well I was like a good half mile off road by walking... but a mile and a half by way of driving... so I could kinda understand... and the sand was soft... he probably would have been burried if the tow truck would have come

fucking riders were just passing you? thats irks me.

I was just sitting there on a rock waiting for the tow truck. If I had waved down any of the bikers, I'm sure most would have pulled over to help.

So what did I do with the bike? I used my digital voltmeter to figure out what's wrong. With the battery out, I checked the resistance of the power wire from the battery and ground. No resistance, that means a short. I used a clothespin to hold one wire to the power wire while I probed grounds. The Kawasaki R/R that I installed had a ground wire together with a ground for the lights. No resistance until I separated both grounds.

The ground from the R/R was open, but the ground from the lights wasn't. I went to the schematic.

http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/4...hematicak5.jpg

The orange wire had continuity, so I pulled the ignition switch. That's when I found a burned mark on the back of it. I took off the back and saw what burned it.

http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/1...nswitchiy9.jpg

The red wire at BAT is completely melted away, and the orange wire is burned too. So I need a new or used ignition switch. They come apart so I can use my key and cylinder with a new electrical switch underneath.

Surprisingly, Suzuki still makes them at $145@, but it will take a week to get one. All the used motorcycle parts stores are closed on Monday, so I'll call them tomorrow. Of course it was 75 degrees today. You know I wouldn't give up too easy on this.

Glad to hear you got it all figured out. Sounds like the overall fix hasn't cost too much either.

I bid on a 1978 ignition switch on ebay and won it on Monday evening. I received it in the mail this morning. Waited until after lunch to install it. Then I had to do a three-hour test ride to make sure it worked right.

The funny thing about electronics is that it always finds the weakest wire or most corroded switch to mess up. I took several connectors apart behind the headlight and sprayed contact cleaner on them. it was a great day for riding.