Fuse riddle

[kar_the_terrible]

hehe, I think I've built up a reputation as "that impatient dude". Oh well I only associated with the bulb first coz that was the only thing I changed and the problems cropped up fairly soon after. Actually the wiring diagram in the Haynes manual isnt helping much as the fuse box wiring diagram consists on 8 wires randomly terminating at a "box", and no info about which fuse corresponds to which wire.

Still, I think thats all I have to go on now. Right now the band-aid to the problem is to travel with a box of 25 fuses. Eliminating the rear taillight and judging from the symptoms I think its two wires touching due to vibration or something. The fuse blowing is extremely random... sometimes I can ride for 3-4 days without a problem and sometimes it blows within a half a mile (not necesssarily after a bump either). So yeah, back to the D.B.

Thx a lot anyway.

[niterider]

Is the tail light burning out or is it the brake light? Or do both burn off of the same fuse? Have you tried using the old light to see if the problem goes away?

[kar_the_terrible]

nope only taillight blows out. (Actually the correct wattage bulb did not help.. and blew out too). Brake light is just fine and does nothing odd. The fuse remains intact when I dont replace the taillight bulb.

So I'll go over the wiring again . Old taillight is gone... I had everything swapped out about a month ago, seemed to be working fine, so I gave it to a frend in Pittsburgh.

[TechTMW]

nope only taillight blows out. (Actually the correct wattage bulb did not help.. and blew out too). Brake light is just fine and does nothing odd. The fuse remains intact when I dont replace the taillight bulb.

This is a very good clue.

The short or ground is somewhere in the circuit after the tailight bulb. That's half your work gone. You should only need to trace from the tail light to wherever it terminates.

[niterider]

Have you closely inspected the light socket itself for a possible short. I feel that the only way to burn the fuse is to short it direct to the ground, before the current reaches the bulb filament. Are you running two seperate bulb for each light? One for brake and one for running?

[TechTMW]

Have you closely inspected the light socket itself for a possible short. I feel that the only way to burn the fuse is to short it direct to the ground, before the current reaches the bulb filament.

This is a very good point, especially if the bulb itself isn't blowing.

But it MUST be intermittent then, or the bulb wouldn't work at all.