Need Help! Electrical problem after Pamco install

T6h6o6r

T6h6o6r

XS650 Enthusiast
Messages
73
Reaction score
69
Points
18
Location
Oakland, CA
Hi folks, so today I installed a Pamco on my '80 XS650, first installed the advance mechanism and all that, then hooked it into the stock coil on my bike, and she fired right up, I proceeded to check and adjust the timing, and she was idling just great, then I hopped on to take a test ride and as soon as I twisted the throttle, boom! It died. All the lights shut off and everything. So I immediately switched the key off, then tried to switch it back on and I noticed the wires going to the ignition switch rapidly got very hot and a bit of smoke came up from what looked like underneath the battery??? This scared me so I shut her down, waited an hour and tried one more time, same thing, no lights just rapidly heating of the wires to the switch and a bit more smoke from battery area. Now I'm really worried something is majorly screwed up, but I have no idea even where to begin. Pleeease someone tell me they know what the hell is wrong, what stupid thing I did to cause it, and most importantly how to fix my bike!! I'm so upset right now it's killing me!
 
Are we talking a stock wiring with all fuses especially the main 20 A in series between battery and ignition lock
Smoke and hot wires indicates a short to ground.
.I Would recheck the wires changed / moved for the Pamco installation
And avoid to turn it on to soon again. Components might not like that.
 
I don't know how stock the wiring exactly is, I think it's pretty close but the P.O. did change the fuse box for one of the more modern kind with the little green blade mini fuses, other than that and relocating the ignition switch under the seat I don't think too much is changed. Its just strange to me that everything was running great until I gave it throttle to take off, that's what's got me the most puzzled, it's not like turning the throttle suddenly reconfigured the wiring and created a path to ground? Or am I totally missing something? Anyone have an idea what might cause it to happen like that?
 
And yeah, I quickly realized that continuing to fiddle with it could get real ugly, real quick. And that every time I switched it on I was risking transforming part of my electrical system into the equivalent of burnt toast. which is why I only tried it the one time to make sure that it didn't resolve itself after cooling down a bit, but once I saw it get hot again like that I was like nope! No more screwing around, it's time to go and ask for some help before I do anymore damage...
 
Well the wires on a Pamco are quite small and the components a bit delicate it'd go poof before bigger wires started to smoke, so I'd start looking elsewhere, like mebbie for a pinched harness wire.
 
So I have an update, I think I've made some progress! I went out and unplugged the red and green Pamco wires from the coil and plugged them back into the opposite posts... Aaaaand now the lights on the bike turn on again! Aaaand there's no more heating up or smoking wires! Yay! Problem solved! Well, not quite... Yeah, there's also no spark. Damn, so close! Sooo, I'm guessing I fried the coil?? My understanding is that it's not too hard to do... By that logic I'm hoping that if I get a new coil and replace it then it should be all good in the XS650 'hood?
 
The people who knows the Pamco can give advice .
If the bike ran with the connection before .With light .A change makes what right ??
Have you checked the fuses now after the change --- the ignitions fuse especially.

As for changes some electrical problems come and go .fex Sitting on the saddle and hitting a Pot hole on the road can shake wires and cause the problem to come and go.
It sounds as if there is a modification on the wiring --- Ignition switch under the saddle Is that Under as under the seat bank or is it as on the side under the saddle . I would inspect that so nothing electrical can touch to metal ?

Pictures of lock and switch and the new Fuse box.??
Rechecking the Pamco installation according to instructions and looking for loose stripped wires or so. Since the problem came after that change
 
Wish I could offer assistance but I'm not familiar with Pamco's wiring requirements and possible scenarios that would lead to running well, then all of a sudden...poof. But something is obviously not correct. When you described your start up and then going to take it for a spin, my initial thoughts were that in Neutral...all is well, as soon as the bike goes into gear (the neutral light/circuit is off/not grounded)...and poof. Maybe the pamco or other wiring utilized that ground by mistake?

