Ignition problems

[rileysaurus]

Hey folks! I'm having some technical difficulties and I cant seem to figure them out on my own. I just picked up a 1980 xs11 special a few weeks ago from a guy who had it stored in his garage for 6 years. It ran when I bought it and has cranked over every time Ive tried to start it. I went to fire it up today, it cranked and fired and then died. My neutral light went out and I seem to have lost all power to my ignition circuit. Ive checked the ignition fuse in the box on the right side, even swapped the fuse out, checked every other fuse I could find on the bike, wiggled every wire around I could see, even did a little percussion maintenance on some choice components, but alas, still no juice. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

[bikerphil]

There is a 30A main fuse in a seperate black rubber fuse holder under the seat on the left side. That may have blown if you haven't any power.

[James England]

The OEM fuse boxes, with glass type fuses, are a pain and, even when apparently OK, often aren't. The replacement a la TC is the best method of ruling it out.

Have you lost power to absolutely everything. Or just the ignition circuit?

[CaptonZap]

After you check the fuse under the left side of the seat, and it still won't come on, try wiggling the ignition key. My 79 has a loose contact inside, and sometimes it won't light the lights until I adjust the key just so.
One shouldn't have a bunch of keys on the same ring that the ignition key is on, so I've been told.

CZ

[oldyam80sg]

How old is the battery? If you got it a few weeks ago and ran, but does not now maybe you should check the voltage.

[TopCatGr58]

Just some further notes aside from CZ's, actual WIRES can come Unsoldered from the contact boards both inside the main switch as well as the switches in the handlebars. You can take the main switch apart as well as clean and reassemble.

T.C.

[MarkD]

Not to sound too simplistic here, but are you sure there's good contact on the battery posts? + 1 on T. C.'s ignition and other switch coming unsoldered. My turn signal problems were solved after I disassembled the left hand switch and found a (green?) wire had come unsoldered.

[rileysaurus]

I fixed it?

Well after a lot of head scratching and circuit tracing, I traced the problem to the ignition harness inside the headlight. By the time I figured out which harness ran the ignition everything started working again. Checked the harness. No chafing, no corrosion, all looks good. I guess I'll just wait for it to hiccup again now that I know where to look. Thanks for all the input guys!