull the whole motor kind of deal. On the CB I think I can pull the switch and clean it up easier.
Interesting Maritime. I still have the incandescent bulb. I didn't do the motor, but a real professional did. One of the best in the business so I think he would've checked it. I think that I can tell if the switch is working with a mulitmeter. I understand it is just making ground when in neutral. With the battery disconnected, in neutral I should have continuity to the chassis. In gear I shouldn't. The same with the clutch switch. When the clutch is not engaged, no continuity, when engaged I should have continuity. The rest is which wire is allowing for a signal that shouldn't be. The clutch switch is pretty flimsy and I would think easily malfunctions.
Maritime
Over 10,000 Posts
There is a issue with these old switches that carbon buils up in them and they allow a ground to happed, that's the dim light to bright light. If he didn't change it to a new or pull it and clean it that's the likely issue. I think there may be a way to reverse the carbon build up without pulling the switch?? Pidjones did something on his last GL build I meant to look into further.
I think I read the same thing on another forum. I also read that the switch can be pulled without draining the oil. I found a brand new switch for $50. I'm going to remove the wire and test the light with by grounding directly to the frame. If the light goes off when not grounded and comes on when I touch the frame with the wire then I'll just order a new switch. I'll post my results.
pidjones
Over 1,000 Posts
I just ran the snot out of it with a little MMO in the oil and it (mostly) cleared up. I'll try to remember Sunday to ask David (the new owner) if it is good this year. My '79 started doing it at the end of last season, but is all clear, now. The GL1000 neutral switch requires unbolting and splaying the frame out over an inch (I use a plastic sawyer's wedge) to get it out. Then the epoxy that hold the phenolic inner part from unscrewing is dug out, make up a four-pin tool to fit the phenolic, and unscrew, clean, rebuild. If you can find a new one, it is much better. Yeah, carbon build-up (and metal particles?) is what shorts them. MMO might get rid of some, or not. Poor design shared throughout the industry because the bikes were not ment to last 40 years.
Maritime
Over 10,000 Posts
That's why I don't even have mine connected anymore. I can just use the gentle clutch release method to know if I got neutral LOL.
At this time, the neutral switch is the last electrical gremlin I need to solve. I disconnected the wire yesterday and neutral light goes out. Starter does not turn over unless the clutch is depressed. Ground the wire to the frame and neutral light comes on and starter works. I ordered a new switch that will arrive next week. Switch looks like it will come out with the GL issues. If that works, bike will have all electrical issues working at this time. Thanks for all the help.
