keeps blowing fuse when you turn key on

[Xplorer99]

hey guys, i just bought my 99 400ex and its got alot of bugs to work out, after that it should be a really nice machine haha. my wiring is messed up to begin with since the last owner bypassed the tether kill switch rather than just unhooking it. but the other day on my way home i stalled the motor in the woods going over some rocks and stuff. when i hit the start button i heard a click... then nothing, tail light wouldnt come. so i figured i blew a fuse. walked home since i was very close luckily lol. got a fuse and came back. pulled the old blown fuse, put the new one in and it starting smoking and melted the plastic a little bit. pulled it out and towed the wheeler home. i figured it had water in the fuse holder. today i put the fuse in, turn the key and pop goes the fuse. i cant find the short. could someone point me in the right direction. what are the two fuses for? its only blowing one of them. thanks alot!

[Pappy]

You have a wire grounding somewhere.....

The second fuse is a spare

[Xplorer99]

lol i walked all the way back to the house when i had a spare fuse and didnt even know it. ya i didnt undstand the fact of only two wires but two fuses. any idea where to start looking? could it be ANY wire or something related to the ignition? thanks for the fast reply

[jasonwayne222]

i would be suspect of the bypassin the old owner did, are the wires electrical taped or good connectors, check everything he did make sure nothing is rubbing the frame, u could start by disconnecting the connnections he made one at a time, then plug in the fuse, if it stops blowing when u cut one of his connections then the problem was with that connection, check it all the way to were it goes make sure it hasnt chafed on anything.

[gtt416ex]

mine was doing the same thing not long ago and it turned out to be the neutral light, so i unhooked it and its fine. clean your battery terminals and your ground also

[Xplorer99]

ok, previous owner swapped plastic and headlight, and never hooked up the headlights, he has the harness but forgot to give it to me when i bought it so he is sending it to me this week. so i gotta put that in. do you think it would be a good idea to just get a new wiring harness? seen em on ebay for as low as 30 bucks. as for the neutral light, it doesnt work. the one wire is wrapped around a quick connector and the other wire is cut. there are alot of cut and spliced wires, wires that have had wire added to them to make them longer etc etc. they are all taped, pretty bad wiring job if u ask me. thanks for all the help

[jasonwayne222]

if u can get a wiring harness that cheap then yaget it, it will probly save u from breaking down somewhere down the road

[inlinepwr]

i had the same problem this weekend turned out when i stand my bike up to wash it's belly the water was filling up the tail light and shorting out. just trying to help

[Xplorer99]

Originally posted by inlinepwr
i had the same problem this weekend turned out when i stand my bike up to wash it's belly the water was filling up the tail light and shorting out. just trying to help

Actually, the tail light did cross my mind, its cracked and has that tail light repair tape all over it, ill check that out in the morning.... im getting an LED tail light to replace it anyway but i think i seperate fuse for the tail light is going to be part of the modification lol.

thanks for all the help, i love this forum all ready!

[Xplorer99]

SUCCESS!!!! :D tore all the plastic off and turned out it was the headlight wiring. witch i never thought to check since the headlight harness isnt even in it lol. the wires that run to the plug that the harness plugs into, the wires rubber against the frams and shorted out. got some repairs to do the the 3 wires. but i have a someone related question. on the headlight switch, i have two wires that looks like they got pulled out of the siwtch b/c they are an inch from the side of it. but these two wires are spliced together with one of those twist connectors. the ignition button, and kill switch both work, unable to test headlights but im going to try to do taht with a test light. anyone know what these two wires do? and why they would be spliced together? one wire is yellow with green stripe, and the other is green, but i noticed there is another green wire in the harness thanks alot guys!

[jasonwayne222]

well they may have been spliced together to keep the headlights on all the time with the key on, you have an on off switch for the lights and a dimmer switch. the repair manual shows a black and brown wire going to the on off switch, and a blue wire for your high beam and a white wire for your low beam, but if u know how to use an ohm meter than heres a few things,

check for voltage with the key on, this will go to your on off switch, you can ohm out the wires and figure out which is your power wire going to the headlights by doing continuity check, see which wire going to the switches has continuity with the headlight plug wire, you can then install a simple two prong single throw switch from the auto parts store with the power wire you found that gets power from the key and then hook the power wire going to the headlight, this will not give you a dimmer feature but would work, if your original switch is good then i can post up some pages outa the repair manual that will help you

[Xplorer99]

Originally posted by jasonwayne222
well they may have been spliced together to keep the headlights on all the time with the key on, you have an on off switch for the lights and a dimmer switch. the repair manual shows a black and brown wire going to the on off switch, and a blue wire for your high beam and a white wire for your low beam, but if u know how to use an ohm meter than heres a few things,

check for voltage with the key on, this will go to your on off switch, you can ohm out the wires and figure out which is your power wire going to the headlights by doing continuity check, see which wire going to the switches has continuity with the headlight plug wire, you can then install a simple two prong single throw switch from the auto parts store with the power wire you found that gets power from the key and then hook the power wire going to the headlight, this will not give you a dimmer feature but would work, if your original switch is good then i can post up some pages outa the repair manual that will help you


well i was thinking thats what they did, proably the mail reason the last owner didnt install the headlight harness when he changed plastic. anyway i did some testing with the test light. at th plug where the headlight harness plugs into, green is ground, and the other two wires are weird, one has power on i belive hight beam but not lower beam and the on/off switch does not affect it. the other wire has power when on and low power when off. or something like that lol. i guess just get a new headlight switch box is the best.

[jasonwayne222]

ya that might be best to get new switches, you sholdnt have any power going to the dimmer switch with the on off switch in the off position so it sounds like they bypassed it somewhere.

[Moocheet]

i know this is an old thread but thanks, don't know what was loose or touching but tighten everything runs well, going 2 days now.