Motorcycle Repair: 1973 cb 750 honda electrical, wiringdiagrams, cb 750

Question
the ground wire on the cb 750 is hot before ignition, after the bike has been started and is running it goes back to ground.  . is this normal? if not what could be the cause? thank you

Answer
Tim, just which ground wire is hot?  Battery Ground, wiring harness ground or ?

Looking at the wiring diagram at:

http://oldmanhonda.com/MC/WiringDiagrams/MCwiring.php#class

It looks like a ground for the rectifier needs to be connected to a clean, tight ground on the frame. If it is clean and tight and getting hot, then the rectifier must have a leaking diode, causing current flow back through the ground path.

Are there any accessories on the bike? Any weird wiring repairs? Is the ignition switch base tight onto the back of the switch?

There should be NO hot wires with the ignition switch off.

IF there are, take off the tank so you can access the whole wiring harness along the spine of the frame and look at all wiring connectors and ground paths.

Bill Silver