1972 Wiring harness issues, is MikesXs the way to go???

gbobst

gbobst

Geoffrey
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I have recently purchased a 1972xs2 and was wondering about anyones experience with the wiring harness. If you could point me to a thread etc, that would be great also. My harness is original and I am starting to have problems with shorting out bulbs, and mainly the left signals. I have replaced the flasher, inspected most of the wires from the harness, replaced the headlight, checked the bulbs on the signals, and the one main fuse....just about anything that looks electrical I have opened and looked at to see if there is a short/bad connection. I have found a few loose and melted wires within the harness, and tried to clean them and re-tape them. I have a feeling that the wires inside the harness are just melted and deteriorated, I am aware of the crap harnesses that they came with. It seems like people have been having problems with the Mike's XS harnesses with the wires not matching up etc......just wondering what you have done to your 72(or your year) to upgrade/ fix the electrical issues that happen to these babies???? It seems like it would be above my electrical expertise to make my own harness, and I would prefer not to make my own.....but, I have surprised myself in the past. If there is a step by step harness making thread here, I may attempt it. Thanks ahead for your time, and comments
 
If you're running all stock peripherals, then swapping in a new harness is probably your best bet. If you go kick only, no signals, etc then just run your own wires to a fuse block. Searching "wiring diagram" will yield plenty of options for you to choose from.
 
On the few miswired harnesses I have read about, the fix is easy. When you put a plug into a socket check that the wires match by color on both sides of the plugs. If they mismatch just unplug, remove the wires from the harness side rearrange so they match. Plug together.
Being a 72 the wiring is fairly simple. It doesn't have all the extra crap of the later years. Building a harness isn't hard to do.
Leo
 
XSLeo said:
On the few miswired harnesses I have read about, the fix is easy. When you put a plug into a socket check that the wires match by color on both sides of the plugs. If they mismatch just unplug, remove the wires from the harness side rearrange so they match. Plug together.
Being a 72 the wiring is fairly simple. It doesn't have all the extra crap of the later years. Building a harness isn't hard to do.
Leo
Click to expand...

Thank you again for your "heads up" man.....really apprct it :)
 
If the right side works the issue isn't the main harness. This is just going to be electrical trouble shooting 101. you have power all the way to the handle bar switch so start there. Open the headlight shell. For this kind of testing one of those "looks like a small screwdriver with a wire on it's tail" testers is useful but any 12 volt bulb with two wires will work. Clamp the alligator clip to a good ground and probe the connector that has a wire going to the LH signal. Is it getting juice? If not open and inspect the switch on the LH bar. Good chance there is just a dirty or corroded contact or wire connection in there. The switch can usually be opened, cleaned, lubed, and reassembled.

Print this out at page size. It will help.

View attachment 22979
 

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