Dead bike!

[tw1980]

Garth I don't think the switch is not your problem it looks fine and you said the solder connections on the back of the plate look ok.Volt meter or test light.Check if power is going to switch then check to see if power is coming out of switch on proper wires.I'll keep watching your post. Terry

[3Phase]

It appears to be intact. What a pain , it all looks like it should work but it doesn't

Garth, if you have power to the Red/Yellow wire for the 4-way flasher then power is getting into the switch it's just not making back out on the Brown wire or the Blue wire (are you sure the Tail light isn't working?).

If the solder is good on the back of the contact plate and the Brown wire isn't broken inside the insulation then, like Ivan said, it's possible to put the switch together wrong and it'll look right. XJOK2PLAY's suggestion to use your meter to test continuity while the switch is out of the bike, on your bench, is a good one. If it still won't work just put a toggle switch somewhere and hide it until you can find a new ignition switch.

Take that silly switch off, cut the wires off of the back of the contact plate and crimp the Brown and Blue wires together. You aren't using the 4-way flashers so leave the Red/Yellow wire unconnected.

Put the Red wire on one terminal and the Blue and Brown wires on the other terminal.

Go riding.

Find another ignition switch real soon before someone twigs to the toggle switch hack and steals your bike.

Yes you can switch the switch bodies and contacts so you can still use your key but be careful or you'll have two bad ignition switches!


Regards,

Scott

[GARTHXS]

dial

I am no electrician , what setting on the dial should I set it to check continuety

[GARTHXS]

recheck

So I pulled the iggy again and checked and rechecked pulled the spade from the brown wire and recrimped and bench tested it seems to work , I will try it on the bike again

[GARTHXS]

#%$#^&w$

so rechecked and reinstalled iggy plugged it in and after getting it to work (turn key and got neutral light ) put it all back together and hit the starter button and all I here is a click and then the bike is dead again #$%# ,and the fuses are all fine, pulled the head light again check the connector and I have continuity from the red to the brown on the switch side connector , and the red on the bike side is hot , but when I plug it together the connection is hot on the red wire switch side but the brown only shows marginal juice like .37 not 12.00v pulled the spade conector on the brown wire re crimped it and still no juice

[Ivan]

I'm betting you have a dead battery or a bad ground. You should get your battery load tested. You can do this by hooking your volt meter up to the battery and jumping the solenoid to make the starter crank. If it doesnt crank and the volts go way down, your battery is toast.

If it doesnt crank, and the volts stay at 12, then start looking for high current ground issues. They say the ground strap at the middle drive gives problems a bunch.

I say this because everything failed when you put a load on the system via the starter.

[GARTHXS]

no crank and battery goes down in voltage

good thing I have another in my 79

[Ivan]

Cool. Should be able to swap them as a final diagnostic, without having to lay down some scratch for a new battery.

Normally this is caused by "Sulfation". The battery is an electrochemical reactor, and over time the sulfur and lead make a salt that is semi conductive. When this builds up enough around the plates, it will form a bridge. This is essentially a resistor. Since electricity always flows via the path of least resistance, the low current circuits will work fine, since the sulfites are moree resistive. When a heavy load like the starter is applied, the resistance in the circuit is higher than the sulfite, and you have a direct short.

[GARTHXS]

genius

Ivan thanks , as luck would have it I have an extra in my 79f swapped battery and bike fires , should of checked that first and I would have benn done by now

[John]

Garth

Just for grins, have you tried to jump the red wire in the harness connector (plug)to the brown wire in the harness connector and see if the bike will run then? I had an incident last year where the pigtail to the ign switch got severed, and I just made a three pronged jumper wire, essentially making the same connection the ign switch would make, plugged it into the ign switch connector in the harness and drove 400 miles like that until I was able to get home and repair the ign switch pigtail.

[GARTHXS]

certifiable

fixxed

I took it for a test ride looks like it was dead battery after all!!

[oldyam80sg]

Dead batteries will cause alot of problems.This past weekend i was so aggravated i took alot of things apart to try to get bike to work.Battery was dying!Would charge it and it would die again.

[bikerphil]

batteries

You know the old saying... "When in doubt, throw 'em out"

[XJOK2PLAY]

Not giving up is a virtue...

Way to go Garth! Glad ya got it goin! 'Ole Ivan knows a thing or two about these electrical systems. I've been an electrician now for 38 years, but an XSive only since Feb., so I'm still not thoroghly versed in the electrical system layout on these bikes. And so far, I haven't had to learn the hard way with my XJ either! LOL (Knocking on wood at this very moment...)
They're all pretty similar, just where they stashed the components is the issue, and where did they move it from year to year.
The 3 best tools you can have (beyond basic knowledge of electrical) is a good DVOM, a schematic, and a flashlight.
Also, (and forgive me if you already know this), I forgot to mention to never try to check continuity with a DVOM on a live circuit. It will blow the fuse in the DVOM, (and lead to more frustration...)
It would figure it would be the battery, after all that! Wouldn't be the first time I've ventured on a wild goose chase or two myself. Good job.
Regards,
Bob

[tw1980]

Glad you got it going John.Note to Ivan.If your battery load test isn't posted in the tech tips it should be.Good job! Terry