Burnt red harness wire??

Received a new battery, along with key and lock, today so I couldn't wait to install. As I was looking over the wiring in the battery area, I need to solder in a new fuse holder, I noticed an exposed red wire within the harness. The copper wire is literally bare in the exposed area, with the semi melted sheathing nearby - see the pic.
I did go ahead and put the battery and lock to test what I have - remember this bike has not run in over 11 years, with an no start problem in its last days. Anyway, turns out the lights do work, along with turn signals and horn. I put the plug wires back in, thanks LAB, and checked for spark - yes, spark at both plugs. I did drain the oil, removed the filter - new 1 came today also, so I'll be adding fresh oil and gas soon. Then I'm thinking time to try to fire up. Anything I'm missing/should be watching out for? I did put MM oil in the plug holes and at rocker areas.
Lastly, what do you think about the burnt red wire? The PO mentioned when he last tried to start he did jump it. Could this have anything to do with this?

Thanks again!

Monte
http://picasaweb.google.com/Cobyboss/19 ... 4377552178

Duh dude there are more red wires on Commando's than any other color. They are supposed to be +earth back to battery+. Burnt means it got shorted to - battery side somehow. I'd put in smaller and smaller fuses to get idea of loads with lights on but if not smoking already maybe its just a dead end lead hooked to nothing anymore. Entirely possible with all the excess police loops and red earths.
A dead short to ground can steal enough power to stifle ignition sparking but you didn't find that issue so far. Sensible thing would test meter on wire and trace it.
Best wishes when it runs next to a few other same size red wires it tight places.
Wire charts on forum or on line but in lap is best.

You need to strip the tape off the burnt wire till you find unburnt wire. It could have melted other wires it was touching so you need to look for that, If there isn't too much you can tape it up good with electrician's tape. Maybe buy some red tape.

As others have noted here, for a motor that's sat so long you need to get oil to the cam shaft lobes by removing rocker covers and dripping oil down the push rods where it will find it's way to the cam followers and cam. Kick it over lots before you try to start it so the oil pump can prime big ends and rockers. Norton's need oil with a high zinc content. Do a search on this site for "Best Oil" and you should get some good brands to look for. MM oil isn't what the motor runs on, even though it probably won't hurt but get some proper engine oil in there. Once it's running remove the oil cap and look in to make sure it's pumping well.

Yep as Rip says, might be fine static sparking but once started wires can jiggle and arc and catch fire. Do have extinguisher handy at all times, CO2 best d/t the mess of powders.

Do be sure to keep eye on the front brake fluid each gas stop once on the road ~1000 miles to make sure no hidden leaks that eliminate brakes, one good pull fine to a terrifying next instant. Worth a check of ignition timing too but that's a tricky funny task to put off if starts runs ok w/o detonation or back fire.
A motto to learn on these old carbs is always suspect-check the pilot idle jet, ugh.

DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN PRIMARY CHAIN, may feel fine cold yet bends shafts hot.
CHECK IT ON FIRST warm up to know or else risk whole drive train to crank tweaked.

Aftermarket rear brake safety spring if not already installed.

If someone tried "jumping" the electrics with a car battery and assumed negative ground, that could explain the melted wire. Putting an external source from the bike chassis (ground) to a red wire in a Norton harness would be a direct short.

maylar said:

If someone tried "jumping" the electrics with a car battery and assumed negative ground, that could explain the melted wire. Putting an external source from the bike chassis (ground) to a red wire in a Norton harness would be a direct short.

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That's kinda what I was thinking. So I will go ahead and remove the as much of the black tape to expose all the shorted wire and tape the exposed wire, then re-tape the entire harness back in black. Does this sound like a reasonable plan, assuming all the electrics work? Any other worries?
Thanks

hockeylife said:

So I will go ahead and remove the as much of the black tape to expose all the shorted wire and tape the exposed wire, then re-tape the entire harness back in black. Does this sound like a reasonable plan, assuming all the electrics work? Any other worries?
Thanks

Click to expand...

The exposed strands of the melted portion are going to be heat damaged, oxidized, and brittle and could cause problems down the road. Rather than re-tape the exposed part of the damaged wire, I'd recommend cutting out that entire section and replacing it with a new length of red wire of the same gauge. Keep cutting back till you find bright, clean copper, or the crimp/solder won't make good electrical contact. Then tape up the repaired harness. And carefully inspect other wires that ran parallel to the red one in the harness. You might find that the red wire damaged the insulation on other wires.

Stu

74JohnPlayer said:

hockeylife said:

So I will go ahead and remove the as much of the black tape to expose all the shorted wire and tape the exposed wire, then re-tape the entire harness back in black. Does this sound like a reasonable plan, assuming all the electrics work? Any other worries?
Thanks

Click to expand...

The exposed strands of the melted portion are going to be heat damaged, oxidized, and brittle and could cause problems down the road. Rather than re-tape the exposed part of the damaged wire, I'd recommend cutting out that entire section and replacing it with a new length of red wire of the same gauge. Keep cutting back till you find bright, clean copper, or the crimp/solder won't make good electrical contact. Then tape up the repaired harness. And carefully inspect other wires that ran parallel to the red one in the harness. You might find that the red wire damaged the insulation on other wires.

Stu

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Yea, another good thought. Anyone have the sense I should go ahead and buy a completely new harness? Or is this overkill?
Thanks

New harness is up to you, but if it were mine, I'd replace the whole burned wire. You never know where it got hot and there may be some weak spots in it that you don't see and you'll be doing it again.

Dave
69S

You need to strip it back and carefully determine the extent of the damage. Stock harnesses include wiring for police bike sirens and all kinds of things that will never be on most bikes. It's it a good idea to strip it down to the bare necessities.

Yes strip er down to the bare necessities as very few up us need police radios and emergency lights and siren and dual horns. There's like half a shoe box of dead ends and loops going to nothing and about half of that are red grounds, some dual wires going off in two directions nowhere or sometimes a needed component shares it.

RE-wraping loom is the booga boo as electrical tape just ooses its glue over everything and tends to unravel. Plastic split corragated looms is too big for most runs and looks like under a car hood to me. Spiral wrap is really the most functional to me but takes up more room and collects grime under it. Next time I will use cloth and glue or tape just its end and here and there as needed.

I've got to see an untouched factory loom and was amazed at how neat and compact it was, so neat and compact no way to handle it much w/o disturbing the beauty.