Wiring Question For The Experts Or Those That Know...

I am trying to clean up some wiring issues on my '77 KZ-1000A1 and have come to a roadblock of sorts as I don't have a decent schematic of the wiring on my bike. Under the left side cover are three white wires that I think meet at a triple connector. I am not sure of this because over the last six months more has been done to this bike than I care to remember. Does anyone know if these 3 white wires actually come together at this connector? I have included a picture to show the connector.

Underneath the triple connector is another two wire connector that has a white wire meeting up and connecting to a white wire with a red stripe. Is this the proper joining of these two wires? I have attached a picture of this connection also.

Thanks in advance for any help on this.
Rick H.

There is a decent schematic in this manual that may answer your question.

www.kzrider.com/modules/ServiceManuals/K...Service%20Manual.pdf

That manual seems to cover the 1000-A2 & some later models >> I did not see a wiring diagram for the A1 & there could be differences.

You could physically trace the wires to see where they lead. White & white-red are typically power wires, so depending upon the model, they would go to the battery pos (+), main fuse & ignition switch and probably the voltage regulator &/or rectifier.

Oops, Martin is right. That diagram may not be helpful.

Okay, thanks for the replies. Typically I don't take wires apart until I label them in some fashion so I know how to reattach them. I don't know or recall if I took these wires apart or one of my youthful helpers did in haste to remove the side cover at some point. Looking at the diagrams I can't locate a white wire with a red tracer as is in the photo I attached. In all honesty the diagrams are pretty sketchy in many respects, but I haven't looked at a wiring diagram in a long time. It just seems odd to me that they would run a solid white wire into a white wire with a red tracer and not show that on the diagram. I'll just try to track the wires and see where they go in relation to the diagram and not rely so much on color as path. I just thought someone would know or would have seen these wires as they are staring you in the face when you take the side cover off. And unfortunately I don't know if there is a difference in wiring between the A1's and A2's etc. To make matters more confusing the SM I have is a black and white copy I purchased off Fleabay. It has been okay for most of the stuff I needed it for, but I don't know if the wiring diagram in an original manual was in color which would help I would think.
Rick H.

I haven't owned a 70's Kaw in quite some time, but IIRC the connector in your first picture comes from the battery and then has two wires on the double bullet side. One goes to the fusebox and the other goes to the rectifier. The single connector should come back from the fusebox and fees the main harness up to the keyswitch. I think Red/White comes back from fusebox but I could be wrong.

I'd say follow the wires and see. No guarantees on my info but maybe it will help.

The W wire goes to the double connector along with the one from the R/R. From there the W wire goes through the fuse box coming out as a R/W wire going to the + terminal of the battery going by memory of course.
Steve

So can I assume from what I see on mine that the main fuse and the rectifier are "hot" all the time with ignition switch on or off?

Rick H.

Yes Rick

Scirocco wrote: Yes Rick

X2 on this.

Thanks Guys! Not having a good wiring diagram isn't helping my progress much. I noticed that there is a black wire (ground/earth I assume) that comes off the rectifier and I think it should go with the rest of the wires from the rectifier into a 6 pin plug. One of the wiring diagrams I have shows the plug from the rectifier should have 4 wires in it, but my plug only has 3 yellow wires. It appears that someone removed the black wire from the plug and ran it to a makeshift ground next to and in front of the battery box. They installed a cheapo wire end on the black wire and attached it to the frame via an existing bolt. This makes me wonder if a previous owner wasn't trying to fix something the easy way, instead of the right way. Has anyone ever seen something like this before on the rectifier ground wire?
Rick H.

The black from the rectifier usually goes into a yellow on black wire which then goes back to the battery and other systems, are you still using the original separate regulator and rectifiers or a combined modern unit?