"Glowing" Main fuse? Quad won't start, and battery is fine!! Anyone????

[400Trooper]

Here's the situation:

I went in the garage, that was dark by the way, to work on quad. I noticed a glowing red light from under the battery side of quad. So I looked closer, and the main fuse is glowing red!!! WTF!!!

I disconnected the battery immediately, I then checked the battery, 12.8 volts. Reconnected the battery, quad won't start.
I'm thinking maybe the factory start switch might have gone bad, as a starting point at least.

Has anyone ever seen this before, and what did you have to do?

This has me very perplexxed!!

thanks
400trooper

[puTTs]

Was the fuse glowing red from being hot? When you say it won't start now, what is it doing?

[400Trooper]

I didn't actually touch the fuse itself, obviously it would probably be warm / hot. The bad thing I haven't been in the garage for a few days prior so I really have no idea as to any damage to the wiring. The last time I worked on the quad I was actually spraying off a bunch of mud left over from a 8 hour endurance race.

I turned on the key to see "if" it would start, there was no neutral light and no turning over of the engine! (It was in neutral!)

I'm kind of relaxing this evening with my family so I can't work on it tonite! BUT tomorrow will begin the exploration of this wierd problem!!

[DirtMonkey]

When my ex would not start the fuse was blown, then I replaced the fuse and it still wouldnt start. I ended up replacing the starter button and no more problems.

[400Trooper]

Originally posted by DirtMonkey
When my ex would not start the fuse was blown, then I replaced the fuse and it still wouldnt start. I ended up replacing the starter button and no more problems.


Your fuse didn't "glow" by chance did it? I have dealt with cars, motorcycles, etc, for years and have never seen this before!

[fishnfergie]

There are fuses that light up when they blow, are you sure its not that kind?
Like These
http://www.wiringproducts.com/contents/media/l_10-0003-outlined.jpg
There is no way that that fuse would glow from heat, it would need to be like a 100 amp fuse in there.

[400Trooper]

Originally posted by fishnfergie
There are fuses that light up when they blow, are you sure its not that kind?
Like These
http://www.wiringproducts.com/contents/media/l_10-0003-outlined.jpg
There is no way that that fuse would glow from heat, it would need to be like a 100 amp fuse in there.


Just opened the fuse holder, and the fuse is called a "smart glow" obviously glows when blown, which is very cool.

I replaced the fuse with a new one, and hooked up the battery cable and the neutral swith light came on.

The key was not on!

So I turned the key on and pushed the start button, small click sound and no start! It didn't blow the new fuse though!!

So the search begins, I will be cleaning all the connections and then start on the components. CDI, starter switch, voltage reg, etc. Wish me luck!

Oh and I have a points race tomorrow at 10:45 by the way!!!

[fishnfergie]

Try the starter solenoid and starter first...

[puTTs]

Stick a screwdriver across the two large termanals on the starter relay by the battery, just to see if the starter kicks.

[QuadJunkies]

Originally posted by puTTs
Stick a screwdriver across the two large termanals on the starter relay by the battery, just to see if the starter kicks.
That was what I was going to suggest also.