BorkedXS400
XS400 New Member
Thanks for taking a look at thisand apologies for typos, I'm writing this on mobile. So I have a '81 XS400 that I bought a couple years ago. When I got it, it had a couple problems:
The turns didn't work and the brake light stayed lit.
Oil leak from somewhere in the lower half of the block.
A high idling problem that sounds common? I haven't gotten a chance to mess with that too much.
I think I have the oil leak sorted, I have to get another seal to put on the it should stop peeing in my garage.
The wiring is what I'm having loads of trouble with, and I'm at the point where I want to drop it off at the shop and ask them very nicely to unf*ck what I've done to it.
When I started tearing into the harness from the turn signals forward, I found lots of crap that had been put in. The original fuses were replaced with two 10 amp inline fuses that were wired in with multiple graduated sizes to 10 gauge wire and then back down. The turns had been soldered but with no heat shrink, just dangling over the rear wheel! The further I went up the harness, I found multiple splices with poorly soldered, completely bare and exposed connections. I decided that I would try to find a new harness and just wholesale replace the totally borked one.
I found one for a 1982 XS400 that looked like it would work, so of course when it gets to my house and I go to take the old one out I find that it's nowhere near the same harness. The one I bought on eBay was listed as a Y376, 2' main wiring harness. I stupidly thought it would be the same as my current one.
So, I have zero soldering and wiring experience. Electrical diagrams look like hieroglyphs to me, and my more electrically inclined friends are too busy riding to come help me. Is it worth it to try and save this or is this a drop it off type situation?
