WAS RID'N THE BIKE, (2006 MIDNIGHT VENTURE) sat, everything was good till almost home n she just went black

[dueyk1111]

had trouble 2 weeks ago brand new fuel pump went bad at 3 or 400 miles. put the old one back in with the points out of the new one, runs like a champ! went rid'n sat, run'n like a champ again, 100 to 150 miles bout home, and she went completely black. no nothin. called friend for rescue, put her in the garage. found main fuse blown. went to put another one in n popped right away without turn'n key on. opened her up, have unplugged everything  i can find except under the front fairin. i mean all the connectors i can find. sat n pulled the wires off the starter relay n with a hand full of fuses took big wire off left side of relay, big wire that goes to the starter i believe, put  in another  fuse n it popped right away. left that wire off n pulled 1 big red wire, another fuse n it popped again. took out small wire underneath big wire n still popped fuse. took out other big wire in the plugin at the starter relay n the fuse didn;t pop. put the other little wire back in and the fuse stays good. try to put either of the 2 big red wires back in and the fuses just pop instantly. anyone got ant ideas, looked at the  wiring diagram in a manuel and doesn't show enough wires and where those 2 bigger red ones go. electrical is not  my fortay but with a little hep i can usually figure it out. please need a little HEP!!!!!!!

[dueyk1111]

have also changed out the relay with another one and still get the same results. brains run'n on don't know what to try next. gonna spend sometime with the ladyfriend n her grandson, see if som'n will come to me in my sleep! ha-ha. work'n on an electrical prob with the grandaughters car too! ugh!!!!!

[djh3]

Check your main harness to the ignition switch. Some of those had a problem with melting. It plugs in under the tank. Which I'm sure is close to full if you need to pull it. Mine always is.

[1BigDog]

While it could be any number of gremlins (believe me I know) it almost sounds like a pinched wire grounding out somewhere under the battery covers. 

[Marcarl]

31 minutes ago, 1BigDog said:

While it could be any number of gremlins (believe me I know) it almost sounds like a pinched wire grounding out somewhere under the battery covers. 

Or in the triple tree area.

[Freebird]

It almost sounds like you have more than one issue.  You say that if you just put  the single wire that goes from the starter to the relay that it blows the fuse..  With the ignition switch off, there should be no voltage at all to the starter relay so the contacts in the starter relay should be open and there should be no way to get a path to ground on that wire going from the starter relay to the starter..  Makes no sense.  Look at this simplified diagram.  You'll see that with the key off, starter relay not energized, there is no way to get a path from the starter to ground if you hook that wire up.  It just hooks to an open contact.   I think we need to know exactly which relay and wires you are pulling.  Are you sure it's the starter really.  The starter relay is beside the battery behind the left side cover.  The starter cut off relay is behind the center cover between the two side covers.  

[dueyk1111]

yes have pulled the side covers, center cover n have unplugged every plug in i can see, tci ,stator, coil pickup; neutral switch, kickstand switch,  taillights, ignition switch up under tank, 2 main harness plugs under tank. ignition every plugin i can see has been unplugged. gonna take front fairing off today n start unplugging things up there today. couple of nites sleep has me lean'n towards kill switch in right handle bar switch. don't know why i think that but asked for the big guys hep n i believe thats what he gave me. been wrong before! tnkz for all the hep so far!!!!

[dueyk1111]

ok, found the problem! twas the voltage regulator. unplugged it n my problem went away. bike is run'n again, everthing works. now my volt meter, bunch of lites in a half moon, shows i'm in the red zone at the top of my lites. put in an old regulator that i took out when i changed the stator. itz run'n 12.5 volts without the engine run'n. new battery, 13.5 at an idle and 17.5 to 18 at 3 and 4 grand on the  tach  with all the lites on, cruise, plinker ,  radio, closer to 18 at 4 grand.

 is that normal or is it to high? i don't wanna fry the stator or regulator or the wiring. using a needle multimeter. have access to a digital one if need be.

[Marcarl]

Normal voltage should not be higher than the high 14s. At 18 you'll fry the battery and more electric equipment. Replace the regulator, it's the unit that bosses the voltage.

[dueyk1111]

SHOULDN'T I BE CHANGING the stator, thats what produces the juice, i'm think'n thats what fryied the new voltage regulator that was in it when my problems started.

[Marcarl]

Somebody can give better numbers, but the basic is that the stator is not voltage sensitive, hence you need the voltage regulator. Amperage is a different story. Regulators can go bad all on their own sometimes I think.

[Steve S]

I have worked on automobiles most of my life and did a lot of work on electrical systems. It seems that electronic parts "can fail" without any reason at all, simply because they are electronic systems. However, they do fail every day. The Trike voltage regulator failed and burnt out 2 batteries before I really investigated the problem and discovered it was overcharging. I have since replaced the VR and it is now charging at 13.6 volts as it should be.

My Yamaha dealer doesn't have the parts manuals available to look up a lot of parts, but I will look up the part number on Partszilla, and let them order it. It's the same price, but it saves me shipping and they get to make another sale. I prefer to buy locally when I can.  

Steve

[dueyk1111]

thanks steve, i  have a voltage regulator com'n from mother yamaha via partzilla. i'm done buy'n chinese parts cause i'm tired of them failing all the time. itz not just this one i've had trouble with. so with it over charging as much as it is i'll be alright with a voltage regulator as long as it brings it down to 14.5 volts and no higher?