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shamus

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I have my wiring harness hooked up enough so I could set the timing. As I was loosening the point, I noticed some smoke (white i think?) coming off the stator. I went to check the fuses and the fuse block was very warm. Only thing I could think of is that I possibly hadn't grounded the existing setup properly. I realized I hadn't bolted down the new solid state reg/reg unit and if it's the same as the old one, it needs to be bolted down to be properly grounded. Then I was going through my harness and saw this.

8495360772_47e9201ac2_z.jpg


Call me crazy, but that doesn't look right. I went through the wiring diagram in the manual, but couldn't get a clear answer. What is going on here?

I did have spark at the points and plugs.
 
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You are crazy. And here is why:
You have only part of the wiring connected, yet you connected the battery and powered it up.

Proof that this was a crazy thing to do:
Wiring should not smoke.
Fuse blocks shouldn't get hot.
Wires shouldn't be crossed.
Points shouldn't spark.

It is great that you enjoy working on your bike, but you need to take a step away from the bike and reassess the situation. And your skill set. You have ignored advice from respected members, and are you running into issues. What more can we do? What is it going to take?

Please stop, before you destroy your wiring harness and everything connected to it...
 
16VGTIDave said:
You are crazy. And here is why:
You have only part of the wiring connected, yet you connected the battery and powered it up.

Proof that this was a crazy thing to do:
Wiring should not smoke.
Fuse blocks shouldn't get hot.
Wires shouldn't be crossed.
Points shouldn't spark.

It is great that you enjoy working on your bike, but you need to take a step away from the bike and reassess the situation. And your skill set. You have ignored advice from respected members, and are you running into issues. What more can we do? What is it going to take?

Please stop, before you destroy your wiring harness and everything connected to it...
Click to expand...

Slow down, friend. Stator was smoking slightly, not the wiring. Points shouldn't spark? The fuck are you talking about? The only thing that isn't wired is the lighting system. Who did I ignore and about what?
 
The smoking stator is what I was referring to, and it does have wires. And there is a good chance the smoke you saw was the insulation burning.

No, points shouldn't spark, that is what the condensers are there to prevent - basic ignition theory.

Please don't swear at me again, I'm trying to help you when you asked for help. I'm sorry if you don't see it that way, but that is my only intention.

In another thread of yours, you were advised that your points shouldn't be sparking. Now you've been told 4 times. It's up to you if you are going to graciously accept this, or not.
 
16VGTIDave said:
The smoking stator is what I was referring to, and it does have wires. And there is a good chance the smoke you saw was the insulation burning.

No, points shouldn't spark, that is what the condensers are there to prevent - basic ignition theory.

Please don't swear at me again, I'm trying to help you when you asked for help. I'm sorry if you don't see it that way, but that is my only intention.

In another thread of yours, you were advised that your points shouldn't be sparking. Now you've been told 4 times. It's up to you if you are going to graciously accept this, or not.
Click to expand...

Well, being as I only hooked up the electrical this weekend, I'm not sure what thread of mine you are referring to? So please don't attack my "skill set".

The arching at the points is minimal and orange in colour. So it's more than okay to run like that.

You were trying to help? At what point did you answer my question? Telling me the stator shouldn't smoke and fuses shouldn't get hot is not help, as you are reiterating my problem.

I'm sorry cursing offends you.
 
Well, the obvious is that it appears the wires going in, and coming out, of that connector are flipped.
Have you ever had this bike running? Did you wire up that connector?
 
Charles said:
Well, the obvious is that it appears the wires going in, and coming out, of that connector are flipped.
Have you ever had this bike running? Did you wire up that connector?
Click to expand...

I did not have the bike running, and I definitely didn't wire that connector, haha. I know it is wrong, but I just wanted to know if that was causing my smoking issue, or if it was due to bad grounding.
 
This is why I am a believer in if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I have looked at the same pic as Shamus and Dave.

I can't see what in the picture makes Shamus think that is doesn't look right. I only see two wires and they are plugged together by a plug that can't be reversed. What doesn't look right?

And I can't see what in the picture makes Dave think it's crazy. I only see two wires and they are plugged together by a plug that can't be reversed. What looks crazy?

I think I may be better off resolving never to disturb any of my wiring. Might be easier to just keep filling up my battery with water every few days. It worked all last summer .... :wink2:
 
shamus, I had the same issue with my bike and my wires are the same way. I thought it was a mistake as well, but I decided to give it a go anyway (me being new to motorcycles and fixing stuff). After putting my bike back together, she fired right up. I wouldn't worry about those wires. Probably some oversight by Yamaha (hard to believe, but it WAS the 80's). I would post a pic to prove it, but I replaced my solenoid and the colors are different...
 
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Much obliged, sir. That answers my question. So it is a grounding issue.

Some people like to run wild and criticize with misinformation. My rule of thumb is to help if I actually know the answer.
 
Just doin what I can. I remember spending days trying to find an answer to this when I first got the bike. In the end no answer. That was before I found this site ;)
 
shamus said:
Well, being as I only hooked up the electrical this weekend, I'm not sure what thread of mine you are referring to? So please don't attack my "skill set".

The arching at the points is minimal and orange in colour. So it's more than okay to run like that.

You were trying to help? At what point did you answer my question? Telling me the stator shouldn't smoke and fuses shouldn't get hot is not help, as you are reiterating my problem.

I'm sorry cursing offends you.
Click to expand...

I must apologize to you, Shamus. I did some searching and it was not a thread of yours where sparking points was discussed. It was, however, recently discussed and there should not be any arcing or sparking. If there is, the condensers are faulty. So, I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. Okay?

Since you first posted, have you had any more smoke from the wiring? If not, then I've helped you. :)

Cursing doesn't offend me. Cursing AT me, offends me. I'm sure you can appreciate the difference.

Now, if you plan on having the ignition turned on for any length of time (more than a minute) without the engine running, disconnect the voltage regulator so that the charging system is disabled. It is trying to produce 14V as soon as the key is on. But it doesn't know that the engine isn't running. That has it working at 100% and producing nothing.

I'd be inclined to swap the wires in one of those connectors so that they match up. Assuming that they can be swapped. I don't have my wiring diagrams handy so I can't check, but I can't believe that an engineer at Yamaha would ever design a wiring harness like that...
 
So could someone please tell us electrikle-noobs what looks wrong or crazy in the pic of the wiring harness?
Is it that the plug appears to cross the blue and red wires?
I just assumed that in the longer of 2 plug modules, the wires were knotted in with a half hitch and that they cross inside the plastic thereby being correct at the contact end.
Non?
 
I just checked my bike ('82 Maxim) and the wires match each other in the connector.

The red/white wire appears to be the main power feed for the ignition.
 
I'm of the same mind where I can't imagine why it would be backwards, but I didn't put it that way and it is backwards. So I have no idea what to think. Most I can hope for is to look at the connector and try and visually assess if it has been tampered with and changed since it left the factory.
 
The only thing that comes to mind is that someone may have been trying to bypass the starter interlock and/or the side stand safety switch (if so equipped). But that is just a guess.

Moving the wires in the connector is relativly easy. The female terminals can be released by inserting a tiny flat blade screwdriver into the notch on the opening to depress their retaining tab. Then the wire can be gently pulled on and the terminal will pull out of the connector. Make sure the retaining tab hasn't been bent out of shape before re-inserting in the correct spot of the connector. If it has, just bend it out a bit.

It can be difficult trying to figure out why people do the things they do with wiring...
 
Hey Drew. I was just wondering if your bike was wired the same way or if the PO of my bike is just a dumb ass. I'm going to wager it is the latter, as I've seen some shit man..
 

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