New rider and new member

Sounds like you have something wired wrong. Keep in mind that on the bikes, the switched break the circuit on the ground side, not the “hot” side. That way you shouldn’t be getting a spark when you connect wires or turn something on. It’s not like wiring a house where the switch is in the “hot” wire.

Did you wire a switch with the “hot” lead?

 

You see this last bit - rectifier off, console lights on? You need to investigate this - look into diode pack, go back to basics with everything disconnected other than the controls - check they are all working.
Fault finding electrics is not something you can tell someone how to do, it’s a learnt skill, but is really about logic and having a meter, so starting from basics helps - you have to get to know and not be scared of your wiring diagram. Learn to work out what to expect, measure it and understand why it’s not what you expected. Use Volts to test circuits, ohms to
Verify bits of it.

 

One of the problems is you have multiple threads addressing the same issue, it's best to stick with one thread so members can easily track the history of the bike

https://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/wiring-question.130994/#post-669551

You had a bike that powered up, you replaced the fuse box and it started blowing the fuse. You got a new harness, you installed a new fuse box and it is blowing main fuse again - I asked for pics of the fuse box wiring and battery area and still waiting

There is no way the controls can blow the main fuse if the bike is wired per print - that is only going to happen if the rectifier is bad / miswired, the ignition switch is bad / miswired, or one other hot wire that looks to be red wire spare bullet connector in the headlight is connected to a ground

This would get back to that spare red bullet connector on the harness that is not supposed to be connected - if this was connected to the controls and there was a fault in one of the controls that places 12V on the bars then yes it would blow the main fuse

And no connecting the clutch cable does not properly ground the bars

And also no even considering bypassing the fuses unless you want to buy another harness

And the neutral light will glow dimly if the signal fuse is blown, that is normal

 

So looking at your other thread where you posted pictures of wiring in the headlight bucket it appears you have some aftermarket wiring connected to that spare bullet connector mentioned above - it's not a perfect view but worth asking?

 

Been at this over 5 hours tonight. Printed big full color wiring diagram at work. I think... Jfc I think I have it. For real (finally).

I can plug everything in, bars on and rectifier+ ignition too. No key = no light. Key on=neutral light. Kill switch to on=oil level light (oil is empty- this is how I want to see light). No fuses blowing.

I can't start bike; it's missing cylinder head, and the safety cutoff relay is dead and disconnected (yes, tested with DMM and a variable DC power supply to see if it would click on/off, it's dead) so I can't test ignition.

Headlights and console do not come on until the bike is running, correct? My god if that's correct I figured it out. If not... Then I gotta figure out why THEY aren't working now, but I've seen in a few places that they don't turn on until engine is running.

 

@Rooster53 these bullet connectors up front? Originally I had them connected. Disconnecting them didn't solve the issue, but it definitely causes fuses to blow when they're connected, even now that I have everything else seemingly working. Leaving them disconnected (and identifying the missing ground and improvising the connection the previous owner had removed) seems to have fixed it. Man I hope it did.

 

Xj650 maxim headlight does not come on until after the bike fires.

 

Yes. Excellent. That's great to wake up and see.

Until I get the cylinder head back in place, I'm going to assume electrical issues are resolved. There was a missing ground that I had to dig out a new bolt and connect (previous owner had it just jammed next to the air box and not actually connected to anything, something I didn't see until I pulled air box out to get to all the wiring to inspect it), and also a hot wire connected to wrong point.

 

So I need to come back and say that yes, it was fixed. It did, yes, have issues that needed to be fixed (including blown relay, missing ground, etc). Yes, I also messed it up again.

When I posted here the other day and said I had figured it out, that was done with the battery outside the bike sitting on a bucket next to bike, facing the bike. Poles should have been backwards- yet in a stroke of luck... Positive was now on the right. Why? Because my battery has negative on left. So my accidentally wiring backwards during that test meant it was wired correctly. It worked not in spite of, but rather because I hooked it up backwards.

Flash forward to Wednesday, battery in normally, tested, pop.

I thought I was losing my mind. I was working on bike until almost 2am today testing every lead again. I took parts to work to test with our $800 fluke DMM thinking maybe my harbor freight unit. I couldn't figure it out. Tonight it struck me to check battery, make sure I didn't switch things.

I didn't. The battery is just backwards from what it used to be/should be/I thought it was. Negative is left, positive right. I was too embarrassed to come back and say I hadn't actually fixed it (which, cool enough I had correctly identified issues and fixed them, but I did replace things that weren't necessary due to not identifying why the fuse was actually blowing. I didn't know that at the time.

Now all I need to finish this electrical mess is some new battery leads that are a bit longer, and a starter cutoff relay, and I'll be back in business, electrically at least.

 

Hello from a fellow noob!

