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On side of the road right now - bike's not starting

  • Thread starter Thread starter LoopGaroo
  • Start date Start date
A friend towed the bike towed back to my garage last night. It was late but I couldn't help opening up the kill switch housing before I went home. I tested the switch with my multimeter and it seems to be in good working order. I also tried to bypass the switch with some alligator clips with no change in results.

I was also able to pull a spark plug and confrim that there's no spark when jumping the solenoid. I'm going back to the garage tonight, and will bypass the clutch safety switch.

I'm also going to try this:
posplayr said:
===>so your kill switch is bad; you need to hot wire the bike.

either get a wire and run it from battery to coil (+)
you strip back the end of hot wire wire and wrap it around one of the coil posts. Then reinsert the harness plug as normal. This will power the entire ignition circuit. The other side can goes to (+)accessory on the fuse box.
Click to expand...
 
LoopGaroo said:
A friend towed the bike towed back to my garage last night. It was late but I couldn't help opening up the kill switch housing before I went home. I tested the switch with my multimeter and it seems to be in good working order. I also tried to bypass the switch with some alligator clips with no change in results.

I was also able to pull a spark plug and confrim that there's no spark when jumping the solenoid. I'm going back to the garage tonight, and will bypass the clutch safety switch.

I'm also going to try this:
Click to expand...

You are turning the ignition switch on when you test for spark, yes?
 
Yes, I had the key set to ON and pulled the headlight fuse to save the battery while testing...

Could there be a problem in the ignition switch?
 
May want to consider electrical charging system checks.. using the Stator Papers.Make certain you have a known good shape fully charged battery then try a few restarts,if no go..look everything over,especially connectors.
 
It should be known that I replaced the r/r and stator two or three weeks ago and since then the bike had been charging and starting better than ever... then this happened.

So I'm familiar with The Papers, I'll look there again for some enlightenment.
 
LoopGaroo said:
A friend towed the bike towed back to my garage last night. It was late but I couldn't help opening up the kill switch housing before I went home. I tested the switch with my multimeter and it seems to be in good working order. I also tried to bypass the switch with some alligator clips with no change in results.

I was also able to pull a spark plug and confrim that there's no spark when jumping the solenoid. I'm going back to the garage tonight, and will bypass the clutch safety switch.

I'm also going to try this:
Click to expand...


You understand that when the key is on there should be 12V on the Orange coming into the Kill switch and 12V on the Orange/White coming out. The Orange/White is what goes to the coils.

This is very clearly shown in the schematic

When you check the Kill switch or use the alligator clips on the kill switch you should be able to confirm that you are getting 12V to the coils. If not then there is an open somewhere else.

Hot wiring should only be done if you cant get the kill switch to operate
 
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LoopGaroo said:
Yes, I had the key set to ON and pulled the headlight fuse to save the battery while testing...

Could there be a problem in the ignition switch?
Click to expand...
Way back, you said headlights and warning lights worked, so ignition/key switch would seem ok. After ignition switch, power is fed back to fuse panel, then to ignition fuse, then back up to kill switch, might be wiring, so just bypass it all with a jumper wire.
 
LoopGaroo said:
A friend towed the bike towed back to my garage last night. It was late but I couldn't help opening up the kill switch housing before I went home. I tested the switch with my multimeter and it seems to be in good working order. I also tried to bypass the switch with some alligator clips with no change in results.

I was also able to pull a spark plug and confrim that there's no spark when jumping the solenoid. I'm going back to the garage tonight, and will bypass the clutch safety switch.

I'm also going to try this:
Click to expand...

That clutch safety switch just keeps your engine from turning over, wouldn't affect spark. One of my wires from it disconnected in the headlight, I was still able to push start the bike and get it home.
Now that your home, you can take your time and troubleshoot it right. Sounds like a bad switch (kill switch) or open wire, possibly a bad ground, since you've already checked the fuses. Since your not getting spark from any of your plugs, it sounds like something in that kill switch wiring circuit.
 
Thanks Posplayr. I think you can tell that I'm a little unsure about testing these circuits.
 
Yes ,good idea ..confirm charging system status,all new ,repaired,etc. looking good and then ..maybe something changed,peace of mind checkup always worth the look,best results to you.:)!!!
 
Here's what I found out tonight: I don't know jack-sheet about testing circuits.

I thought I found the problem when I inspected the wires inside the kill switch and found a dodgey PO wire splice. I assumed that was the problem and clipped and joined the Orange/white wires together to essentially bypass the kill switch. This gave no result.

After that I pulled the headlight bucket and removed the tank to trace the wires from the switch through the harness to see it I could find any loose wires. No results. everything looked good.

I went ahead and bypassed the clutch safety switch just for peace of mind. I'll probably switch that back when I get this all sorted out.

