Motorcycle Repair: follow up 1981 yamaha 650 special, radio shack store, using a multimeter

Question
falcon thank you for your reply but is there any thing else you can give me.i have all of the wires untaped and could not find a short anywhere.or how can i find the shortand do you think there could be a faulty regulator/rectifier or stator/pickup coil/altanator/rotor.what is the best way to find the problem.i mean how can i test it .what would you do .thank you again for being so kind.paintdoctor

Answer
Hi Harry.
 Less than 1% of all electrical faults are found visually.  I'm sorry to say that you wasted your time untaping the wiring harness.  Almost all shorts are internal, caused by either age, corrosion, wear or just a bad wire.

The way to find them is by using a multimeter.  You can pick up one, that will do more than you should ever need, at any Radio Shack store.  Just get the least expensive one as it will be more than sufficient for your needs.

Any short that was visual, would have been down at or near the brush itself.  Someting on the case could even be contacting the brush or brush mount where it shouldn't.

I appologise for not being clearer the last time.

Good luck.
FALCON