New rider with 1982 Heritage Special

shphillips

XS650 New Member
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Hello to all on the forum,
Bought a '82 Heritage Special that was not running and spent several weeks getting it going. Now it runs well and is a pleasure to ride. I rode a friend's XS650 back in circa 1980-82 and liked it then. Now it's even better. The cycle is mostly original and has just under 10K miles. It has aftermarket Mikuni VM34 carbs with filter pods, the Heiden oil filter cooler kit and aftermarket mufflers that look pretty close to OEM. Most of the rest looks original and in fairly good shape considering the age.

Thanks to the users for their excellent posts on solving problems & starting issues. Very helpful info. Thanks to "sleddog83" for his write-up and schematic on the TID12-03 TCI and to "bpeckm" for the TCI troubleshooting guide. The TID12-03 in my cycle had two problems: a bad Zener diode and cold solder joints. To start with I was fighting multiple issues and so bought a second used TID12-01 on eBay. It's the original 6 pin version for the XS650 without the side stand relay interlock addition. I wound up tracing the circuit board and drawing up a schematic. Have not found this version schematic on the forum and would appreciate input as to where to post the TCI schematic for electronically minded users. Do I start a new thread on TCI's or add to an existing one? Please advise.
Thanks, Scott
 
Welcome!! :D We love pics here. Put some of your bike up here.
If it were me, I'd start a new thread here in the Garage and put the schematics there. Add as many related "tags" as you can think of related to the TCI system.
 
You can post your schematic in this thread here. A couple of members have drawn them up with varying degrees of success. Interested people save them from the thread they appeared in to hard drive. There aren't, and won't be, enough to warrant a separate thread. Glad you got things lined out and you're having fun now.
 
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Per the feedback, here are a couple photos of the '82 survivor. I just got the luggage rack installed. The tank is not in as good shape as it appears and will need respraying this winter. Also, it was missing both lower side covers (apparently a common issue). I found a lower right side but apparently the lower left side covers are very hard to find. Does anyone have a spare they are willing to part with and how much $? In these days of 3D printers, has a 3D user considered copying the cover and selling them aftermarket? Just curious.
 
Looks good. If you haven't done so already, I suggest doing away with the sidestand safety relay and switch. Since it acts upon the TCI box, killing the spark when activated, if it goes bad (and they do) you'll be dead in the water. You simply remove the switch and relay, no wire jumping required. You must remove both. If you just take the switch off, the bike will only run in neutral, die when you drop it in gear.
 
Hello 5 twins. Thanks for your advice. The sidestand switch is already missing from the cycle. I was going to buy one with the idea of putting it back in the interlock chain and make the cycle more "stock". Am aware of the sidestand relay interlock and the neutral switch override via the diode in the wire harness. When I got the cycle the sidestand relay was connected. I disconnected it for testing & toubleshooting (i.e. Keep It Simple, Stupid). Once I got the cycle running OK, then I reconnected the relay temporarily to test the function and the cycle will run in gear with no sidestand switch. I believe it ran OK for the previous owner with the sidestand switch missing but the relay connected. The switch mating harness plug is not jumpered. Upon review, now this does not make sense and will do more investigating when time permits. I suspect something else is miswired or broken.

The sidestand interlock system does seem overly complicated just to protect the rider from himself. Was it Yamaha's effort to "dumb down" cycle design in the 1980's for liability reasons? Simple systems are reliable; complicated systems can fail more often.
 
Hey neighbor shphillips!
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A bud just found this, his son left his bobber's key on.
One from my stash had him back on the road.
The coil pic is blurry, but it basically melted. :sick:
 
Sounds like your sidestand relay is kaput. In it's "at rest" state, the relay connects the wire running to the TCI to ground and kills the spark. When it's triggered and opens, the ground to the TCI is cut and you have spark. There are two triggers, the neutral light or switch and the sidestand switch. At least one of them needs to be activated for you to get spark. Sounds like your relay is stuck "on", always open. No big deal, just remove it.

There is another small safety relay and switch you can remove if you like, the one on the clutch lever. This relay is spliced into the power feed wire for the electric starter. It stops the starter from functioning if the bike is in gear and the clutch lever isn't pulled in. Not a bad feature I guess, but not something that's needed. Most bikes of the time didn't have it, and neither did the 650 until it's last few model years. It's not a "bike stopper" if it goes bad, the electric start simply won't function. The bike would still run normally but you'd have to kickstart it. But in my mind, this is just one more unnecessary "doodad" that might go bad. Removing this, however, will require a jumper wire. The R/W power feed wire to the starter solenoid runs through it so you need to connect that back together if you remove the relay .....

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To gggGary:
Ouch, that's one fried ignitor. The pc board is badly burnt which makes me think a cold solder joint caused the pc board to heat up first, then the transistor failed (shorted) and then the coil. Quite a mess. Glad you had spares and were able to get the bobber going.

To 5twins:
Thanks again for your advice. I think you're right. Will investigate.
 
The last few model years are more refined but also have more of this safety B.S. installed. I'm working on an '83 now and trying to get rid of all that extra, unnecessary stuff. Eventually, I'd like to put a headlight on-off switch back on it too. Eliminating some of these relays like I have will provide me with now unused wires to help with that switch install. The big issue is getting the headlight power feed up into the headlight so it can be connected to the on-off switch. It's running to the starter/headlight safety relay under the right side cover now. I'll be able to simply plug it into one of the unused wires from the clutch safety relay to get it up into the headlight, no need to run a new wire.

Another thing I don't like about the later models is the tail light is wired right into the key switch. It comes on with the key. I'm going to "fix" that too, lol.
 
Regarding the late-model taillights coming on with the key switch, if the concern is to reserve all battery power initially for the starter motor, two ideas come to mind, not mutually exclusive: replace stock incandescent 1157's with Superbright 1157-R27-T-2PK LEDs, do the generator cutout mod and feed the meter lights and taillights off the 87A pin of the new relay, along with the regulator. Downside there, of course, is that it adds another relay when you're trying to minimize them - depends on whether you might value the initial cutout function more than the simplification.
 
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