Ok, so my 05 TRV has been great until today when it stranded me 10 miles in on a very rough trail. We crawling along and all of a sudden the display went dead and then the engine cut out. I quickly realized it was a fuse a proceeded to replace it with the spare. After I turned the key on it immediately blew again. Hoping it was fluke I put the largest fuse in thinking that might solve it, nope just blew again. At this point I was starting to worry because without the ignition circuit complete the engine cannot run i.e. no pull start available.
After 10 minutes of trying to figure out what to do, we cut off the end of our smallest bungee cord and bent it into a horseshoe shape to bridge the connection, low and behold it worked! The indicator lights for reverse and neutral worked however the display was dead at this point for some reason. We hightailed it back to the truck and headed home for an early day.

Now the question is, why is this happening and what kind of damage may I have caused by bridging the connection like that. Will warranty most likely cover it? I am strongly considering a Honda at this point and I need you guys to re-assure me that this is not just the beginning.

THanks!

 

Well, a fuse that blows immediately is indicative of a short circuit, so I would start by looking at the wiring harness to see if anything is chafed through and grounding to the frame. I assume it's only the ignition circuit that is affected? Chaeck the leads to the coil, and around the handlebars, where the wires go up to the display. Might take a little while, but eventually you'll find it. I wouldn't suggest using bigger fuses, if it's shorting, you're only going to cause more damage somewhere else in the charging system. Finally, if it has warranty, use it. Good luck

 

My friend had this problem on his '02 400. The ignition fuse blew anytime the handlebars were turned to hard left. It turned out the wire harness under the speedo was all crossed up, and eventually the iginition wire insulation was worn through and shorted to the frame. After this occured, we took the front skin off and completely covered and re-routed all the wires and cables that come up through the frame. No problems since. Good luck.

 

I had the same problem on my 2000 400 cat. It was the connection at the footbrake pedal that activated the brake light, got wet and would stick. Either fix connection so it doesnt stick on or unplug. worked for me.