Yay Electrical troubleshooting! 82xj1100

[Wouldstalk]

Ive been restoring this 82 xj1100 maxim for a few months now. I've just recently got down to the electrical. I've got 100% of everything, wires/relays connected correctly according to the electrical diagrams I've found.

The only problems i have remaining are Headlight does not work at all. The wires going to the bulb itself are feeding no power. The bulb itself works. I've installed a fresh fuse box with all new fuses. Tail light, both brake switches , turn flashers, hazards, instrument cluster all light up and function. i still can not get the headlight to come on.

Also are the front turn signals suppose to be on always? They do brighten when the hazards or turn signals are turned on, but they're on constant with the ignition is set to on or P2.

Lastly I have not gotten the bike to start yet. After a pass of general contact inspection and tinkering I was able to get the right side - under tank relay to actuate when turning the ignition on or off, but it just buzzes when the starter button is pressed and the starter motor does nothing. Jumping the main terminals on the starter solenoid does crank the engine. This is with a brand new battery(13.6v) and car jump starter/charger kit.

After attempting to fiddle with the starter relay(right side under tank) I ended up holding the starter button for 10~ seconds to see if the relay would commit and heard what sounded like a different relay near the battery kick and then the entire electrical went dead. Now jumping the starter motor does nothing even directly from the battery to the Lead wire to the starter motor. It seems like the bike is no longer grounded itself. Battery still read 13.6v :/

I could really use some help. Im new to this bike and not sure why its being such a butt.

[crazy steve]

Ok, you have some fairly typical problems.....

The headlight is set up to only come on when the motor starts via a relay, so that not coming on is normal. You can check headlight operation by jumpering the red/yellow and blue/black at the relay. The other two wires on the relay are a black (ground) and a white. The white wire comes from the alternator coil and has output when the motor is running. There's also a diode in this wire; if the headlight still won't come on when the motor runs, check that.

The XJ has front running lights that come on with the key, so those are working normally.

The remainder of your problems sound like poor grounding, again a typical problem. Check/clean all the ground connections; the ground strap from the motor to the frame, battery to frame, and the ground connections at the regulator under the tank.

You do have a 'safety interlock' system on the XJ that may be preventing you from starting it, you need to check that. There's switches on the sidestand and clutch lever that prevent starting unless the bike is in neutral or the stand is up and the lever is pulled.

These bikes are notorious for poor electrical connections, so spending some time and making sure they're all good saves a lot of troubleshooting later. For a troubleshooting guide, look here: http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35337 .... and here: http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35339. These are for the XS, but the XJ is very similar.

[Wouldstalk]

Kk checking this out. Thank you so very much, im so sorry that these were typical problems. Must be a headache for you. Im using a smartphone to post and read and nothing seem to come up in the search for these problems in particular but alot of other problems did show up. Must have been a slight misuse of keywords or something so for that i do apologize.

[Wouldstalk]

Solved all of the above problems! Thank you so much.

20~ years of this bike sitting and it fired up within 2-3 rotations from the starter motor.

only problem now is the carbs flooded to the point gas was pouring out of the air intake side. Not specific to this bike so ill figure that out.

THank you so much!!!!

[Joab]

The only problems i have remaining are Headlight does not work at all. The wires going to the bulb itself are feeding no power. The bulb itself works. I've installed a fresh fuse box with all new fuses. Tail light, both brake switches , turn flashers, hazards, instrument cluster all light up and function. i still can not get the headlight to come on.

I beat myself up for a week when I installed my Pacifico fairing about the headlight not coming on when I turned the key. The PO had rewired the bucket on the original set up to be always on highbeams, and it came on when you turned the key. I finally just started the bike one day, and what do you know...

Glad to see you were able to chase all those sparky gremlins away!