TOPIC:

Hey guys,

new to kz's and i'm putting together a basket case kz400 i picked up. unsure of the exact year, got it in bits and pieces.

anywho i'm putting the wiring back on the bike and i'm having some hiccups. first and foremost i'm blowing the white/red wire fuse and the blue fuse. I'm wondering if its about the grounds i have. Specifically the ones in the picture. There are 3 in total (black/yellow), two not hooked up, one i hooked up to a frame ground in the background. These two loose black/yellow wires, is there a specific place they need to be hooked up, or can i just run them to battery or frame for ground?

Thanks!

Every Kawasaki I've owned(2), used BLACK with YELLOW stripe, as part of the ground circuit. You may have "Hot" wire, rubbing against the frame, or any place a wire bundle flexes, possibly energizing other circuits.

Do this:

The Dreaded Shorting/Intermittent Electrical Problem!
Here is the most basic method I know(Taken from www.kzrider.com by member Patton)

1. Charge your battery and have it load tested if you can. The floating ball hydrometer can be used to check the specific gravity of the charged cells in the battery.

2. Disconnect the Black lead from the (-) Battery terminal... or Red from the (+) Battery terminal, it does not matter which one.

3. Connect one of the following test setups in series with the Battery terminal and lead:
3.1 A 12 V light bulb,
3.2 A 12 V test light,
3.3 A 12 V test buzzer or,
3.4 A 12 V horn... you get the idea.

4. With the Ignition Switch OFF, go through your harness and wiggle the wires while looking/listening for the test setup to go on/start buzzing.

5.With the Ignition Switch ON, repeat the test except this time the looking/listening for the test setup to go on/stop buzzing.

6. Be prepared to open the Ignition switch and check/test for solder joint failure and or circuit board micro breaks (don't ask how I know this ).

7. Be prepared to pull the wires out of the Head Light to test for failures at or near the grommet.

8. Be prepared to open the harness at or near the Steering Neck for failures. This is where wires tend to exhibit fatigue due to repetitive movement.

9. Be prepared to open the left and right switch gear to search for rust and or broken parts. CAUTION: watch out for flying springs, ball bearings and stuff. Do indoors on White sheet (again don't ask ).

10. Be prepared to follow the heavy gauge wire from the Starter Solenoid (Relay) to the starter for bare wire exposure. Especially near bends and grommets.

11. If you can reproduce the fault symptom your are pretty much home free. Be prepare to find and repair/replace any internal wire breaks, insulation break downs, exposed wires, rubber grommet failures, etc. Often, shrink tubing will solve the problem temporarily until something better can be done.

12. I use a very good electrical contact cleaner/preservative called De-oxit made by Caig Labs in San Diego Ca. Their website is www.deoxit.com It can be purchased at Radio Shack and any other electronic supply store. I use it on all of my motorcycle’s electrical connectors , in my home entertainment center’s stereo patch cords and cordless phones charging cradles.

MFolks wrote: Every Kawasaki I've owned(2), used BLACK with YELLOW stripe, as part of the ground circuit. You may have "Hot" wire, rubbing against the frame, or any place a wire bundle flexes, possibly energizing other circuits.

Do this:

The Dreaded Shorting/Intermittent Electrical Problem!
Here is the most basic method I know(Taken from www.kzrider.com by member Patton)

1. Charge your battery and have it load tested if you can. The floating ball hydrometer can be used to check the specific gravity of the charged cells in the battery.

2. Disconnect the Black lead from the (-) Battery terminal... or Red from the (+) Battery terminal, it does not matter which one.

3. Connect one of the following test setups in series with the Battery terminal and lead:
3.1 A 12 V light bulb,
3.2 A 12 V test light,
3.3 A 12 V test buzzer or,
3.4 A 12 V horn... you get the idea.

4. With the Ignition Switch OFF, go through your harness and wiggle the wires while looking/listening for the test setup to go on/start buzzing.

5.With the Ignition Switch ON, repeat the test except this time the looking/listening for the test setup to go on/stop buzzing.

6. Be prepared to open the Ignition switch and check/test for solder joint failure and or circuit board micro breaks (don't ask how I know this ).

7. Be prepared to pull the wires out of the Head Light to test for failures at or near the grommet.

8. Be prepared to open the harness at or near the Steering Neck for failures. This is where wires tend to exhibit fatigue due to repetitive movement.

9. Be prepared to open the left and right switch gear to search for rust and or broken parts. CAUTION: watch out for flying springs, ball bearings and stuff. Do indoors on White sheet (again don't ask ).

10. Be prepared to follow the heavy gauge wire from the Starter Solenoid (Relay) to the starter for bare wire exposure. Especially near bends and grommets.

11. If you can reproduce the fault symptom your are pretty much home free. Be prepare to find and repair/replace any internal wire breaks, insulation break downs, exposed wires, rubber grommet failures, etc. Often, shrink tubing will solve the problem temporarily until something better can be done.

12. I use a very good electrical contact cleaner/preservative called De-oxit made by Caig Labs in San Diego Ca. Their website is www.deoxit.com It can be purchased at Radio Shack and any other electronic supply store. I use it on all of my motorcycle’s electrical connectors , in my home entertainment center’s stereo patch cords and cordless phones charging cradles.

Good info, much appreciated. But with those stray grounds...ground to frame/batt or do they go somewhere specific?

Usually not. Most go to the frame via a M6 X 1 nut welded into the frame. Take a tap (M6 X !), and carefully remove the rust and paint from the ground attaching places.

cool,t hats all i needed, thanks!

actually let me add something to this. I"m working off of this diagram as its the most closely related to what i'm seeing in the harness i'm working with (basket case bike)

kz400.com/Techh%20tips%20bilder/Wiring%20diagrams/KZ400C.jpg

If i'm reading this diagram correctly, essentially there are only two frame grounds within the entire ground wire circuit: off the turn signals, and near the tail light. I'm seeing quite a few ground wires coming off of the harness that aren't in this diagram, but thats not the issue i think...

I have it wired up as close to the diagram as possible (ground circuit at least), with the only frame grounds being at the rear and turns. Then one of those spare ground wires off the main ground circuit, i ran a wire to negative battery.

What i'm getting is the frame ground at the rear of the bike is super hot, almost toasting the wire, and burning the middle blue/bluewhite fuse. Taking off the rear frame ground, it doesn't toast the fuse. Am I reading this wrong somewhere? Only accessories not working at the moment are the horn, tach light, and high beam indicator. And before anyone asks, the bulbs are not burnt out and the horn works off the wiring harness.

so i fixed one issue.

2 solid blue wires near the coils were switched up previously. put them in the right order, now i'm not burning any fuses and i have spark. imagine that also the ground wires aren't hot anymore.

still got no horn and tach light, and the headlights work for a second then shut off. bulb isn't burnt out.

well i figured it all out.

headlight needed a better handlebar ground. just cleaned up some corroded connections that grounded the handlebars.

horn contact points were corroded, cleaning them now and reassembling the horn switch assembly, hopefully that'll fix it.

and the tach was just me being dumb switching up the tach light with the stop light switch.

thanks?

Going to check my grounds now. My kz250 isn't sparking... Only when I flick the kill switch does it then send a single spark. Totally lost on this one

Open up the right and left handlebar switch "Pods", looking for failing solder joints. The factory soldering left a lot to be desired about creating a good solder joint. While you've got the switch pods open, get some electrical contact cleaner, and spray the contacts, while actuating the switches(ignition switch off). A very good brand is "De-Oxit". www.deoxit.com is their website.