New Guy needs Help

[livelifenowff]

This website was a great deal of help when i was researching this bike for a buy. I decided YES, and today i bought a 1979 xs 1100 special with 27000 miles for a cheap $800.. its amazing and my buddy with his '99 vtwin 1100 yamaha is a big fan as well.

Now to the electrical fun problems:

Tail light and rear markers work, no brake light, no turn flashing. the indicator for the brake light and turn in the meter assy. also doesn't show either. the front marker lights dont work at all but the headlight is ship shape in reg, and high beams. The tach and spedo lights work along with the Highbeam indicator, the neutral light does not. the tach is dead but does kindof flinch at 0 with a rev. All in all i still love the bike and it runs extremely well. The king and Queen seet witht the foot tall one piece seat/backrest is a little overwhealming, and the handlebars are a little Magoo, but i love the way it rides.

I know this is a long list and im going to work on ground cleaning and looking for loose connections tomorrow but if you guys can tell my any reason all those electrical problems are related i would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,
Kyle

[wingnut]

Welcome! Mine was doing the very same thing when I first got it. I found the fuse block to be the problem. The glass fuses checked ok with a meter but the blades of the holders were dirty. Cleaned them up with a small brass brush and the problem was solved. Do a search on fuse holders. TC can supply a nice blade type replacement that looks good and takes care of the problem for ever. Great price too. I'd still go thru and clean every connection and treat them with electrical grease. Do that first and it will save you lots of time later. Pictures, we love pictures of new rides! Again welcome to the site, lots of great folks here with lots of XS knowlage.

[mro]

There are several electric connectors behind head light as well as the front turn bullet connectors.

Behind the fuse block there are a few more connectors. A few others are easy to see with the seat off.

I had to clean the inside of connectors with a sewing needle and electrical cleaner spray to get everything on one XS working. Was a real PITA....

If after cleaning something don't work... may need to use a Multi-meter to track down problem.


mro
btw, no running lights on the specials (XSept tail light)

[livelifenowff]

Thanks for the help guys. Also, im wondering whats going on here, after doing some looking and seeing the previous post saying there are no running lights on my bike, why is there dual filament setup all around? the type of connectors used possibly point to some DS rewiring and messing stuff up. Also, in the blinker relay slot there is a two pin relay plugged into a 3 pin socket... I'm really lost there. Behind the headlight there are a few wires that deadend and are wrapped up with E tape. i guess i'll have to figure that out too.

again thanks for the help so far

[Jerry]

why is there dual filament setup all around?

Only the front should have dual filaments unless the PO was trying to convert the rears to running lights as well. (Tail/brake lights are dual filament.) Standard connectors are the 'bullet' type.

in the blinker relay slot there is a two pin relay plugged into a 3 pin socket

Not a problem, I run a dual-pin flasher. You loose the auto-cancel feature of the OEM 3-prong unit, but the 2-prong works fine. The OEM unit cost $70 - $80 to replace, so many XSives have gone to the 2-prong unit as a replacement. It can only plug in 2 ways, one way works and the other doesn't hurt anything, just won't work. IIRC the 2-prong should plug into the center (top) and right slots when the bike-side connector is held with the center slot up.

Bad ground connections are the single biggest reason that turn lights don't work. I would start by cleaning every ground on the turn lights, including the internal strap that grounds the bulb in the housing.

[livelifenowff]

thanks jerry,

I'm saving all of this because it will be 2 weeks before i get to see my machine again. Grr College. Do i need to take of the gas tank and clean connections under there or is behind headlight, under seat, and behind cover good enough. Do i need to get behind the fuse panel as well?

Thanks again

[Jerry]

electrivcal gremlins

All Japanese bikes from the '70s and '80s seem to have electrical gremlins, including Yamahas.

Here is what I would do, more or less in order:

Replace the fuse block. The OEM 'fingers' that hold the glass fuses corrode over time to the point where they don't conduct electricity like they should. If you remove the fuse and pinch the fingers they will likely snap clean off. Do a search on 'fuse block replacement' and you will see several approaches to fix this problem.

Replace all the marker lights with bulbs marked Heavy Duty. I've had several (!) cheap 1157 dual-filament bulbs fail with one filament falling on the other, causing weird intermittent problems.

Unplug and clean the power leads and grounds on the front. (3 wires, 1 ground, 1 for turning, 1 for running.)While you have the covers off to change bulbs, take off the little contact strip that grounds the bulbs to the stems and clean it. Clean the contact bases where the little pads contact the bottom of the bulbs. Spray cleaners are available, not cheap ($8 - $10 a can) but do the job well.

Remove the nut that holds the rear stems in place and clean the grounds there. Also clean the grounding straps and connection pads. Only 1 wire here, power for running lights.

Make sure the grounds are connected/tightened and apply power (I use a batery charger) to the power leads and make sure the bulbs all light up.

Replace the flasher with a known-good 2-prong unit.

Clean the battery ground cable at the frame and battery ends. If the cable looks like it has corrosion embedded in the copper strands, replace the cable.

If by now you are getting the feeling that cleanliness is critical, you are on the right track. If you do all these things your running and marker lights whould probably work OK.

Tach and neutral lights....

Neutral light may get fixed with the fuse block replacement. If not, there are only a couple things that go wrong. Replace bulb or check the wiring down to the switch. Very rare for the switch itself to go bad.

Tach can have more issues. Since it is electronic and reads pulses from the alternator circuit, trouble shooting can be more difficult. I would do a search on "charging system" or "tachometer problems" to get more details. You can check the various lines with an ohm meter to help track down the problem. However, this could be serious and I would look at it pretty quickly.

[kjgreenwood]

Hey, you did make it onto here! If you want me to, I can make sure your bike gets a few miles to keep her in good riding order before you get back in a couple weeks . Ill also talk to the yamaha place here in ames and see if they have any suggestions on where to get parts, maybe even some handlebars that arent as "magoo"

As for that seat... if you are really wanting to recover it, one of the guys i work with said there is a great leather place down on 14th next to the old kmart and redwing boot place that sells all sorts of hides for cheap... let me know.

[webbcraft2150]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by kjgreenwood
[B] Ill also talk to the yamaha place here in ames and see if they have any suggestions on where to get parts, maybe even some handlebars that arent as "magoo"

You will be hard pressed to find a Yamaho dealer that will be willing to help you much. There are ALOT of sources for parts better than the Yamaha dealer. Most of the parts guys you will talk to will have no clue what a XS11 is. Members here and E-bay are good sources for parts. Unless you local dealer and his staff has been around awhile, your gonna run into some walls.

DON'T let em work on your carbs.