Hitchcocks Forum

Sorry I haven't been around here for a few months. Simple truth is, that Thumper has been off the road for a while now due to some huge electrical problem. He cut out and died and is without all power. The battery is OK (I think) and the main fuse is intact, but I have no power anywhere in the system. Now the weather is warming up, I need to get him sorted.
I have no idea where to start...
Any ideas are welcome.

No !!...LoL ....Hi Exile------nice 2 c u ....2 c u nice !! ( With due apologies to the late Brucy !!)....From what I can remember your bike is a Classic Iron barrelled job with ammeter in the casquette ??.....OK, let' start by removing those brackets and the phrase "I think" and do some basic tests on your battery-----a look into our hosts Technical Notes would be a good idea....Once we KNOW that the Battery is sound we can move on---------and first would be the two connectors on the battery terminals themselves and then the fuse in it's holder........ A few years ago I was called out to a fellow Bulleteer in Shrewsbury who had tried to re-start his bike after riding it home earlier on...... Suddenly he had no electrics at all ( Kick start model )....In this case it was one of the securing nuts on the Ammeter had worked loose.............A look at the wiring diagram shows that all the electrical power flows through the Ammeter--- thus a break at this point means a total loss....There you are then, that should get you back into the flow as it were...

Thanks Alan. I've been round the battery and the main fuse - all are OK including the battery connections. So I guess I'll start at the ammeter..

I think the original short circuit was in the gps, so that's gone from the equation, removed. What collapsed in conjunction with that is anybody's guess.. We'll see.

Also check where the wiring harness flexes around the steering head, my old Electra-X had a snapped wire to the ammeter where the insulation had become brittle with age. A.

My 2000 Bullet had similar symptoms, the mechanic found that an Earth wire was loose where it connects on the outside back of the left-hand toolbox.

I had a complete electrical failure on my Bullet a year or so back. A faulty LED bulb in one of the pilot lights had shorted and burned out, and it the process the current surge burned out the main battery earth wire. The fuse hadn't blown, but as we all know the wiring is there to protect the fuse.

I would first off check the integrity of the main frame earth which on my bike was a ring terminal trapped under the top mount for the battery shelf (and which was suffering from near-terminal corrosion) but it's easily found by tracing the wire from the battery negative.



Since nothing at all is working, it's got to be something fairly close to the battery so if that earth is ok (and if it's never been touched, it's probably time for a clean up and smear if red rubber grease/vaseline anyway) I'd start following the wiring up from the battery positive with a voltmeter/battery and bulb and see where the electricity disappears. Is it getting TO the main fuse, out of the main fuse? To the ignition switch, out of the ignition switch, into the ammeter? Out of it.



I wouldn't expect the problem to be much beyond the ammeter.

Hi Stinkwheel....Near "Terminal" corrosion eh???---well it would be, wouldn't it ??-----LoL !!..Excellent stuff, keep 'em coming...

All good stuff here lads. Thanks. The weather just turned Siberian.. minus 10 outside.. minus 8 in the shed. It's gonna have to wait. We're in the deep freeze for the next week. All this advice is being archived away. I'll keep you all in the loop.

Blimey mate !!------- did you say MINUS 10 ??....... 'strewth!!..at that sort of temperature your electrics will need Andre' Rieu...........eh ??..........yes, a super conductor !!.........( Dear God !!)..Now THAT should be enough to drive you out into the garage I would have thought ??..LoL !!