Motorcycle Repair: 81 Suzuki 550 Electrical Question, fuse blows, suzuki 550

Question
Chris,

Thanks for taking the time to help me with this one.  I was braking my 1981 Suzuki 550 GT at a red light and it cut out.  The bike was just dead.  I noticed a fuse was blown so I replaced it.  The bike ran great for about 5 minutes and it cut out again with another blown fuse.  A shop put on a new rectifer, but that didn't fix the problem.  It's still running fine for about 5 minutes, the fuse blows, and it'll start again in about 1/2 hour and run great for 5 minutes and the fuse blows?

I've got a 2 year old battery, alternator, and a new rectifier.  My shop doesn't know what it is.  Any idea?

Answer
Hi Jim.
 The fact that a fuse is blowing is not an indication of a rectifier problem unless the fuses are blowing in almost every system on the bike.  Ninety-nine percent of the time a blown fuse is indicative of a short in the system.  If this is only one fuse, then the problem is in the system after the fuse.

To be honest......if your shop changed the rectifier and you still have the same problem, then you got ripped off.  They should know how to chase down a short as well as knowing the difference between a bad rectifier and a short.

Get the repair manual.  It has the wiring diagram.  If they can't find the short, then maybe the wiring diagram will help.   Or you could chase the short yourself or take it to a shop that knows how to properly do electrical work.

Good luck.
FALCON