Fried ground wire coming from ignition coils.

[Sandy]

Came across some exposed wired, i believe its a ground wire. Its coming from my ignition coils...

And i THINK its running all the way to my voltage regulator...

Removed...

And here is the wire in between

Any suggestion on how to diagnose? Would a bad regulator cause that burnt wire? Would the ignition coil be the problem? Is it bad wiring? Sorry im new to this electrical stuff so any guidance would be appreciated .Thanks!

 

[Sandy]

Some more info... My bike kicks and runs fine, the electric start half works. It sounds like it is grinding and spinning when i use it but it can start the bike sometimes .

 

[5twins]

I think that's the main ground wire from the harness for many components. It branches off to various items inside the harness. Obviously, it was seeing high resistance and generating lots of heat. Make sure the connection at the coil is all clean and shiny, frame area it connects to as well. The ignition coil doesn't have much to do with that wire, it just happens to be connected to it's mount.

All your wiring and connections look like they could use a good going through and cleaning. It's just part of owning an old bike, pretty much one of the "must do" things on the renovation list. Do it now to get ahead of and ward off potential problems or do it later after things fry, lol.

 

[gggGary]

I might start with the battery ground strap, then go looking at grounds in the headlight shell.

 

[5twins]

That's not your regulator, it's the rectifier. The ground wire connection on it may be bad and the source/start of the issue. The connection on the bottom of the rectifier that the black ground wire connects to is all rusty, and the short black wire in it's little harness is melted. I've seen that one melted like that before, and all up through the harness like yours as well, probably as a result of the bad rectifier connection (it was on the same bike). We repaired the black wire in the harness and replaced the rectifier with a $10 Windy Nation unit.

 

[Sandy]

Thank you guys so much

That's not your regulator, it's the rectifier. The ground wire connection on it may be bad and the source/start of the issue. The connection on the bottom of the rectifier that the black ground wire connects to is all rusty, and the short black wire in it's little harness is melted. I've seen that one melted like that before, and all up through the harness like yours as well, probably as a result of the bad rectifier connection (it was on the same bike). We repaired the black wire in the harness and replaced the rectifier with a $10 Windy Nation unit.

Now that im looking through everything im considering just switching to a batteryless setup. I never use my electric ignition anyways. That will be a winter project.

 

[XSLeo]

By electric ignition I assume you mean the starter, correct?
Running with out a battery will be much more expensive than fixing what you have.
Going with out a battery requires you spend several hundred or more dollars on converting to a PMA charging system.
Fixing what you have costs less than $30.
Leo

 

[Sandy]

By electric ignition I assume you mean the starter, correct?
Running with out a battery will be much more expensive than fixing what you have.
Going with out a battery requires you spend several hundred or more dollars on converting to a PMA charging system.
Fixing what you have costs less than $30.
Leo

Yeah i suppose i mean the starter. I have points on my 77 and ive been reading about the banshee swap on this forum. Im willing to spend a couple hundred on it i guess. It would be nice to have that open space under the seat and go through and simplify the wiring. Or at least go through it so i know how it works haha. Im very new to the electrical world so i probably sound neive but it sounds like a fun project to take on .