Gremlins in Ignition: Blows main fuse

[zman]

Hello: My 65 Superhawk is grounding out from positive and blowing the main fuse.There are five connections at the switch back. The only circuit at the switch not grounding is Red/White (two heavy wires). The Green, White, Red, and Black all show continuity to ground from the Ignition switch in the on position. Could it be the switch itself? Hope nothing sinister is going on in the charging system. Any advise from fellow Honda sleuths appreciated. Regards, Zman

[kustommusic]

Hi Z-man, I dont have the cb77 diagram in front of me but.....The way you are metering the back of the switch is not going to help you. When you read "thru" a device it will eventually get to a ground to complete the circut. The red wire is a feed from the battery,so you are good there,the red/white is batt. feed to the rectifire,again good there. Black is your horn pos.lead a good one to check after youve disconnected it from the horn(should show battery voltage w/key on). I cant remember the rest but you can try removing one bulb at a time too. This will somtimes locate a short (in the bulb itself) feel free to e-mail me with questions and I'll try to get my manual back.Good luck,Steve Greer

[zman]

<br /><br />Hi Steve: The Culprit wire at the black hot terminal on the switch was a black wire from the rear brake light switch causing a ground fault (not the horn wire). I removed that wire, and now have part of the problem corrected. The second mystery is: no apparent negative terminal for the battery connection. Should this be a bundle of ground wires exiting the harness: as opposed to a single ground to frame/engine? Maybe both? Your help is greatly appreciated trying to revitalize this machine. It has not run since 1983. Thanks for the ongoing help. zman

[kustommusic]

Z-man, The battery neg. cable should go to an engine mount bolt (below the battery). Alot of shorts are found at the brake tail light wires going thru the rear fender so good going!