81 SH dead

[jaybird51]

81 sh been a good starter since i owned it. last week went to start and one click and everything went dead. no idiot, tail or anything. fuse box was rough, replaced. had no juice out of key switch, replaced it and right handle bar switch. still nothing,all is still dead. any ideas. Jay

 

[I am Carbon]

I would get the multimeter out and start testing for voltage starting at the battery.
If battery is good see if power is getting from the battery to the main fuse, then check main fuse. If that is good check if power is getting from that fuse to the key switch then to the other fuses. don't forget to flip on the power through the kill switch to get to the ignition switch. If power is getting from main to the other fuses check ignition fuse along with the other fuses. Still more but that is where I would start

 

[gggGary]

Also; check your ground strap from battery to frame. Don't just look, remove it wiggle the connectors clean up the frame replace it if it's corroded, bolt it back on. Check grounds at handlebar and in headlight bucket while you are being thorough.

 

[jaybird51]

Thanks guys for all the advice. Before I posted I was all over that thing with a multi meter and really was not sure what it was. This is a classic case of over engineering. Once the bad switch was replaced never thought to check battery terminals. Hot lead was slightly loose. Cleaned and and made tight and all is good. Thanks again. Jay