I can't see how, but you never know.
 
Blade fuses, besides being marked, are color coded. If all yours are green, that's a 30 amp fuse, and that's too high. You should have a 20A (yellow) for the main fuse and 10A (red) for the three auxiliary circuits. This may explain why the wires smoked instead of a fuse blowing.

As far as the Pamco connections to the coil go, the red Pamco wire should connect to the terminal with the R/W harness wire. The green Pamco wire should connect to the terminal that had the orange harness wire. But the orange harness wire will be disconnected now. It came from your original ignition's black box, which you should have removed. It was originally located under the battery box, where you say the smoke came from. You did disconnect and remove it, didn't you? Or at least disconnect it?
 
Yes I disconnected the TCI box under the battery mount. It's strange because that WAS how it was hooked up, but now it is the opposite, Red <-> Orange wire from Coil and Green <-> Red/White... And now the lights and everything turn on again when I turn the key on, I'm just not getting a spark... Let me explain exactly what I did when hooking it up perhaps someone can pinpoint where I went wrong... So, basically I snipped the wires coming from the coil just shy of the bullet connectors, and crimped male-end spade connectors on instead. But on the Red/white wire the connector I used actually had 2 male spades side by side. π_π like that. So, then I attached female spade connectors to the Red & Green Pamco wires, and a ring terminal to the black wire. Next I unbolted the mounting bolt to the coil where the old ground was attached with a ring terminal and simply swapped it with the black Pamco wire and tightened it back up. Wrapped the unused one all up with electrical tape. Then plugged green into orange, and Red into 1 of the Red/white spades, and from the 2nd spade I attached a female spade hooked to a short "pigtail" which spliced into the other Red/white wire coming from the (off/run/off) killswitch on my handlebars. Which was how the instructions I saw said it should be wired. Anyway, That was how it was configured when the problems happened. And now like I said before it is currently Pamco green <-> red/white and Pamco Red <-> Orange and that pigtail coming from my killswitch is still attached at the Red / Orange wire junction. And that way it gives me everything working- but zero spark, which I was assuming to be caused by having fried the coil during all the chaos yesterday... I'm wondering if I should wait or just buy a new coil and throw it in there... I just don't wanna instantly fry that one too...
 
Last edited:
Oh and thanks for the valuable info about my fusebox, 5twins! I had no idea I was running too high of fuses! I'm gonna get right on that as soon as I can hoof my sorry ass up to AutoZone and pick up a new set of blade fuses! (I hate it when my bike isnt working- it's the worst!!! She my only transportation at the moment...) Man, I had no idea the P.O. was shaking hands with danger! Well I'm just glad nothing caught fire!!
 
You don't want to take that original ground off the coil mount bolt, that's the main ground for pretty much all the electrical components, lol. Put that back. It actually has nothing to do with grounding the coil, it's for everything else. You had the Pamco hooked up correctly to begin with, but removing that main harness ground wire is probably what caused all your issues. Swapping the Pamco wires around reestablished a ground for everything through the Pamco ground wire, but the Pamco won't function because you now have the power in and ignition "fire" signal out connections switched.

So, switch your Pamco connections back to the way they were (green to orange, red to R/W) and put the original ground wire back in place. Still ground the Pamco black wire somewhere too. Things should all work again as long as you didn't fry something, lol.
 
T6h6o6r said:
Oh and thanks for the valuable info about my fusebox, 5twins! I had no idea I was running too high of fuses! I'm gonna get right on that as soon as I can hoof my sorry ass up to AutoZone and pick up a new set of blade fuses! (I hate it when my bike isnt working- it's the worst!!! She my only transportation at the moment...) Man, I had no idea the P.O. was shaking hands with danger! Well I'm just glad nothing caught fire!!
Click to expand...

