86' electrical problem

I keep blowing the fuse for my gauge, tail & marker lamps, yet everytime I check the circiut for draw it read 4.5 amps total. I currently am running a 15 amp fuse, last night was the first time it has blown @ night when I could see it happen. The way in which it occurs tends to make me beleive it is a intermittent direct short to ground, but I have yet to find any bare wiring etc.
Has anyone else experience a similar problem & if so what & where did you find it.

 

I do alot of electrical work and here is how I would approach your problem. Install a circuit breaker ( rated the same amperage as the original fuse) and as your short occurs the breaker will click in and out. You can feel for a warm wire or disconnect bulbs at harness connectors to see which one gets rid of your excessive amperage draw. Do NOT use a 20 or 30 amp breaker. You will fry your harness.
You can also use a short finder . It looks like a volt gauge with no numbers. As your breaker clicks , slide the short finder along your harness. The needle will actually point to the direction of your short. A good parts store or Snap On will have a short finder. I also have an 86. As a rule you will rarely find a short in the middle of your harness. Always check harness connectors and bulb sockets.. Please post what you find or if you need more help

 

I'll check w/ Snappy tommorow on the short finder when he comes for his weekly chunk of my paycheck. This is what I was up to tonight, installed a new fuse all lights worked great for about five minutes. Then the fuse popped, I installed another fuse popped immediately. using a 30 amp fuse I just touched the contracts in the fuse block lights where very dim. disconnected front turn/markers retried still dim, left front disconnected & disconnected tail lamp bulbs. Tried again gauge lights now came on bright. checked resistance to ground on both tail light sockets was @ .4 ohms pulled @ cleaned the ground wire @ the rh front rear fairing mount bracket. Rechecked resistance had .2 ohms. 1157 bulb contacts where flattened as they all do over time replaced bulbs. Bulbs seemed to fit loosely in sockets clamped sockets tighter w/ pliers, installed bulbs. Turned on key touched fuse to contacts tail & gauge lights on bright, reconnected front markers tried again lights again came on bright. Installed 15a fuse, let lights stay on for over 10 mins all was fine. Got dressed to leave work, started bike let it idle for about 5 minutes lights all good, sat on the bike put up the kick stand started backing out of my parking spot & the fuse blew. Attached my trusty battery powered tail light off my mountain bike that I grabbed this morning just in case to my license plate & came home gauging my speed by sound.(1hr commute)

 

those Snappy bills just never go away !

 

Problem found

I found the problem, the light that I never check & don't really care about was the source of my pain. The license plate light &/or harness is shorted, I disconnected the harness under the seat after realizing the bulb was not operable & whoala no more blown fuses, even went back down to the rated 10 amp fuse & all is good. I suppose I will have to tear apart & fix it before the State Patrol decides its a reason to pull me over, they would be the only one who would care.