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I picked my bike up from getting a tune up and odds and ends done to it and riding home the main fuse went on me. I noticed the headlight was a little loose and took it apart to tighten up the turn signas and noticed that the ground wire on one of them was loose. Would this cause enough heat to eventually make a fuse go bad? I replaced it with a 10 amp from tail light to get home and rode it home no problem and then after I fixed the loose ground rode it all night and day today.
Just curious because the mechanic told me that it couldn't make a fuse pop but really I think differently.

If the only problem was that the ground was loose it wouldn't cause a fuse to blow. A loose ground will only act like an open or possibly an intermittent open. The result will be a circuit that doesn't work, not one that allows too much current flow.

It's way more likely that there's something else in there that's shorting to ground and blowing the fuse.

KZCSI

Well, a fuse blows when the current exceeds what is supposed to be going through the circuit, so I can't think of a situation where a bad ground would cause that unless it moved enough to touch a hot wire and short out.

There aren't too many points of failure if you're blowing the main fuse. I just had a fun time tracking down a short that was blowing my main. In my case it was the wire leading to the starter button.

A bad ground can't make a good fuse blow, but fuses get old and fail all by themselves. It probably blew at a lower amount than rating because it was too old. I favor replacing fuses about once a year or couple of years.

Ok guys thanks for the input. I appreciate the quick feedback. Yet It's funny the fuses never blew out they just got warped. So you don't think a loose connection would cause extra heat? Enough to melt the plastic holders on the side of the fuses? That is what happened last year with my other bike and the coils and ignition came from the other bike.
What about dyna ignition and coils? Do they go bad and short?
I was told they last longer than the bike yet it could be something. I didn't have any problems with the bike before the ignition was put in. Alright well I will just have to go through and check stuff out. When I checked inside the headlight bucket the turn signal grounds didn't have the plastic insulation yet on my other bike they do. I thought, perhaps, maybe the ground touched with one of the wires of the headlight. I looked on the connection and part looked black. Hard to tell if it was black from before or recent.
Of all the things on a bike that I feel are most frustating to pinpoint and diagnose I feel electrical has to be on of them.

That's a real common problem. Heat buildup melting the fuse and surrounding plastic. Bad connection between the fuse and fuseclips. The clips get tarnished over time and the old fuse likewise and that makes for big heat and meltdown. Quite a few guys here have changed to fuse setup to the blade fuses. I've had good luck just polishing the fuse clips nice and shiney with a qtip and metal polish making for a cleaner contact area.

electricity is always looking for a path to ground to complete circuit.an open ground could cause a power surge which can cause serious issues like smoked electronic parts

Ok plummen. Thanks. So the left and right turn signal connections for the ground although one is touching if loose could mess things up? I tightened it up but man it seems like when I rebuild my 79 I should use a custom made harness one in which has really connectors. Any ideas or is stock fine as long as it is cleaned up and connectors are snug?
Like I said my bike ran fine and then the main fuse went and although it didn't completely pop I did notice the plastic fuse holder was a little melted on the side ever so slightly. The added draw on the electricity from my dyna system could do that right? I rode at least a 100 miles since and have had no problems.

Ron I have a dremel. When I get home I will hit them up and get them shiny. I guess I shouldn't say that the fuse went bad because don't they usually completely burn out when they go bad? This fuse was warped but it didn't actually burn out.

I can't wait to get the other bike up and running with all new stuff! I will probably just ride it on the weekends or something and keep what I'm riding now for a daily rider.

I would put a amp meter on the main wire and see how many amps are being pulled through the wire, what makes me wonder that the fuse didnt blow prior to melting, on the 650 it had the problem of melting/ blowing the main fuse, that was due toi the wires run inside the bars

saxjonz wrote:

don't they usually completely burn out when they go bad? This fuse was warped but it didn't actually burn out.

They warp from time and running near the rating. The fuse can "blow" near the end where you don't see it but it separates and goes open circuit.

If you have fuses that are warping or darkening, CHUCK THEM and install new ones.

The added draw on the electricity from my dyna system could do that right?

Yes. If you are drawing more than the design value, it could. There isn't a whole lot of extra headroom in bike electrical systems.

BSKZ650 wrote:
, that was due toi the wires run inside the bars[/quote]
what do you mean by wires inside the bars? What bars? Did you have a trick setup with the handlebars or what?