This is the songggggg that never ennnds ( problems yet again )

[sparkfly88]

So over the weekend my friend and I took our bikes to Thunder by the Bay....its a huge motorcycle gathering downtown Sarasota..

http://www.thunderbythebay.org/


On the way home...my bike kept dying...it would just, shut off at an intersection...I had lights on neutral and the oil light, so it had power, it just wouldnt turn over using electric start...

So I would get out my kick starter, kick it over and after two or three itll start up.

If I killed it from then, electric start will work as normal....

Till it decides to die at another intersection a couple down...rinse and repeat, it was fine the rest of the night...


Oh electrical issues.................

[TADracer]

Not knowing the history of your machine, have you ever cleaned and refurbished all your electrical connections and checked that chassis ground wire?

[DGXSER]

So when hot it would simply not turn over at all? Or did it turn over fine when hot, just not when it died on you?

[sparkfly88]

I have cleaned 99% of the connections I come across...


It will turn over hot no problem at all...it just wont turn over ONLY when it decides to die on me randomly..

[BA80]

Sounds like a kill switch or ignition switch loosing contact. Most likely the kill switch from the sound of it.

[sparkfly88]

Sounds like a kill switch or ignition switch loosing contact. Most likely the kill switch from the sound of it.

To bypass the kill, what would I have to do, just to see if it works?
I'm terrible at wiring...

I only use the key ignition anyway....so if the kill switch is bad...no biggy to me!

[bikerphil]

Had a similar issue, bike would shut off randomly at any time and would crank but not start. After a few minutes of pushing bike to the side of the road, bike would start. Finally traced it down to the wire harness for the P/U coils that ran under the rear of the engine up to the connector in back of the fuse panel. Turns out the harness had a wire with a break in it near where all the heat from the exhaust was. Once I replaced that harness, problem went away forever. JAT, GL

[BA80]

To bypass the kill, what would I have to do, just to see if it works?
I'm terrible at wiring...

I only use the key ignition anyway....so if the kill switch is bad...no biggy to me!

Open the sheathing near the switch and find the 2 large red/white stripe wires and connect them together. I fond that running a safety pin through the center of them connecting them to be the easiest way to test without taking the switch apartor cutting the wires.

[DGXSER]

I could see an intermittent key switch or kill switch making it die, but either one of them would not let the starter turn over if they continued to be a problem.

I am almost thinking bad ballast resistor, intermittent problem?? Although I would suspect those to be good or bad and not come and go.

[BA80]

..it just wont turn over ONLY when it decides to die on me randomly..

This is what points toward the kill switch.

[D0wn5h1ft]

To bypass the kill, what would I have to do, just to see if it works?
I'm terrible at wiring...

I only use the key ignition anyway....so if the kill switch is bad...no biggy to me!

Just unplug the kill switch completely. Remove it from the bike, that's what I did. I always take those things out. Out of the two XS11s I've had they both had sticky kill switches anyways so it's not like it was doing it's job anyways.

It would seem, according to BA80's recommendation that it needs to be shorted to work...however, I just unplugged mine and the bike runs just fine. Wonder why that is?

No killswitch, no problems.

[Schming]

I have cleaned 99% of the connections I come across...


It will turn over hot no problem at all...it just wont turn over ONLY when it decides to die on me randomly..

JAT If you still have the old fuse box (bottle type) this may be your problem.

The same symptoms are happening on my XJ 750 as I have yet to update the fuse box.

HTH

Edit: Just saw you have TC's Fuse box mod.

[crazy steve]

Check the plug from the handlebar controls; it's under tank. I've had issues with the individual contacts being 'loose' in the plug, make sure the female half is tight on the male side.

[sparkfly88]

I'm going to bring some tools home from work, and take excelsior apart, once more.........

Hope some of these suggestions work

[crazy steve]

Check the plug from the handlebar controls; it's under tank. I've had issues with the individual contacts being 'loose' in the plug, make sure the female half is tight on the male side.

I'll note this is more of a problem on the '78-79 bikes, Yamaha changed the plug style in '80, probably to fix this issue....