 

Everything remaining was ordered this past week. I scooped up most of it from xj4ever with only a few exceptions. I wanted black shocks so I went through Progressive directly for 12 series struts and springs (412 only available in chrome). I snagged budget headlight on Amazon because I didn't want to invest a bunch in electrical system that I have hopes of redoing entirely this winter. Picked up mirrors that I loved on Dime City Cycles. Having never worked on suspension before I didn't realize I needed a tool to compress the springs, although I should have realized that I would. That was okay though, because I'd earned enough points at RevZilla buying all my riding gear that I got the progressive spring compression tool and a spanner wrench for $13. Gear wise I got everything except riding pants; full faced helmet (k6), jacket, boots, gloves. Installed my new horn (also Amazon); 112 decibel 400/500mhz dual horn+ relay system. That is so much better than the 40yo cone that was on it that went 'meep meep' and could comfortably be set off while working in an enclosed garage. Got the wiring for mc + brake light soldered, sealed, and tested (replaced the very rusted bolts holding the light on fender too).

Biggest 'oof' lately was once I got my wheels back with the new tires and bearings... I put them on and forgot to put the bushing back in the final drive. I'll have to take that wheel off and slip that in. I did get my rear brakes all redone too though. The old pads had fused to the inside of the wheel so I had to clean them up real good. Everything is beautiful and new, greased up and working (except the fact I have to take it all out to put that bushing in, oops). I'll do that when I go to install the new shocks once I get those assembled. Overall it's all sliding into place like it should. This week I'll have all my parts from Chacal and I can finish the carb rebuild and then work on getting them bench synced to the best of my ability.

Once the carbs are done, and the rear end is sorted out, all I'll need is my cylinder head back. I left a message last week with the shop that has it. If I don't hear from him this week I'm going to just to by once I finish *everything* else and ask to just get it back, then I'll find someone else to get the broken bolt out of it that won't just sit on it for 2+ months. All that's left besides carbs and top end of engine is basically fluids.

I feel so close to being done with this rebuild but still so far away haha.

Also, hi @Brad Nimbus , welcome. This is a great forum; you've joined a great community. Great place to learn anything you don't know already.

 

I do have one question with wiring one last component thought, ignition coils.

They didn't come with any label or any kind of diagram. I don't want to wire them up wrong. I need to attach the plugs to connect to wiring harness. Does it matter which wire attaches to which connection?

 

Productive night- shocks together (admittedly I did that this afternoon). Ignition coils wired and in place. Rear end done (bushing in, wheel back on, new shocks on).

All riding gear came in yesterday/today. Parts from xj4ever ETA tomorrow, as long as USPS doesn't delay again. Who knows with them.

This was a good day.

 

Parts all came in. Carbs are like 98% back together now. Going to go do front brake rotor before bed, right after posting this.

Got cylinder head back. Bolt is very seized in. The Harley shop that was doing it as a favor for me couldn't get out with welder. He was going to have to mill it out, but shop is slammed. He hasn't had time to do side stuff. I am going to take it to local machine shop here, someplace our family mechanic recommended. He's been our mechanic for decades, so I trust his word when he tells me this guy is great. Hopefully he can get it out for me.

 

Brakes done. Man, if only doing brakes on car was this easy.

These aftermarket rotors from xj4ever are sweet looking. Gotta get some new pads from him now too. Before I'd discovered this site (and thus xj4ever) I bought a set of pads on ebay that I'm pretty sure are fake since Chacal confirmed that the size stamped on them was correct, but they cant fit in caliper with rotor. I'm gonna just get ones I know work from my him.

 

Cylinder head back on. Realized my brother still has my torque wrench so that's it for tonight. Crank set to TDC, head on and bolts down finger tight. I'm going to just set float height on the carbs and wrap up until I get my wrench back tomorrow.

@Mezzmo your YouTube videos have been *super* helpful in all of this. Sure, I didn't bore mine out and do all the awesome work you did, but I've been referring back to them almost as much as the Haynes manual. Indispensable. It was watching that series that convinced me to make the dive into this bike to begin with, figured 'hey I can just watch this guy's rebuild if I get stuck'... And I have. So thank you, for both the motivation up front to go buy it, and the top tier video guides that have clarified a lot of things as I've been going along. You've also set me up to spend a bunch of money on this bike this winter, because you did a lot of things to yours that I want to incorporate, like that m-unit hah. But honestly, great videos man. Thank you.

 

@Adkride88 - not trying to be a Debbie Downer or anything, but looks like you have the carb hats swapped on #3 and #4. The chrome hats should be on the outer (#1,#4), and the duller finish hats on the inner (#2,#3) carbs. Purely aesthetic, minor detail.

Brake rotor looks super cool. Nice job!

 

Dan is correct ..... swap the 3/4 hats