Short in wiring harness

[tmarshall]

Well it finally happened. The short in the wiring harness from the over-tightened tie-wrap under the instrument/headlight cluster. Starts fine, then when you turn the bars to the right it just stops, turn it left its fine. Now the question is how do I find the short, without ripping everthing apart. Any Ideas?

[tmarshall]

Okay I did search "tie wrap" and came up with some ideas. I guess I jumped the gun and should have search first. Thanks

[baltm604]

Don't be suprised to find the broken wire(s) directly under/next to a tie wrap. The vibration of the tie wrap can shear the wire inside the black casing without damaging the casing. When my turn signal cancel stopped working, the wire looked like it was cut with a laser it was so clean.

Good luck..

Bill

[paddle007]

Been there done that. I waited until a few lights were on the blink. The high beam indicator, right turn signal indicator and ABS light were out. When I cut into the harness I found nine wires broken or nearly broken.
Grab each wire and stretch it. The copper will break but the outer insulation will not. When it stretches like a rubberband you are on to something.
If you have an indicator light out, monitor it as you wiggle the harness. If you get a hit narrow your wiggling down to a smaller area and it should put you near the break. Goodluck with your hunt.

[tmarshall]

Found the culpret, sure enought the wire looked like it was cut with wire cutters. Soldered in a new piece of wire and shrink wrapped it put it back it in the black lomb, electrical taped it, good to go. On the road again!

P.S Tie wrapped but with not so tight.

[snowprick]

Found the culpret, sure enought the wire looked like it was cut with wire cutters. Soldered in a new piece of wire and shrink wrapped it put it back it in the black lomb, electrical taped it, good to go. On the road again!

P.S Tie wrapped but with not so tight.

A less than careful person may well have cut the wire accidentally when cutting the tie wrap. Its called "snip oh sh1t!"

Better to secure your loom with double sided Velcro tape. Just wrap it round the loom as though it was electrical tape. If you need to secure the loom to your headstock just wrap the loom AND one tie wrap as previously described then use the tie wrap to secure the lot to the headstock using the small hole provided by BMW. Job done. Forever!

[boxermania]

I'm beside myself on how well the new generation is taking to help new posters.....it just warms my heart that some of the formative work and shared experiences continue to help new owners.