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Need help with short

Qzhonda450r

New Member
Hello, I’m new here. I have a 89 5.0 manual. I pulled the motor to freshen it up and reinstalled it. Everything started up and ran fine for about 5 minutes. I put it in gear and moved it forward a few feet then let it idle. It idled for about another minute then turned off. I can’t get any power to anything. I want to check for a short but when I hook up the negative terminal to the battery it sparks very bad. I put a multimeter up to the negative terminal to the ground and it just read a -1 and the wires were getting hot. Ive searched all over even in other forums and can’t figure out where to go from here as to how to diagnose the problem. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 

broncojunkie

Well-Known Member
A short in any of the wiring should be fused and will result in a blown fuse, instead of the problem you're describing. Yes, it will spark, but just for a second or two and then the fuse will blow. The only exception that I'm aware of are the battery cables themselves and the wiring going to the starter and alternator. I would inspect them closely. Look at the starter relay on the inner fender. That's a common problem area.
 

Qzhonda450r

New Member
A short in any of the wiring should be fused and will result in a blown fuse, instead of the problem you're describing. Yes, it will spark, but just for a second or two and then the fuse will blow. The only exception that I'm aware of are the battery cables themselves and the wiring going to the starter and alternator. I would inspect them closely. Look at the starter relay on the inner fender. That's a common problem area.
I’ll check it out. Thanks for the advice
 
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