Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Finding Electrical Gremlins

I have been busy lately with my motorcycles.

Two weeks ago I was focused on one which had an electrical system full of gremlins. Electricity is the issue most casual mechanics have the most difficulty with. Actually I rather like working on electrical problems. These run the gamut of turn signals that don't flicker properly, to spark plugs that don't spark. When I work on an electrical glitch, I start out with a wiring diagram. At first glance these diagrams look like a jumble of confusion. However, if you focus on the circuit giving the problem it reduces the complexity to a manageable level. Instead of a forest, the scope of the endeavor is reduced to a single tree.

The first thing I always do is take the diagram to Staples and get it blown up. Then I have it pasted on a laminated board. Now I have something that I can at least see.

The next thing I do is take a dry erase board and pull the offending circuit out of the wiring diagram and figure out how the flow of amperage is going from the battery to the appliance (load) and finding its way to ground. I do this both visually and by putting the process into words. On the dry erase board I color in the wires using pens that use the same colors coded properly from the overall diagram. Once this is accomplished it is much easier to visualize and understand what is going on.

Next, taking a test light I work my way down the circuit to find out if the juice is getting to the appliance and flowing to ground. This isolates where the problem is occurring and makes it relatively easy to fix the problem.