Fixed some battery wiring now no spark. shorted something out

[crazyorigin]

I just picked up an 80 xs650 and was fixing some shoddy battery wiring. In the process of doing this when removing the battery one of the extension wires had a hole worn in the casing of the positive and was angled in a poor direction and it hit the frame and something shorted out. There is some exposed fuses under the seat and all those fuses look fine. I am pretty new to XS' s, and am not sure where to start. I also swapped out the bars today before I noticed it would not start but I don't think that is the issue. The turn signal switch does not work but it started before both ways with that being broken.

I now have no spark even when kicking the bike over and the electric start will not engage either.

Any help would be greatly appreciated and locations of the item too so I can focus on getting it fixed.

 

[Grinder]

Did you replace the bars with black bars? If so you lost your ground for the starter button. There are little tabs on your bar switch housings that need to go to bare metal. Recheck your fuses, they can look good but be bad. If you have the stock glass fuses it is a good ideas to replace the fuses and holders with modern automotive style fuses.

 

[crazyorigin]

Thank you for the reply. I actually replaced the bars with red anodized aluminum motocross bars, Renthal Fat Bars. I was thinking there may be some type of ground in those switches but really was not sure. I will check for these tabs and make sure they are getting a good connection. I replaced the stock rubber riser bushings with some aluminum solid ones I made too.

There is automotive type fuses under the seat that look like they have been added. They are all labeled too and look to be fine.

My tail light and horn are working I am just getting no spark at all to the engine.

 

[crazyorigin]

I just checked in both switches, I don't see anything like a tab that would hit the bars for a ground. Is the housing itself grounded through the bars? I don't think a ground going into the bars would be kind of dangerous.... any more help would be greatly apprecisted. I am thinking either the battery may have shorted out or my coil, I need to find my battery tester and some spare parts I have kicking around.

 

[Grinder]

On the bottom half of the switch housing in the curved cutout for the bar you will see a metal tab that contacts the bar. It holds some of the wiring down inside the switch as well. I'm not sure if anodizing would cause you to lose the ground, I know powder coat does. Find the blue/white wire at the starter solenoid and ground it to see if it cranks over. You may have lost power to the solenoid as well as your ignition.

 

[crazyorigin]

Ok. I will mess that that tab and try to ground the wire to the frame or something if that does not work. Thanks again for the help I appreciate it.

 

[crazyorigin]

I got it to fire by grounding that tab with a piece of wire wedged in it to contact the bars, it didn't look like it was hitting it at all. The tab is pretty rusty so I plan to take it back apart and clean it up and grind a spot on the bars for a good connection.

Now it won't re fire the engine after it starts unless I turn the key off and on again. Not sure if this is normal or if it is due to it being poorly grounded.

Thank you for the help.