My biggest problem is my ignorance. I want to be able to try out everyone's suggestions but I'm afraid of doing something wrong and making things worse...I don't fully understand how to follow through on everyone's advice. For example, When tom203 writes: After ignition switch, power is fed back to fuse panel, then to ignition fuse, then back up to kill switch, might be wiring, so just bypass it all with a jumper wire. I don't understand exactly how to bypass everything. Posplayr's advice seemed great too, but again, I don't know exactly where to put the alligator clips to bypass things.

And - even if i didn't hot wire the bike - where does that leave me? What would be broken?


Sorry for my sour tone here, I'm really down about this. My best friend is flying in to town and we're supposed to head out on a motorcycle trip this weekend. things aren't looking too good.
 
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Ok, here's how the switch looks at the moment with the kill switch bypassed:
IMG_0319.jpg


Here I am holding the START button with the negitive lead on the (-) of the battery:
IMG_0321.jpg



Hehe, I'm not sure what this is showing:

IMG_0323.jpg


When I was doing this measurement the numbers were just going bonkers: (negative lead is grounded)
IMG_0322.jpg


What does it all mean? it's certainly not the 12v that a healthy system would show.
 
move the meter to 2'Oclock. on "DCV". You are doing a battery load test with the current setting.


http://www.hobby-hour.com/electronics/3320multimeter.php

<H4>AC/DC Voltage measurement
Click to expand...
To avoid possible electric shock, instrument or equipment damage, do not attempt to measure voltages above 600V AC/DC. This is the maximum voltage that this instrument is designed to measure. The "COM" terminal potential should not exceed 300V AC/DC measured to ground.
1. Plug the black test lead into "COM" jack of the multimeter then plug the red test lead into the "V" jack.
2. Set the multimeter's Function/Range Selector switch to the appropriate ACV or DCV position as desired .
3. Place the red test lead onto the positive (+) side of the item being tested and the black test lead onto the negative (-) (across the source/load) side of the item. Be careful not to touch any energized conductors with any part of your body.
4. Read the results on the display.
Click to expand...
</H4>

test it first on the battery to see if it is the settings are any good.
 
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Re-check battery terminals/cables for proper tightness.You did all that charging system component/parts work..loose cable will/can result in symptoms as the bike shows,I only mention this as it has happened to my GS and buzzy Bandit 600 in past..installed extra ground terminals on - post,taking battery in and out,motor buzz/vibes loosening up battery cables little by little etc.Re-check will take little time.Keep battery charged up w/tender for good testing along the way while troubleshooting.
 
So I got back to the garage this morning and started to figure some things out. :o Thanks for all the help so far!


  1. There is not 12v coming into the kill switch on the orange/white wire.
  2. When I bypass the harness and connect an alligator clip from the battery to the o/w wire in the switch the Start button will crank the bike, with confirmed spark.
  3. 12v will run through the kill switch to the start button when the button is depressed and the bypass is in place.
  4. I can also create a bypass from the ignition fuse in the fuse box to the switch and it'll fire.
  5. I tested a o/w wire where ever I could find one. Under the tank there is a bunch of wires that join in a big plastic connector. There are two o/w wires in this bundle and only one tested as carrying 12v. When I test the other wire the numbers go haywire on the multimeter. (does this mean that there is no current?)
  6. Also, to the right of the fuse box there was another plastic multi-connector with a o/w with the same crazy readings
I was pretty excited to hear her fire up when I hit the Start button. There is hope! I went by Radio Shack and got a bunch of supplies to sort this thing out.
 
Great you are finally making progress; you need to just focus on where you have a break in continity between the ignition fuse and the kill switch. It could be an open (bad connection) or a short.

several ways to go about it. I woudl probably start by disconnecting the battery and doing a continuity test.

It is possible you are looking at some harness damage, cut wires, bad contacts so do some resistance checks before upsetting the harness. It might help you identify where any possibel damage is at.

Test #1 - ohm meter between Ignition fuse and ground ==> make sure the circuit is not grounded (should be open from ground)
Test #2 - Ohm meter between Ignition Fuse and the inline connector ==> figure out which wire is coming from the fuse box
Test #3 - Ohm meter between connector pin connected to ignition fuse and ground ==> figure out if the wire feeding the Kill switch is grounded
Test #4 - ohm meter between the mating connector pin (from step 2,3) and the Kill switch ==> see if there is continuity to the Kill switch
Test #5 - ohm meter between the mating connector pin and ground ==> see if the other side of the conenctor is grounded.

basically you are going to confirm that teh path has continuity and that the path is not grounded. Work your way through.
 
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There is a plug under the fuel tank. Check that one. It has the O/W wire running through it.
If that is not it I'd suspect the fuse block.
 
If i need to replace a wire, is it possible to remove wire-ends from the connector without cutting?
 
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