Turned ingition key hit starter now nothing

[MrOzz]

Come on, Electricity is all smoke!! Anytime anything electrical ever quit working it is cause someone let the smoke out. Goes right to the generating stations, the smoke out the stacks is the extra smoke not needed in the pipes.

LOL, Yes everything electrical runs on that magical blue smoke.

Battery did fine with the load test. Heres the odd part. Got home put battery back in and all comes on now. Grrrrrrr. Rode the bike around on some short hops. Everything seems to be working. I guess the best thing to do would be to recheck all the connections on the bike.

I will be replacing the fuse box soon.

Thanks all for your help

[devilschld]

ok let me ask it this way. ozz let me see if i can discribe what u have going on so they all can answer u right.

when u hit the switch it started and then quit. u hit starter again and nothing. if it did that let me know what u find out my 80 has the same ghost. i have changed fuse box,the starter relay,main fuses on both sides and a brand new battery. but i still get the same thing every once in a while.

[3Phase]

Okay, it just worked when you put the battery back in. I hate it when that happens! Maybe you have a bad battery cable/terminal or the ground cable is loose where it connects to the frame and you wiggled it enough to get temporary contact when you put the battery back in the bike.

Checking the connectors and ground points is a good idea and I seem to have missed your earlier question about the ignition switch terminals.

There should be four wires on your SG's igniton switch: Red, Brown, Blue, and Yellow/Red.

Red is battery power and should always be hot if the Main 30 amp fuse is good.
Blue is switched power to the tail light through the fuse box.
Brown is unfused switched main power to the alternator and to the fuse box.
Yellow/Red is unfused switched power for the hazard flasher/lights.

Unplug the switch from the harness connector.

To get the key to turn to the Lock and Park positions you have to push the key down/in, release it, then turn the key counter-clockwise to Lock, then one more click for Park.

With the switch On you should have continuity between all four wires.

With the switch Off you should only have continuity between the Red wire and the Yellow/Red wire (so you can use the flashers with the ignition off).

With the Switch in the Lock position you should not have continuity between any wires at all. Everything is off.

With the switch in the Park position you should have continuity between the Red, Blue, and Yellow/Red wires. The Park position powers the tail light and the hazard flasher.


Just a little warning: after a ride it's easy to accidentally move the switch past the Lock position into Park because Park is the last 'click' postition on the switch. If you leave the bike in Park for too long the tail light will run down the battery.

Take your time and don't get discouraged!


Regards,

Scott

[MrOzz]

ok let me ask it this way. ozz let me see if i can discribe what u have going on so they all can answer u right.

when u hit the switch it started and then quit. u hit starter again and nothing. if it did that let me know what u find out my 80 has the same ghost. i have changed fuse box,the starter relay,main fuses on both sides and a brand new battery. but i still get the same thing every once in a while.

I hit the starter button. Heard a click. Then no power anywhere. Starter did not even crank. I thought at first the started solinoid was shorting out causing the problem. Removed the solinoid and put a replacement one in but same issue. Right now all seems to be working properly. One of those intermintent issues that I hate trying to figure out.

3Phase,

Thanks for the info on the ignition switch. I have checked the battery conections at the terminals and on the bike. All seems tight. No loose conections or signs of broken conections so far. I will just keep going over the harness to see if I find anything wrong.

Thanks all for your help with this. If anyone has anymore suggestions they will be welcomed Also I will be replaceing that old fuse panel with a newer one.



Ozz

[3Phase]

I hit the starter button. Heard a click. Then no power anywhere. Starter did not even crank.

If it happens again, short across the solenoid terminals to see if the starter motor works.

If it works you know the battery and starter motor are okay and their connections are good so you can check someplace else.

Oh, I got the color wrong for one wire on the ignition switch. The Hazard flasher wire is Red/Yellow (Red with a Yellow stripe) not Yellow/Red (Yellow with a Red stripe). Oops. Sorry about that. I should read my own schematic instead of going from memory.


Regards,

Scott

[XJOK2PLAY]

Ozz,
Sorry to hear this thing's being a PITA for you!

Nothing I hate worse than intermittent electrical problems...

Guess the only sure way you'll ever get to the bottom of it now is wait 'til it occurs again.

Trouble is... nobody knows where you'll be at the time... but chances are it'll be outta pocket... that always seems to be Murphy's law...

You could go from stem to stern and redo every connection... but never know for sure it's fixed or what the problem was... unless you happen to stumble on something obvious along the way...

Then if it's a defective part, you still haven't fixed it...

The only way you'll know for sure is IF it happens again.

But, if it does, a schematic and a multimeter are your best tools.

UNLESS, when you redo the fuseblock and check the connections behind it you happen to score! One can only hope...

Good luck, and I'll be keeping my fingers crossed and holding my breath, etc. for you...

[MrOzz]

3Phase,

Thanks for the info. I will try shorting across the solenoid terminals to see if the starter motor works if it happens again.

XJOK2PLAY,

Been riding all weekend. So far so good. I just hate that feeling of "when I get there am I going to have the problem again?" lol.

Who knows maybe after going through all the conections and checking most of the harness that I could with out unwrapping it all I happen to get it fixed.

I am also keeping my fingers crossed.

Thanks for all the help,

Ozz