Electrical Gremlins...

[airborneXS]

First off, this forum is awesome...every problem I've encountered, I've been able to track down with help from various members of this forum...

Last night I got my bike running better, with help from here on checking things in my carbs...now , for some strange reason, my oil light came on for awhile, then flickered off, and stayed off. Shortly thereafter, the bike shut down with no power what so ever, blowing a fuse. I replaced the fuse and rode it home. Riding to school this morning, the bike shut down. I was able to turn on the ignition and get power, no visible fuse was blown, but I could not get the bike started. The starter wouldn't engage. I jumped the solenoid with a screwdriver, and it started and ran for a moment, but when I pulled the screwdriver off it shut down. Now what?

[ViperRon]

Wolf these bike are notorious for electrical connection problems a little elbo grease and lubrication to make solid electrical connections will resolve most issues. Crazy Steve sent out a long writeup several times to assist in electrical problems I will send a copy as private message because of the length. Use this and the electrical info in the manual and you should be able to trace it down.

I am sure Steve will update this in the work he is doing.

[fredintoon]

That the iggy only works when the starter solenoid is bridged shows the startup power to the iggybox works but the normal one don't. That hints that at least one of the multi-plugs in the harness acting up.
The big white one where the 3 alternator wires plug into the harness can melt itself for a pastime. The rest of them can get dodgy too.
Best you take apart and clean every last connector on the bike.
And consider upgrading the fusebox to a TC unit, A 30 year old glass tube fuse set up is prone to malfunctions.

[airborneXS]

How do I get the TC fuse box unit? Can I use a simple fuse box from an auto parts store? I wanted to ask before I did....

[crazy steve]

Crazy Steve sent out a long writeup several times to assist in electrical problems I will send a copy as private message because of the length..

All my 'troubleshooting electrical' posts are now in the 'repairs' forum...

[JasonRedbeard]

Run a quick search on "fuse box." You'll get plenty of hits, and there's at least one good write up with pics floating around out there. You can PM TopCatGr58 (TC) for the upgrade fuse box. It's cheap and easy and WELL worth the investment. The fuse box can be had from other sources as well (mine came from Amazon) but you'll have to source the terminals separately. TC sells it all as a kit for the same price.

[Schming]

"...for some strange reason, my oil light came on for awhile, then flickered off, and stayed off. Shortly thereafter, the bike shut down with no power what so ever..."

JAT Could the engine be low on oil enough to shut the ignition off ?

[fredintoon]

JAT Could the engine be low on oil enough to shut the ignition off ?

Hi John,
there's no safety link between the low oil warning and the ignition.
You could drain all the oil and run the motor until it seized if you wanted to.

[barrelguy]

How do I get the TC fuse box unit? Can I use a simple fuse box from an auto parts store? I wanted to ask before I did....

I just installed a fuse block on my SG. Bought it and all connectors from Lordco Auto Parts but I'm sure NAPA has the same stuff. Total investment about $12.00

[mack]

Keeping it in the family

Last time I bought one from TC it was $10.00

[airborneXS]

WOW!!! So i started going thru the electrical, and right off the bat, i found that the P.O. had installed 20a fuses across the board...if im looking at the ORIGINAL fuse box, from left to right, its supposed to be a 30a, 10a, 20a and a 10a, correct?

[petejw]

jat,
check ur ballast resistor isnt faulty,
its located under the tank on the upper left
frame rail, it wouldnt affect the starter button, but when
u mentioned u cranked it over by the solenoid and then
wouldnt fire once u took the screw driver away, sounds like
it could be part of the problem, u can bypass the resistor to see
if its faulty by joining the 2 wires together.


this wouldnt affect the oil light, check that the wire is secured
to the oil switch tightly.

[cywelchjr]

While the ballast resistor could cause that, it wouldn't cause the normal starter button to not work, but the run/stop switch could, and would cause the symptoms you describe as while the solenoid is jumped that switch is temp bypassed. It also IIRC bypassed a fuse or two, so that's something to look at as well, so with the other issues I would include cleaning the connections and replacing the fuse box. Many who have chased seemingly unrelated issues have found that replacing the fuse box made them go away.

[airborneXS]

Holy crap the po sucks!!!!

So this is what im starting with, doesnt look at all what the clymers manual says....AGHHHHH!!!!!! I want to punch this PO in the head, there is so much done completely wrong on this bike that Im like "WTF"!!!! I mean come on, any idiot can use google, thats how I found yall!!!!

[jetmechmarty]

It should look more like this: