Won't start, advice please!

[drooker56]

I am reassembling I have everyhting electrically put back together including the old fuse block. I will be replacing this but I am getting power on all sides so this issue lies elswhere. The button does not work. I can jump the cylinoid and it starts up but shuts down when I remove the jump. Like I said I have power on all sides in the fuse block but I am not sure where else to look for this.

[BigDick]

Have you taken apart your handlebar controls and checked them? See if you have power coming in with your ignition key on, check if you're getting good contact, just keep chasing the circuit. Do you have a wiring diagram?

[drooker56]

I don't have a diagram. Everything looks good inside the controls, i replaced the starter button last year and cleaned it up well. The key/ignition switch shows power. I have neutral and oil lights. I am not an electrition, i have common sense to a point but apparently its not as advanced as my 30 year old motorcycle. Are there any other common points of trouble?

[BigDick]

I'm not too good at tracing down electrical problems myself, about the only other thing I can suggest is look for broken wires, smokey wires, and clean your connections. Hopefully we'll get someone else to chime in soon!

[DJinNH]

I am reassembling I have everyhting electrically put back together including the old fuse block. I will be replacing this but I am getting power on all sides so this issue lies elswhere. The button does not work. I can jump the cylinoid and it starts up but shuts down when I remove the jump. Like I said I have power on all sides in the fuse block but I am not sure where else to look for this.

I'm not any good at electrical work so I can't judge what might be wrong from your symptoms you list.

But.....

When I first got my SG, I went through everything electrical to clean it and supposedly put it back the way I got it.

Well....I cleaned that kill switch box but mounted it up-side-down so the bike basically thought it was laying on it's side, thus, killing the engine. It took me two freakin days to find out what I did wrong.

The kill switch is in a small metal box located on the frame above your engine. It's roughly 2"x2"x1" and mounts right below the center of your gas tank. Any chance you messed with that? It has a half loop inside that a washer rests on. If your bike is tipped over, the washer slides to one side and kills the power to your engine. Obviously, if it is up-side-down, the washer goes to the side.

Don

[DJinNH]

[drooker56]

I would have been thrilled if that was it, but no dice. Still everything works but it wont start or stay running. I have all turn signals unhooked at the moment but i can't see how that would make a difference. Please anymore help would be so wonderfully appreciated.

[DiverRay]

You have a ballast resistor problem! Looking at te picture DJinNH posted, just below the front tank mount is a metal box held in place with a single screw. It has two red and white stripe wires going to it. You can unplug the wires and plug them into each other. If the bike now runs, the ballast resister is bad, AND NEEDS TO BE REPLACED. The '78/'79 bikes NEED this, the later coils, and mikesxs coils do not.

[drooker56]

I just went out and tried this. Still nothing. I am getting very frustrated. Thanks for the help and if anyone has anymore ideas please let me know. I cannot find any visibly broken or unplugged wires but as I said before I am not great with electrical systems. If anyone has a wiring diagram I would love to see it but I am not sure if i could make heads or tails. I am begging now to the XS gods please help me find this, I have been looking for this for two days.

[DiverRay]

The only thing left is check for spark! Pull ALL of the plugs out, plug the caps back on, and lay them on the head. Crank the bike, looking for a spark. If no spark, or just now and then, pull the left crank cover and do the pickup coil wire check, as stated in the tech tips.
I'd like to help locally, but it's a bit of a ride, and I am still looking for a "real job". The thing about electricity is it's very logical. If you understand plumbing, just think of the wires as pipes, sending water.

[drooker56]

I have spark. If I jump the cylinoid ti fires to life but only for as long as the screw driver is held there which of course is only a second or two. I don't like doing that but it was just to test it. It acts like a kill switch is on and I really thought that DJ was on to something but it was on correctly. Is there any possibility it could be in the ignition switch. I saw someone else had problems with there's buti have power everywhere just won't run.

[3Phase]

I would have been thrilled if that was it, but no dice. Still everything works but it wont start or stay running. I have all turn signals unhooked at the moment but i can't see how that would make a difference. Please anymore help would be so wonderfully appreciated.

Well, if all fuse block connections are good and the engine starts when you jump the solenoid but won't stay running then, depending upon exactly how you jumped the solenoid, you've verified everything in the ignition circuit is working except the ignition fuse, the ballast resistor, the kill switch and the start button.

Check the Ignition fuse again.

Check for 12 volts at the Red/White and Blue/White wires on the starter solenoid.

If there's voltage at both wires on the solenoid, check the Start button.

If there's no voltage at the solenoid, follow the Red/White wire back to the right-hand handlebar switch and check both Red/White wires at the connector for 12 volts.

Check for 12 volts on the Red/White wire at the TCI connector.


Regards,

Scott

[drooker56]

I have power at the red/white and blue/white. The starter button was new last year, I eyed it but coulod probobly check it better. what is the TCI? The red white to the handlebars is the kill switch, right? Should i have power on both sides? I wasn't sure if it worked by making or breaking a curcuit.

[DiverRay]

You SHOULD have 12 volts to both sides, unless the kill switch is in the OFF position. I've found the kill switch plastic has come apart on two of my '79 bikes. The bike would just die, then start again. You may need to take it apart and look/clean the contacts.

[3Phase]

I have power at the red/white and blue/white. The starter button was new last year, I eyed it but coulod probobly check it better. what is the TCI? The red white to the handlebars is the kill switch, right? Should i have power on both sides? I wasn't sure if it worked by making or breaking a curcuit.

The kill switch on the handlebar breaks the circuit. The Tipover switch shorts it to ground when you tip over the bike.

The TCI is the Transistor Controlled Ignition. It's the black box with two connectors and a bunch of wires going into it.


You may have two ignition problems if you have power on both wires at the solenoid but the bike won't start.

The Start button isn't working. It grounds the Blue/White wire to make the solenoid work.

If the bike starts when you jump the Blue/White wire to ground but it stops when you remove the jumper, the ballast resistor is bad or its connections are loose.


The solenoid temporarily powers the starter motor and a Red/Yellow wire that hooks straight to the coils, bypassing the ballast resistor. That is why the bike will start then stop running when you jump/remove the jumper at the solenoid.


Regards,

Scott