Blown fuse?

***first off my bike is a yamaha maxim xj650 from 1982

Alright so after my series of problems im starting to get better at trouble shooting. This time though im starting to hit a wall.

About a week ago on a shitty day my bike wouldnt start, no noise from the engine could even be heard. Maybe once or twice i would begin to hear something but without the choke open it would die out.

I ended up giving up on that and later on came home and it worked, it worked every time after that for a week.

The only thing i noticed is the first glass fuse in the set was heating up, all my controls were working, oil light even coming on when i would hit the starter.

A noise when it wouldnt start was coming from the fuse, almost like a clicking sound.

Since last week when i got it started i forgot about the problem but now its doing it again, and i have not gotten it to start yet; this time i cant even get it to try to turn over, just the light clicking sound from the fuse box area.

I have quickly run through the wires and havnt seen any touching metal, everything seems to be connected although i have loose wires that are from old connections since i inherited my bike from a junker that brought it back to life.

Any guidance will be appreciated and i apologize ahead of time if this is confusing.

 

Sounds like a poor connection to a fuse. You can either clean up the contacts or upgrade to a blade style fuse box(recommended).

Either that or what you're hearing is a solenoid clicking from a lack of juice. Is your battery fully charged and filled?

 

have not check that yet but i recently bought the battery a few months ago so it should be alright, just now i went outside and it seems like the clicking may be from the battery and not the box.

Upon switching the kill switch back and fourth a puff noise was heard and a tiny bit of smoke or vapor seemed to come from somewhere. Like i said my wiring is a mess but nothing seems to be exposed or touching metal and the fuse itself doesnt seem to be blown.

edit: this bike has never failed me after bringing it all over and preforming oil changes regularly, the first time this happened way back it was an unconnected wire that did it but those wires are very together so im stuck, and this is my daily rider so the sooner i figure this out the better.

 

upon further further inspection my battery levels all seem to be a bit low, is it possible for everything to be working (lights controls) but the battery be too low to fire the starter?

 

Yes. It's also possible for the battery to be "up" enough to SPIN the starter vigorously and not be able to fire the plugs.

Start by servicing the battery, fully charge it and take it to an auto parts store and get it load tested.

The original fuse clips crystallize and break all by themselves, sometimes without being touched. At the very least you'll need to rebuild or replace the fusebox (replacement recommended, rebuild OK if you want to stay with glass fuses.)

 

From experience it sounds like it's the battery to me.
Clicking is most probably the starter solenoid, the "puffing" noise is probably a spark plug igniting some fuel in the exhaust.
Batteries drop pretty quickly when stood and even at 11 or so volts will not have enough in them to turn the starter AND give you a good spark.
Charge it up/keep it topped up with an Optimate (trickle charger) and you should find things much improved.

Then start/run it every few days to keep drawing fresh fuel in the float-bowls.

If the fuse had gone you'd have nothing electrical working at all - though it won't harm to put a new one in.

 

thanks alot guys i should of checked the batt immediately but was reluctant since i had bought one three months ago. After checking it i noticed all my levels were low so i took it to the store which i apparently had a warranty so the charging/filling was free.

when i picked it up the guy at the counter told me that it was fully charged the whole time and that the levels shouldnt of effected it also telling me that my bike was definitely the source of the problem

brought it home plugged it in and everything fired perfectly

 

What a surprise. When you took it to them, the battery was low, you got it back topped off and gee golly gosh it works. What a buncha guys!

Now then, what did we learn? MAINTENANCE is a major part of owning an older bike. When you're riding the bike regularly, the battery MUST BE checked at least once a week. Top it off using distilled water. Buy a jug at the grocery store for $1.50; it'll last a lifetime of motorcycle batteries. These bikes are hard on batteries; you need to keep it properly maintained or you'll kill it.

Put your bike info in your signature, so we don't have to read back to figure it out. Add your location info (basic is fine) to your profile so we don't send an Aussie to AutoZone, if you know what I mean.

And if you don't have a manual for your bike, GET ONE SOON. Read the "maintenance" section, and get busy. Before something bad happens.

And you BEST get after that fusebox. (Before something bad happens.)

 

my old fuse box
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h45 ... 000884.jpg

New fuse box
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h45 ... 000896.jpg

Note: Interestingly after upgrading the fuse box all of my lights got significantly brighter. There was obviously some resistance caused by corrosion on the old fuse box connectors - even though everything technically "worked" the new fuse box definitely made an improvement.

 

damn that looks way cleaner, where did you order a new kit from?

 

pm username "chacal" that's where I bought it from. I got the one with two extra fuses for aux power upgrades and used one of them for a cigarette adapter in the old chain box (you have the same bike as I do). you can search "cigarette upgrade" to see the install pics. I use it to charge my phone while riding.

 

that sounds like such an awesome idea, thanks for the tip im gunna get to work on that asap