TOPIC:

What does it do? Would it affect the bike running? I have an 80 LTD 1000 that I recently made a mistake of hooking a turn signal lead to the little blue and green wire. I popped a fuse which I replaced and now bike won't start. Light comes on headlight dimly and if I am not mistaken I think that on the 80 model it shouldn't come on till after bike starts.
I am fairly close to getting this old girl back on the road and then I experienced a brain fart. Wow, can't believe that was such a rooky move.

Was thinking it was this thing. When I pull plug wires and hold them off of the plug there is strong spark and bike seems like it wants to start until I put wire back on.
I have both spark and gas. I'm stumped. Would plugs go bad from that quick short or what?

No one?

Disconnect it and try it again.

saxjonz wrote: What does it do? Would it affect the bike running?....

reserve lighting system --

What does it do?

If a filament in a headlight bulb and/or rear bulb burns out, the reserve lighting system activates the other filament so the light(s) will stay on.

When the dim headlight filament burns out, the shift to bright filament is with reduced voltage to help avoid blinding oncoming traffic.

Would it affect the bike running? -- a deactivated reserve lighting system should not affect the bike running.

Would not expect a wiring "short" of any kind to make the spark plugs go bad.

Would service and charge the battery overnight, and then compare voltage being received at the coils' primary terminals to voltage across the battery posts (should ideally be the same or substantially the same).

Would load-test the battery or have it load-tested at any place that sells or services batteries (AutoZone, WalMart, automotive repair shop, etc.).

It's likely that no damage was done simply by blowing the fuse, as that's what fuses are for.

With a good fully charged battery, and full voltage at both coil primary terminals, would remove the plugs, ground them against the engine head, and watch the spark quality while spinning over the engine. Look for fat blue sparks (not wimpy orange sparks).

Condition of plugs, plug wires and caps should also be considered.

Good Fortune!

Just unplug it and plug the harness connector's together
that's all it take's to remove it.

Patton, thanks, I appreciate the info. Everything is new, plugs, wires, engine rebuild, carbs. Bike hasn't been ridden yet. Have to assemble a few more things yet. I hope nothing was damaged. I will try disconnecting and see if it starts. Bike was running great till I hooked up turn signals wrong. Battery is brand new and fully charged.

Perhaps unrelated, but if not already done, would assure integrity of the ground connection where the negative battery cable attaches to rear of engine.

Fat blue sparks?

Good Fortune!

STRONG spark. On an unrelated note, I was tiling my kitchen and we took exhaust fan off to tile up. Upon replacing I didn't bother to turn power off. I had wife hold it up while I wired it. Now that was a fat charge that got both of us. I'm pretty sure if I grounded myself on that spark from the bike I would have felt a much stronger shock.