Should the wiring harness on a 1981 Yamaha XJ550 be hot to the touch?

Question

I started up my bike after being dormant for a while and there was a very small amount of smoke coming from around the wiring harness located under the seat. I shut the bike off, but the harness remained very hot. Once it cooled I started the bike again and the wires became hot again. Does anyone have any suggestion for why this might be? Is it normal? What can I do to fix my bike?

Answer 1

I had something similar once. It turned out that some water accumulated in one or the signals. It had "half" shortened - not enough to blow the fuse, but enough to darin my battery and make the wires hot to the touch.

Answer 2

A wire must be grounding out the harness somewhere to the frame, causing this...Check all the wires for cuts and abrasions...Amp meter helps.

Answer 3

no hot wires is bad so is smoke, remove the seat and look to see if there are wires touching each other or vehicle ground  if you see something like that separate them and wrap in electrical tape or have it serviced.

Answer 4

if you let the magic smoke out of the harness it wont work anymore..

Answer 5

like everyone else is saying, you have a short somewhere.  usually if there is a short a fuse will blow, but it maybe that your wiring has been 'modified' to bypass the fuses.  if it happens when the ignition is on but the motor isn't running, then I would suspect homemade wiring.  if it only happens when the motor is running, then it may be the voltage regulator and/or diode is faulty, causing overvoltage.  look for scorch marks.

Answer 6

Sounds like you have a wire or two shorting out.  Check the harness for nicks, cuts, kinks, or other obvious damage.  Perhaps the seat itself has damaged a wire.  This is not normal.  It won't get any better until you get it fixed.

Good luck.

Answer 7

You have a short.