Got '81 Special to run, but died on seat install

[werepat]

I'm restoring my father's '81 Special and have gotten to the point where I wanted to test the speedometer. It had sat since 1992, and has only been running for about two weeks.

With a fresh battery, the starter wouldn't get the bike to run cold, but after kick starts and warming up, the starter worked fine.

So today I rolled her out of the garage while running, put it on the kickstand (still running), then put the seat on. Right before I clicked the seat into place, the bike died. Now it won't kick over, nor do I get any response from the starter button. No sound, no click, nothing. Even kicking it sounds a little anemic, too.

Did I bump some safety switch? I was really hoping to take her around the block this afternoon before it got too cold!

Thank you for your help, fellahs.

 

[Fleksta]

Check your battery negative to frame lead and the fusebox. The original fusebox gets pretty fragile at this age.

 

[werepat]

I should have mentioned that power is still getting to the bike and no fuses in the fuse box are blown. Are there any other fuses I can't see or that are separate from the fuse box? The brake light and horn still work fine (headlight, signals and instrument cluster haven't since 1992).

The easily checkable grounds and battery connections are all fine. Perhaps the battery has lost some amperage and now it's just too week to work?

I'm going to pick up a multimeter and learn how to fix electrical problems now.

 

[retiredgentleman]

I suspect your bike still has the original stock fuse panel, with the 4 glass fuses. A visual check of those fuses means absolutely nothing. They can look to be good, but have high resistance, from the spring clips, which means they will not supply enough current to the loads. Sometimes they will even start to heat up.

Solution.............remove all 4 of the fuse holders, and replace with new automotive blade type fuse holders. This is a "must do" on these bikes.

The 1981 also has a "Starter Lockout Relay" . The bike must be in Neutral or the clutch lever must be pulled, to allow the starter push button to work. If you turn on the ignition switch and the kill switch, you should hear the SLR click on (put your ear close). Of course the neutral switch or clutch switch could be defective, preventing the SLR from working.

A bike that has sat for 20+ years, will need all of the electrical connections, bullet connectors, etc. gone through and cleaned up, so that they are low resistance. Its wise to take the time now, otherwise you will be chasing intermittant electrical problems for years.

 

[angus67]

I suspect your bike still has the original stock fuse panel, with the 4 glass fuses. A visual check of those fuses means absolutely nothing. They can look to be good, but have high resistance, from the spring clips, which means they will not supply enough current to the loads. Sometimes they will even start to heat up.

Solution.............remove all 4 of the fuse holders, and replace with new automotive blade type fuse holders. This is a "must do" on these bikes.

The 1981 also has a "Starter Lockout Relay" . The bike must be in Neutral or the clutch lever must be pulled, to allow the starter push button to work. If you turn on the ignition switch and the kill switch, you should hear the SLR click on (put your ear close). Of course the neutral switch or clutch switch could be defective, preventing the SLR from working.

A bike that has sat for 20+ years, will need all of the electrical connections, bullet connectors, etc. gone through and cleaned up, so that they are low resistance. Its wise to take the time now, otherwise you will be chasing intermittant electrical problems for years.

agreed. the seat closing is 99% coincidence, unless a big nasty spray of sparks shot out from touching the battery posts with it.
With it sitting for so long, mice love chewing on wires, one wire may have been chewed down to one strand, throw some power thru it, it will burn off, leaving the bike dead as a door nail.

 

[fredintoon]

Hi pat and welcome,
there ain't no mystery switches or secret fuses.
And the stock glass tube fuses ain't necessarily the problem (my Heritage Special still has some of the same glass tube fuses it left the factory with but that hasn't stopped me from having a set of blade fuses ready to install)
But yeah, they are on borrowed time.
Like those other posts advise, go through the entire wiring system and clean each and every connection.

 

[lakeview]

This is a really good illustration of "Coincidence is not Causation". Taking the seat off probably has as much to do with the bike not starting as the sun coming up today or the garage door opening. However, it is good to know more than less about what you have done before it happened.

 

[werepat]

I took off, blew on, and plugged back in every electrical connection on the bike and in doing so, toward the end, saw the culprit.

A single, frayed red and white striped wire to the right of the fuse box had made a little brown burn mark and was grounded out when I put the seat on. I exposed the offending wire and wrapped in in a small amount of electrical tape and secured the rest of the wires away from where the seat might pinch them.

I should also note that I had put the seat on crooked twice before and also this time. Thank you all for your help.

On the plus side, by fiddling with all the electrical connections, the instrument cluster and headlight now work again after 23 years!

 

[lakeview]

Looks like my saying was blown out of the water!!
Removing the seat did make it stop.
So much for pontificating behind the keyboard.
Going forward more humble now.