Engine kept shutting off in gear. Eventually lost all power

[navid]

My engine shut off in the middle of highway. I brought it to the shoulder and restarted the engine in neutral.

When I put it in 1st and slowly let out the clutch, the engine shut off again right as the clutch was engaging. Tried this twice and same thing happended. After that I lost all power (dash had no lights, no blinkers). I felt like I smelled something burning.

 

I'm at a loss for what could've gone wrong. The burning smell is the most concerning part for me.

[br4nd0n]

I'm not well versed in this area, but it sounds like you may have smoked your clutch.

[Triple Jim]

Have you looked around the battery area for evidence of the positive terminal or cable contacting ground? 

As far as stalling when you let out the clutch in first gear, that points to the side stand switch thinking the stand was down, or a broken, unplugged, or otherwise damaged wire in that circuit.

[navid]

3 hours ago, Triple Jim said:

Have you looked around the battery area for evidence of the positive terminal or cable contacting ground? 

As far as stalling when you let out the clutch in first gear, that points to the side stand switch thinking the stand was down, or a broken, unplugged, or otherwise damaged wire in that circuit.

I'm taking a look at the battery and fuses today.

The kickstand switch turns off the bike the moment you switch into gear. My engine was still on in gear and only went out when I let off the clutch and the bike lurched a little.

[navid]

5 hours ago, Triple Jim said:

Have you looked around the battery area for evidence of the positive terminal or cable contacting ground? 

As far as stalling when you let out the clutch in first gear, that points to the side stand switch thinking the stand was down, or a broken, unplugged, or otherwise damaged wire in that circuit.

Bwing an idiot, I left a wrench in the passenger seat. It slid all the way into the center and shorted a live wire. I have no idea how it got the heat to melt into the live wire. That drained the battery.

Would you know what this wire is? It connects to a orange heatsink.

 

[sweetscience]

Well, if the previous owner installed LED lights, that could be a load resistor.  Load resistors are used instead of the easier method of using an LED flasher relay.  If you can see the wire insulation color(s) it will tell you what it is connected to.  I can't think of any live wire that would make the wrench arc voltage.  My guess is when the wrench slid form the back seat, it had manage to sandwich itself between the wire and the rider seat giving enough compression to shear the insulation.  I would investigate that melted wire because it could be shoddy splicing or incorrect resistor. 

[navid]

2 hours ago, sweetscience said:

Well, if the previous owner installed LED lights, that could be a load resistor.  Load resistors are used instead of the easier method of using an LED flasher relay.  If you can see the wire insulation color(s) it will tell you what it is connected to.  I can't think of any live wire that would make the wrench arc voltage.  My guess is when the wrench slid form the back seat, it had manage to sandwich itself between the wire and the rider seat giving enough compression to shear the insulation.  I would investigate that melted wire because it could be shoddy splicing or incorrect resistor. 

Thanks, you're right about the load resistor. I searched the part and that's what it was. The wire that melted was thankfully just the turn signal line and the signals still work.

There's a semi exposed 12V line that goes into the main fuse (translucent box in the picture). One possibility is that it touched that and the frame (which is grounded) and created a short. And the wrench got hot enough to coincidentally melt the signal wire. That would explain why no fuse popped (the line shorted before the fuse).