I cant see any mention of inspecting the fuses Cant hurt to pull the fuses out even if it is a bit large .Perhaps to large.
Not impossible it has served its purpose . Protected. The circuit and the coil is still OK
All of them fuses are coming out anyhow
 
So I think I found the problem! Im pretty sure I was tapped into the wrong red/white wire coming from the handlebar unit. I looked up a stock wiring diagram for my '80 XS special, and found that there is 3 red/white wires coming from that R handlebar cluster, the instructions say to hook into the one coming from the killswitch but according to this diagram, there is 2 wires that color coming from that switch... One is from the killswitch to the main fuse box, and the other goes from the switch to the safety relay and then to the ignition coil... So I'm assuming that the one I want to tap is the Red/white that goes from Killswitch to Fuse Box... Is that correct? Thanks to everyone whos been offering advice, special thanks to 5twins for sharing some important knowledge
 
T6h6o6r said:
So I think I found the problem! Im pretty sure I was tapped into the wrong red/white wire coming from the handlebar unit. I looked up a stock wiring diagram for my '80 XS special, and found that there is 3 red/white wires coming from that R handlebar cluster, the instructions say to hook into the one coming from the killswitch but according to this diagram, there is 2 wires that color coming from that switch... One is from the killswitch to the main fuse box, and the other goes from the switch to the safety relay and then to the ignition coil... So I'm assuming that the one I want to tap is the Red/white that goes from Killswitch to Fuse Box... Is that correct? Thanks to everyone whos been offering advice, special thanks to 5twins for sharing some important knowledge
Click to expand...


Does not seem right to me ..
There are different wiring systems i Have a European 1980 XS 650 US Custom to my killswitch is a brown and red / white
I appears that there are ones with two red and white
One need to know more certain what model and Schematic
However that red White from fuse box to kill switch has always power regardless of Kill switch position ( Ignition lock on )
It is up stream so to speak
Whereas if it is connected after the kill switch the power to coils can be broken via the switch
The way I See it is if you connect between the fuse box and kill switch to coils .Then the kill switch is newer in function
I dont know the Pamco.
But for the coils there is no difference if you use the power before the kill switch or after .Except that the safety function of the
kill switch is not there
I need to know more to give a more exact answer
The red and white on a stock wiring to kill switch does NOT come from the main fuse its from another fuse -- ignition I do believe
DC current can be viewed as water running in a garden hose as help for thought. + plus to - minus
With the exception that a cut hose wont stop the water flow which a cut wire will
 
Hopefully that works cause it didn't let me attach it separately but this is the diagram I referred to for my bike which is the 1980 XS650G, and shows the wires I described above
 
And just so we're on the same page, I didn't say that that wire was on the main fuse, I said it runs to the main fuse BOX, where all the fuses are located. I didn't specify any particular fuse because it isn't shown on the diagram that way, just says FUSE BOX. So, sorry if I threw you off by calling it the main fuse box, It was not my intention to create any confusion there.
 
T6h6o6r said:
Hopefully that works cause it didn't let me attach it separately but this is the diagram I referred to for my bike which is the 1980 XS650G, and shows the wires I described above
Click to expand...

Yes Sir that schematic I have XS 650 G in a Clymer Manual
2 wires R/W to the Stop Switch
You might as well post info or link or the instructions for the Pamco type and so.
Then Myself or someone else will take a quick look at it if that would be a help
There is a link
http://www.xs650.com/threads/pamco-ignition-install.17619/
But I have been up all night with another electrical problem ( HiFi)
So I cant read it now.
 

Similar threads

N
Odd charging problems on '75 xs650
Replies
8
Views
201
Its been a long time
I
B
Xs1100 electrical help
Replies
4
Views
281
Brayden2980
B
blank slate
start button dead 💀 pics included
2
Replies
24
Views
453
blank slate
blank slate
J
Balanced components of an electrical system
Replies
3
Views
454
650Skull
650Skull
XS1204
Original Starter Button Question..
2
Replies
35
Views
2K
XS1204
XS1204
Back
Top