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Alittle smoke now hot positive.

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Old Aug 27, 2012 | 01:53 PM
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Default Alittle smoke now hot positive.
While replacing my carb today and trying to restart the bike I smelt a small bit of plastic burning and alittle bit of smoke not much at all. I then saw a spark come from the positive wire right about at the terminal. The positive wire was also hot to the touch. Not taking any chances whats my next move here?
 
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Old Aug 27, 2012 | 01:53 PM
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Bike is 1993 883 sportster
 
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Old Aug 27, 2012 | 01:55 PM
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Tighten the positive wire and try again. It may have been loose for awhile and you didn't notice. And a loose wire like that will be very hot to the touch. Burning plastic may have been the insulation on the wire.
 
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Old Aug 27, 2012 | 01:56 PM
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Remove and clean the bat connections and re try. A loose connection will create heat and sparks. Also look for any bare wires or rub marks in the loom. This only happened when you tried to crank it?
 
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Old Aug 27, 2012 | 01:56 PM
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Better tighten the negative while you are at it too...
 
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Old Aug 27, 2012 | 01:58 PM
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Originally Posted by Judge1989
Better tighten the negative while you are at it too...
Also check the ground on the engine aswell
 
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Old Aug 27, 2012 | 02:01 PM
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Originally Posted by Judge1989
Tighten the positive wire and try again. It may have been loose for awhile and you didn't notice. And a loose wire like that will be very hot to the touch. Burning plastic may have been the insulation on the wire.
Sounds like a bad contact indeed. Bad contact is just like a too small a wire carrying a high load. The wire gets hot because there's not enough conductive material to transport the electricity, so what material there is has to carry more. The bad connection is a bottleneck so, get hot.
 
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Old Aug 27, 2012 | 02:37 PM
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You guys are good. The positive had come slightly loose. Tighten connection next I'll pull battery and check for any wear on wiring.
 
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