2003 FZ1 blows the ignition fuse :(

D

didier9

Well-Known Member
Visit site
My bike has been in the shop since yesterday afternoon and I am already suffering from withdrawal...
First the 20A ignition fuse (one of the small fuses in the fuse box) blew. The bike just quit while I was riding and the dash went dark.
I had enough momentum to pull safely (in front of my daughter's boyfriend residence, nice...)
At that point, the headlights were still on but no ignition. I replaced the ignition fuse. Then the 20A fuse next to the starter relay blew. It is the larger style.(the other one that blew up the first time did not blow up the second time, I guess they are in series). I disconnected the headlights and running lights (that's all I knew to disconnect without the service manual) but the big fuse blew again.
So I called the shop and they hauled my bike.
I won't know until Monday at the earliest.
It really sucks, so I am looking at a 2005 V-Max they have on consignment. It's not in great shape cosmetically but they say it's in decent shape mechanically and its cheap. My wife agrees that I probably need a backup bike, so I am not sure if I should wait until she changes her mind...


sent from my Moto-X on Tapatalk
 
Oldschool said:
It's either a loose connection or a short from a wire grounding. It shouldn't be a big deal to find and fix. Just a simple loose battery connection can do that.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it is not hard to track down a hard short, as opposed to an intermittent. I kinda panicked because I do not know anybody with a trailer and that was Friday afternoon, with an hour or so before the shop was going to close. I did not want to take the chance of having to haul the bike to safe storage because there was none around where I was.

I already was planning on building a couple of testers with an open fuse and a light bulb (one for each size fuse) but as always, I had been successfully procrastinating...
Since I won't be riding for a few days, what an excellent opportunity to catch up on those plans :)


sent from my Moto-X on Tapatalk
 
About 5 years ago now I was on a group ride in the BC back-country. A guy riding a KLR kept blowing his main fuse. Thankfully I had a few spares, but after the 3rd I decided to try to find the cause since I only had one spare left that was big enough. His main starter solenoid had a loose connection (from vibration I guessed), that was hardly noticeable (I could only just move it on the post with my fingers). I tightened it and after that he had no further problems. I couldn't believe that slight looseness was enough to blow a fuse.
 
Problem solved. The cheap after-market running lights developed a short. Interestingly, you would think the running lights would be powered through the "Signal" fuse, but no, they come through the "Ignition" fuse, so that if a problem develops in the running light circuit, the engine stops. Not the most intuitive...
I have reworked the lights so that they will not short again, while I am looking at higher quality replacement, but if I do not find what I want in short order, I will install a properly sized fuse (probably 5A) in series with each running light to prevent that problem from coming back. I will probably do that regardless of what kind of light I ended up with.
As a side note, I ended up troubleshooting the problem while the bike was at the shop, as they would not have been able to get to it for several days. Since I fixed it myself, they only charged me $15 for the towing on Friday. Thank you Racetrack PowerSports (Terry).
So, since I will not spend money on that fix, I ordered a carb kit from Ivan's Performance Products, and I will have Terry install it.
 
Iam having a similiar issue on an 09 at the moment . Keep blowing the ignition fuse under seat as soon as it warms up…being in the north east usa and having no garage (live in an apartment complex) its all covered up for the winter… i know this is a quite old thread , but taking a shot it is still active and maybe someone might know of a common reason this might be happening..? I did put am after market license plate light on but its wired well and has been awhile ..my thinking is that its coils i installed (this is when it started) i had to cut 1/4” off the rubber boot on one coil to get it to seal .and i test fired last week (it will start for 5 minutes+/- b4 fuse blows ) when changing to a new cover during a rain storm …it started right up but ran real rough ( like miss firing etc) which is why im thinking water got into plug hole and there was a short in the area to begin with … saved old coils so while tracing a possible short down once it gets warmer this is where ill start…there and the new (new used )fan i put in at the same time as coils before the issue started . The fan had a small hole in the epoxy/ rubber over the connector at the fan so i poured gorilla glue stuff over it to seal it back up ..fairly confident this isnt the issue , but I don’t know 🤷🏼‍♂️…the bike is far from mint and has 30k miles so im asking here if theres a “common issue “ to check also ?
 
If it's not related to sitting on the seat then your last comment about the fan seems to make sense for failure after motor heats up. Do you hear the fan starting before it fails? I'd also flood the key hole with WD40 then I'd pull apart the ignition connector identified in the Code 19 thread and clean the copper terminals.

I know nothing about Gen 2s.
 
Isleoman said:
If it's not related to sitting on the seat then your last comment about the fan seems to make sense for failure after motor heats up. Do you hear the fan starting before it fails? I'd also flood the key hole with WD40 then I'd pull apart the ignition connector identified in the Code 19 thread and clean the copper terminals.

I know nothing about Gen 2s.
Click to expand...
Omg ! I cant believe it didnt dawn on me about checking fan …it seems it is before the fan would turn on , but i cant remember specifically at what temp at the moment so it may be right as it it engages /gets power…? ….. thanks ….im seriously dumbfounded how that didnt even cross my mind lol… again im not convinced this is it as i seem to remember it blowing before fan temp possibly , but not crossing my mind makes me feel like im losing it a lil 🤦🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️🤪
 
You can do this on a Gen 1 not sure about Gen 2 ...................Without having the motor running take a screw driver and see if the fan propellers move a little. Careful not to puncture radiator. You may have a small piece of tar or rock preventing it from spinning. More likely a short in the wiring or temp sensor.
 
didier9 said:
Problem solved. The cheap after-market running lights developed a short. Interestingly, you would think the running lights would be powered through the "Signal" fuse, but no, they come through the "Ignition" fuse, so that if a problem develops in the running light circuit, the engine stops. Not the most intuitive...
I have reworked the lights so that they will not short again, while I am looking at higher quality replacement, but if I do not find what I want in short order, I will install a properly sized fuse (probably 5A) in series with each running light to prevent that problem from coming back. I will probably do that regardless of what kind of light I ended up with.
As a side note, I ended up troubleshooting the problem while the bike was at the shop, as they would not have been able to get to it for several days. Since I fixed it myself, they only charged me $15 for the towing on Friday. Thank you Racetrack PowerSports (Terry).
So, since I will not spend money on that fix, I ordered a carb kit from Ivan's Performance Products, and I will have Terry install it.
Click to expand...
Hey guy, I'm sure you know about using a relay that can carry the current. Sorry if you do, I'm just throwing this out there just in case.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top