Any chance maybe some sort of rodent or critter got in there somewhere while it was up on stands for a while, and maybe it got into the wiring?

 

I am a 71 year old with lots of mechanical experience and electrical also. I am stumped. I have had this Cruiser for 15 years. 307,000 miles and still going strong. Put it on stands to do front brakes. Held up a while for a rotor, two calipers and pads to come in. Parts arrived, installed them put the the wheels back on it and set it back in the ground.
When I went to start it I had no instrument or gauges, lights or starter. Found battery dead. Put the charger on the battery and the charger tripped off. The positive clamp on the charger was hot to touch. Un hooked the positive side cables and charged the battery overnight.
When I put the cables back on the battery I got a very large violent dead short ark. Found that unhooking all the wires on the alternator got rid of the ark. Hooked up the cable and turned on the key. Popped several fuses in run position. Starter would turn the engine but engine will not start. The white/red wire at the battery has continuity to ground but I can't find the problem.
So strange that I have been driving it with no problem and drove it into the shop to work on it. Did the front brakes and now an electrical problem.
I have full set factory manual with electrical also. Me and a friend have been all over this cruiser and the manual for a few days and are feeling foolish. I would appreciate any help but please no part changer suggestions.

I am only now finding out that the key may have been left on.

Any chance maybe some sort of rodent or critter got in there somewhere while it was up on stands for a while, and maybe it got into the wiring?

Not likely at all. We are in and out of there all day long.

 

1. Use an electrical meter Ohms setting. Stick the black lead to the frame (ground) and one by one test all your red (positive) cables from the battery to the alternator. Does the alternator have a built in voltage controller? Check voltage controller for a short circuit to ground.

2. Check for a starter relay switch. My neighbor has a 96 Cruiser and he had a similar issue. Turns out the starter solenoid and starter were drawing off a weak positive (skinny wire). He installed a new 30amp relay switch and a heavier cable so the ignition wire (thin) would trigger the heavier relay system. This is after replacing the starter and solenoid.

 

I would post this on ih8mud a forum dedicated to land cruisers. Specifically the 80 series thread

 

Finally found what caused the problem but still wondering how to fix it. Did any of you know that a completely drained battery could be charged in reverse polarity? The clamps had been pulled off of the charger by a young man that worked with us and reinstalled backwards. Once charged in reverse we had an arc when installing. Looked and looked for the problem and finally discovered after un hooking the main wire from the alternator to the battery the arc became very small as if powering the clock and open door indicators. As soon as we turned on the key several fuses popped and we lost the instruments. Now that we have discovered the reverse polarity and replaced the battery the cruiser starts and runs fine. Problem is it now still blows many of the fuses as soon as the key is turned on and their are no instruments. This thing has given me brain drain now for months. Anyone got some Idea where to look for what may fix this cruiser?

 

Take it to a shop and let them fix it