Hey yall, I've got an 81 special II, and I'm having a problem getting power. I've removed the starter so its kick start only. I was going to start it, and it was getting hard to start. I flipped the ignition switch off and then back on again, and it didn't help. The neutral light then turned off, that coincided with a click in the front area like something electrical switched itself off, and then the ignition switch froze up. I installed a new switch, and I'm still not getting any power. Any ideas what my problem is?
-
Enjoy XS650.com? Consider making a donation to help support the site.
XS650.com receives a small share of sales from some links on this page, but direct donations have a much greater impact on keeping this site going.
Ignition Switch broke, now can't get any power to anything
- Thread starter jb57
- Start date
-
- Tags
- electrical
I have all stock electrical, I believe it is electronic ignition. MY main fuse has power, but none of my other fuses do, but they're not blown. On the simplified 81 wiring diagram, there's a connection after the switch and then through the reg/rec. Which might be bad? the ignition switch is brand new, and it gives power to the main fuse when turned to the on position. I'm worse than a newb at wiring, anything you guys could help with would be great.
Your 81 if stock has the TCI, electronic ignition.
On the stock set up power flows from the battery through the main 20 amp fuse to key switch, then back to the fuse box to power the fuses. So you should get battery voltage at the main 20 amp fuse with the key switch on or off.
Check for voltage on both sides of the fuse.
On the bikes with four fuses, the fuse block has clips that the fuses fit in. When new these clips were fine. After 30+ years of vibration and heat they get weak, some even break.
Best to replace this bad block with four individual inline blade type fuse holders.
Search it plenty of "how to" available.
If you have power on both sides of the fuse you should have power on the red wire at the switch. This is power in at the switch. Should have power key on or off. Now with key on power flows out the brown and blue/yellow when in the on position. In the park position power goes out on just the blue/yellow wire.
Do these things and checks. My bet is the stock fuse box has crapped out.
Leo
On the stock set up power flows from the battery through the main 20 amp fuse to key switch, then back to the fuse box to power the fuses. So you should get battery voltage at the main 20 amp fuse with the key switch on or off.
Check for voltage on both sides of the fuse.
On the bikes with four fuses, the fuse block has clips that the fuses fit in. When new these clips were fine. After 30+ years of vibration and heat they get weak, some even break.
Best to replace this bad block with four individual inline blade type fuse holders.
Search it plenty of "how to" available.
If you have power on both sides of the fuse you should have power on the red wire at the switch. This is power in at the switch. Should have power key on or off. Now with key on power flows out the brown and blue/yellow when in the on position. In the park position power goes out on just the blue/yellow wire.
Do these things and checks. My bet is the stock fuse box has crapped out.
Leo
http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_Holds-4-Glass-Fuses-Fuse-Block---Glass-Dorman---Conduct-Tite_22141290-P_N4017D_A|GRP2020A_____#
This is the link to the block that is in it now.
This is the link to the block that is in it now.
That fuse block uses the round glass fuses. Those can be problematic. The fuse can be bad and still look good. So yes, you still need to check for blown fuses.
It may or may not be the trouble. The only way to know is to test.
Never start buying stuff and hoping it gets fixed. Test first, then when you find a problem, fix the problem. Like your freind says it's the TCI box. Maybe, maybe not. Lets say you spend the money on a different TCI and it don't fix the problem. Then you replace the coils, no fix, then the pickups, no fix.
Then you finally check the fuses and find a blown fuse. Or a bad connection, or a broken wire.
Wouldn't it be better to test and fix any free fixes before you spend a ton of money on things that don't work?
Leo
It may or may not be the trouble. The only way to know is to test.
Never start buying stuff and hoping it gets fixed. Test first, then when you find a problem, fix the problem. Like your freind says it's the TCI box. Maybe, maybe not. Lets say you spend the money on a different TCI and it don't fix the problem. Then you replace the coils, no fix, then the pickups, no fix.
Then you finally check the fuses and find a blown fuse. Or a bad connection, or a broken wire.
Wouldn't it be better to test and fix any free fixes before you spend a ton of money on things that don't work?
Leo
So i checked the continuity of the wires and fuse block, and main fuse block was bad, so replaced it with an inline fuse box and it fired right up. Now there's constantly power to everything, no matter the position of the ignition key? Might I still have a short somewhere or do I have a bigger problem? I turned the key to the off position, the neutral light was still on after i turned it off, and when I turned it over, it started right up. The only new things i did were put in a new stock switch from mikesxs, the fuse block and fuses, and replaced my right hand side switch with the kill switch, which has one extra wire that goes to nothing. Only thing I can think of now, is to pull my main fuse every time so I don't drain my battery, but I'm trying to prep it to sell, and that sure won't do. Any suggestions y'all?
Sounds like someting is wrong at the fuse box or switch. Up in the TECH section you will find wiring diagrams. Find the one that matches your bike. Start tracing the wires.
Leo
Leo
I'm really new to figuring out anything electrical, have any idea where to start with on the switched wires? When I wired up the fuse box, I made sure to match the wires with the other of the same color combo, could I still have messed something up? The new fuse block is a single input post set up as opposed to one wire on each side of the fuse, would that make a difference?
Yes, it's not hard to get things mixed up. As I said go to the tech section, find the wiring diagram for your bike. Start at the battery, follow the wires.
In the stock harness power flows out of the battery on a red wire. It comes to a junction where the red wire from the rectifier hooks in. This wire supplies the power to charge the battery. From this junction power flows on a red wire to the main 20 amp fuse. From the fuse on a red wire, the power flows to the main switch.
At the switch power flows out on the brown wire back to your fuse box where it feeds all the other fuses.
From the fuses to where it needs to go. Tracing the wiring harness using the diagram will help you find your problem.
It sounds like you wired power to all the fuses with out the main switch inline.
Trace it out and see where you got mixed up.
Leo
In the stock harness power flows out of the battery on a red wire. It comes to a junction where the red wire from the rectifier hooks in. This wire supplies the power to charge the battery. From this junction power flows on a red wire to the main 20 amp fuse. From the fuse on a red wire, the power flows to the main switch.
At the switch power flows out on the brown wire back to your fuse box where it feeds all the other fuses.
From the fuses to where it needs to go. Tracing the wiring harness using the diagram will help you find your problem.
It sounds like you wired power to all the fuses with out the main switch inline.
Trace it out and see where you got mixed up.
Leo
