LT80 Fuse Blowing

[amturnham]

Hello,
I recently brought a lt80, the person who I brought it from said the battery needed replacing and it should start. Upon buying a new battery and putting it in every time I try to repleace the fuse in the holder under the seat it blows as soon as it touches the metal parts of the fuse holder. I have tried putting fuse in first and then battery with ignition off, all possible ways but it keeps blowng.Please could someone tell how to sort this out?

[moetrout]

That sure sounds like a short in the electrical system. Are you handy with a meter (VOM)? You will need an electrical schmatic. I have never had to do this on a LT80, but I have on vintage Honda and Kawasaki street bikes. Maybe someone will chime in with a fairly common LT80 electrical issue and save you from chasing it down with a meter and schmatic. Best of luck. Let us know what you find out!

[amturnham]

hi, well I had a fiddle and manage to stop it blowing fuses but in doing so I mangaed to pull all the wires out of the relay next to the fuse holder and cant work out which one goes where??????????

[moetrout]

I will see if I can get a pic for you tonight.

[moetrout]

Ok...camera is giving me problems so I will describe it as best I can. Assuming you were looking down on the plug that goes into the relay with the locking tab on the top this is how mine is wired. The medium sized red wire with a white stripe is in the top left position. The orange wire is in the top right position. The white wire with a black stripe is in the bottom right position and the largest wire which to me looks like it is red (I am slightly color blind, but only in both eyes!) goes in the bottom left position. Knowing relays and electronics I would say the 2 largest wires go to the contacts of the relay and the other 2 smaller wires go to the coil side of the relay. That right there is your double check. If you get the wires wrong you could smoke the relay or the wires themself. Again a schematic would help here......maybe I need to buy that service manual?

If this does not do it for you let me know. I'm sure I can get a picture for you eventually. Let me know.

[amturnham]

ok, thanks I will try it later and when you say locking tab you mean the part which slips over the plastic next to the battery to hold in postion??

[moetrout]

Well, that maybe on the same side, but I am talking about the plastic clip that secures the connector to the relay. Kind of looks like this:

__|-|__
| O O |
| O O |
--------

[amturnham]

ok, thanks

[amturnham]

Finially got it running but the wiring is a bit of a mess so I think a new loom is needed but it runs!!! so I was wandering if someone could tell me what engine/gearbox oil sould be used in a lt 80 and how much roughly. thannks