still havent started this thing

Steven Simpson

XS650 Addict
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hey all,

Still havent been able to get spark or kick over my xs. bike worked great before so i dont think its timing but i just want to kick it over and get the engine going.

Recently found some simple wiring and though I had it but no cigar. here is what i did..

Battery ground and power to ignition unit to ignition coil (on/off) wired in there also

3 white wires from alternator to recitifier and red hot wire ..

I thought this would atleast get me spark. but of course i have zero REAL idea of what i am doing.


bike is done if I could get it started (with the exception of lights etc)

hopefully can get the simplest explanations i have ever read here . anything helps!
 
Post a bit more detail of your bike or fill out your profile to give the guys here started with trouble shooting. Post pics of what you got too, we all like pics and helps out with your problem. Check out the tech section too lots of great info there too.
 
Ignition unit? As in the stock TCI black box? don't worry about charging yet, this is wiring for SPARK!
This is an 82-83 "8 pin" TCI diagram, only diff is ONE extra wire from the 6 pin plug, leave that wire capped or unconnected as noted.
tCI wiring detail.jpg
 
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How do you have your battery grounded? How do you have the TCI box Grounded?
If you hooked any ground wires to the battery box, It won't ground to the frame. The battery box if rubber mounted.
In stock form the battery ground is just behind battery on the frame.
All grounds should be to the frame or straight to battery.
All connections to the frame need clean bare metal to clean bare metal. Any paint or powder coat needs to get ground down to bare metal.
A thin coat of dielectric grease will help keep corrosion to a minimum. No dielectric grease, then most any grease will be ok. I use Harbor Freight's Super Lube.
I use this for greasing a lot of thing. It's full synthetic, doesn't melt away when hot or stiffen when cold.
Leo
 
id like to add i dont have any plans of adding a PMA . trying to be cheap as i can . since im poor and stuff
Hi Steve,
good thinking about the PMA.
Even if you are stinkin' rich and sweat $10 bills those things are a major retrograde from stock.
BTW, what year & model XS650 do you have?
Even though XS650 parts swap like lego there are differences between years and models that may affect the answers.
 
Hi Steve,
good thinking about the PMA.
Even if you are stinkin' rich and sweat $10 bills those things are a major retrograde from stock.
BTW, what year & model XS650 do you have?
Even though XS650 parts swap like lego there are differences between years and models that may affect the answers.


haha ya im not sweatin pennies even.

Its a 1981 special xs-h i believe!
 
pickup wires.JPG
TCI wiring.png

Note the wire colors change at the pick up plug...
black to black/white
orange to red/white
gray to green/white
 
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Got my bike started last night thank to you guys! gggGary thanks for that simple diagram.

Anyone have any info on cut stock exhaust? these were cut when i got the bike but they dont look super promising at the openings. ( see my pic of how short they are)
 
also, i didnt wire in a key or kill switch, I would like to just have a key, to do that, I wire in the red to power, but what about the brown and blue ( I believe) ?
 
Got my bike started last night thank to you guys! gggGary thanks for that simple diagram.
Anyone have any info on cut stock exhaust? these were cut when i got the bike but they dont look super promising at the openings. ( see my pic of how short they are)
Hi Steve,
the bike won't be happy with pipes as short as that so it's best you extend them.
Your local muffler shop will sell you adapters that'll fit over the stock headers' inner pipe and inside the outer.
The search button will find you the size as you ain't the first to need them to salvage a stock exhaust.
A switched red wire will stop all current flow and it's all you need to turn the ignition off so the engine will stop.
The stock kill-switch is located on the 'bar so it can be used real quick in an emergency.
 
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Yes, you can have just a key switch. Under certain conditions a kill switch can come in handy. Like when you want to trouble shoot the rest of the electrics without power to the ignition. In a tip over if the bike pins you, being able to kill the engine without fumbling with a key.
On your brown wire, it feeds power to most everything on the bike.
The blue wire feeds power to the tail light.
Up in the TECH section you can find many things. With a search under Electrical, you will find A topic called "Some Wiring Diagrams" Look in there to find the diagram for your year bike. Trace the wires from the battery positive and you will find where the different color wires go.
Leo
 
If you have no kind of switch now, make sure you disconnect power from the coil when not in use or you could fry it.
 
Yes, you can have just a key switch. Under certain conditions a kill switch can come in handy. Like when you want to trouble shoot the rest of the electrics without power to the ignition. In a tip over if the bike pins you, being able to kill the engine without fumbling with a key.
On your brown wire, it feeds power to most everything on the bike.
The blue wire feeds power to the tail light.
Up in the TECH section you can find many things. With a search under Electrical, you will find A topic called "Some Wiring Diagrams" Look in there to find the diagram for your year bike. Trace the wires from the battery positive and you will find where the different color wires go.
Leo
awesome thank you!
 
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