2004 Vinson keeps blowing the main 30 amp fuse. This is the fuse that is seperate from the "group" of fuses for the lights, etc. This fuse is by itself nearest to the battery. It is the large, old style automotive type 30 amp. I rode for hours one day, parked it, got on it a few days later, rode about 10 minutes and this fuse blew. Every time I put a new one in, it would either blow immediately or within a few minutes of riding. I visually checked the wiring and could not find a short. Thanks.

 

Have you added anything, like lights or winches, or is it completely stock?
Does the fuse blow with just the key on, and the motor not running?

 

No, it is completely stock. The fuse would blow even when the key was not turned on. We also tried taking all the small style fuses out hoping to eliminate those circuits, but still had the same problem.

 

Heres how Id procede. Get a test light , I found one at home dump, and it has two leads, with aligator clips on both leads. I think it was a buck or so. Clip that test light across the blown fuse. The light should come on, if its drawing power, and it should be ...because it blowing fuses. That test light now becomes the load, and the rest of the wiring became the ground circuit, so a short wont hurt any thing now. Do this with the key off ( because you said it would then) and its safer.
Now remove one fuse at a time, and replace it, if the light stays on, because it isnt the problem. If you remove a fuse and the light goes out, then you found the circuit.
Its really gonna help, if you have a wiring diagram. If you dont have one, post another thread and ask if someone could scan and send a wiring diagram for the quad.
Now comes the work.... If yanking the fuses doesnt hit paydirt, systematicly go thru ,wiggling wire bundles and separate wires, until you find one that makes he light go out. This will be the shorted wire. Look for sharp metal edges rubbing the wire insulation off and the bare wire touching metal.
If this doesnt produce results Then you have a component failure, and my first thing to disconnect would be the voltage regulator/rectifier unit. Id also ohm out the stator, youre looking for shorted wires, so as long as you get some resistance, its good.
Can you think of anything that has happened to it? Accident? Kids used it? Oil change? When did it act up, and what happened just before that?
Is it still under warentee?
Welcome to the forums, and let us know what you find.

 

Thanks a lot Hondabuster..... I have already messed with your test light method, but I was worried that leaving it hooked up might make the problem worse since it would not be fuse protected. What would you think the "breaking" point of the test light would be? It has to be more than 30 amps, since it did not blow the bulb when I was messing with it. I hope that made sense. I was afraid leaving the light hooked up would be similar to hard wiring the fuse. BTW....nothing drastic has happened lately...just hard riding.

 

On your last ride you didn't happen to get in any water did you? If so it's possiable that water may have gotten somewhere that is causing it to short out.

 

The resistance of the load determines the current flow. A fuse has almost no resistance, and lots of current flows. The test light is very high resistance and only allows a very small current to flow, and anything 'downstream' from the bulb can only get as much current as flows thru the test light. If you hook up your ohm meter to the test light, ( out of the circuit..we dont want voltage going thru the meter when its set on ohms), youll see a very high resistance.
Think of a load as a restriction in a water hose, the pressure is the voltage, ...now if you have a big opening (low resistance), a big volume of water will flow(current), but if you have a small opening( high resistance), only a tiny bit of water will get thru.
It helps to think of an electrical circuit in terms of water in a hose, it makes it easier to understand.
You can leave the light hooked up as long as you like.
Did you get a wiring diagram, or do you have one?

 

Thanks for the replies. We dug into a little deeper today and found a wire loom rubbed an edge brace till it went through a wire and was grounding out like you guys said. Fixed it and everything is fine.

 

Thanks for letting us know.
Thats the best you could have hoped for....you found the bad wire repaired it and got it running,...for free.
A good way to keep it from happening again, is to split a fuel hose lengthwise, and zip tie it over that sharp edge to keep another wire form getting cut.