Positive battery cable grounded out while driving.......

As the title states my positive battery cable grounded to the battery box right next to the terminal. Luckily nothing started on fire and I was close to home. I'm wondering what the first thing I should look for is as the bike won't start, nothing even lights up with the key on. It was pretty scary seeing steam from the battery and hearing it boil inside. Oh, and oviousky the cables are disconnected at the moment. Any advice is much appreciated!

 

Main fuse next to the starter relay.

I'll be making a trip out your way this summer for the annual Aerostich tent sale ... do you happen to know when that is this year?

 

I checked it and it's still good. I hooked a battery charger up to the cables and the relay clicks like it has a dead battery and everything lights up. Should I get a new battery because I literally just bought this one today.

And I have actually never been to the tent sale, but now I'm gonna do some research and find out!

 

Oh shit. Sorry, I assumed you replaced the battery ... if you heard it boiling, you'e probably lost most of the solution in it.

Take it in and get it tested, but I'm pretty it's probably done based on your description of the event.

Let me know what you find out! I'll be heading to Duluth this summer ... #1 is a great ride!

 

So aerostitch said there wasn't anything planned yet, but they would give quite a bit of advanced notice before the sale.

As far as my bike goes, everything turns on now and the motor cranks over, but I have no spark. I checked for DC Voltage at the coil packs and I am not getting anything. What should my next step be? Oh, the plugs are good as well as the wires.....

 

Work your way back from the coils to the battery.

Did you check your ignition fuse in addition to the main fuse?

Let me know if / when you hear something from Aerostich.

 

I'm thinking pull the wiring diagram out and see if you can see where power comes from to the coil pack, shorted battery can do bad things

 

All fuses are good. I'll do some searching for a wiring diagram. For some reason my gut is telling me the fuse didn't do its job and now my CDI box is fried....

 

I'm thinking similar thoughts, just didn't want to mention it. Probably can't blame the fuse, a short like this doesn't put power through that fuse it just bypasses everything in a meltdown. I'm not sure with a CDI ignition setup if you should have 12 volts at the coil pack or the charge is sent to the coil to energize it to fire the spark. The Kettering system has constant power at the coil, not sure if CDI does, somebody else will know and I'm not sure what system was used in 1991, got all to complicated after they stopped using points

 

Yeah, I'd have to concur as well about the CDI.

If you can dig up a service manual somewhere, there's likely a test you can do with your meter to determine that.