XJ550 Dead

I have an XJ550 Maxim and when I turn the key on, the only thing it will do is turn the tail light on. No headlight, no signals, no brake light, no starter, nothing. The Sidestand relay does click when the key is toggled on and off, but that is all. Any clue on what it could be?

 

Have you checked your fuses? That's a really simple thing that some people over look sometimes (know from experience). Also when you say no starter do you mean that there is no clock from the starter solenoid?

 

The fuses are fine, they show on the tester as perfectly fine. And the starter is sort of aftermarket, mounted on the left side of the frame behind the seat. I'm not sure where the starter solenoid is on this bike. The one clicking I have narrowed down, the easiest one to access currently without taking the tank back off, is the kickstand one(or at least I think it is the kickstand, its under the seat on the left side. I referenced the guide on these forums to track it down "Sidestand (kickstand) relay (blue): left side, behind rear frame cross tube")

 

On my 750 seca the starter solenoid is right next to my battery on the right side behind a side cover, maybe your 550 is the same. I'm not to familiar with the 550, but I do believe they are very similar bikes. Did you notice anything strange with your bike the last time it was running, the lights were abnormally brighter than usual, hard starting or taking longer than usual? Does the brake light come on when you step on the rear brake or squeeze the front lever?

 

Starter on the left side of the frame behind the seat?! I need a picture of that.

With the ignition on you should have the following lights on: Taillight, instrument backlights, oil light. The brake light should work, the turn signals should illuminate, but not necessarily blink if the battery is lowish. The headlight remains unlt until the engine starts.

Since those are not on and the starter isn't spinning, you have more than one electrical problem. The fuses test OK, but are the fuse clips in good electrical condition? Pull each fuse in turn and check for voltage across the clips.

 

Brake light doesn't work. And now you ask, it did stop running. At first it acted really down on power and I had to throttle over half before it would open up and go. Shortly after that it died and wouldn't start again. Based on what it was doing, it seemed like a carb issue so those were removed and thoroughly cleaned. After everything was reassembled, we tried to start it and it wouldn't. After a couple of minutes trying to start it, it literally died, the started stopped doing anything and the lights all stopped, and the brake light doesn't engage at all now. Now that I think about it when it first happened, the neutral light and such would come on, but now nothing comes on.

 

Check to make sure you have 12 volts at the battery. Next test if you are getting power on each side of the fuse box.

 

Aside from being made by Yamaha, and having four cylinders they are not much alike. Quite a few things are similar, but there are a lot of details that are very different. You are correct about the starter solenoid location however.

 

All power tests fine from battery to fuse box. All was working just fine before it stopped running (still think it was a carb issue initially). Could attempting to start it for a prolonged period of time (2 mins max, but not straight 2 mins) have shot something? It died while the starter was going.

 

How about from fuse box to starter solenoid? To the starter switch? To the Killswitch (which is in the correct position isn't it?)?

 

Do you have an "aftermarket" fuse box installed? Take out each fuse and try and clean the contact surfaces in the box and fuses. Even if they test okay, older fuses can, but not usually, stop working just because of age.

 

I don't know if its nessecarily a good idea being that we don't know the issue here, but could he jump the solenoid and go straight to the sarter to see if the bike turns over and possibly starts? Don't really know if that will tell us anything other than if the solenoid is bad.

 

I'm not sure if the fusebox is aftermarket or not. From the looks of it i'm gonna say its original. The killswitch is gone so I don't know if thats the issue. And all fuses are going correctly from what the meter reads.

 

What do you mean the kill switch is gone, like the bike doesn't have one?

 

I guess it originally had one, but its no longer there. I got it used and it was gone then.

 

Missing switches are all the more reason to carefully inspect the electrical harness. How is the kill-switch bypassed? I'd suspect that is where some of the trouble lies, but it does not explain the lack of lighting. The original fuseboxes are fine, until the fuse clips and solder joints get brittle and fail (which is what I suspect is going on here).

 

in case you do not have one here is a wiring diagram it is a seca one but will work for you. the mouse pointer when hovered over things is a cool feture
http://frankjohansson.com/stuff/xj550/XJ550ElectricalDiagram.html
a normal wiring diagram print it and mark off what you check
http://xjdiagrams.thundervalleypower.com/wiringdiag/d1a.jpg

http://xjdiagrams.thundervalleypower.com/wiringdiag/d1b.jpg

 

Does the 550 Max have a Park position on the keyswitch? My KZ has a park position and it just lights the taillight. You can remove the key as well.

 

does your horn work?
the tail light and lic plate light(is that working) are run from the main fuse when you turn the key on.
Head light only comes on after bike is started or spins fast enough to energize relay.
the key ignition switch has 3 wires. red wire brings voltage from main fuse to key , when key is on voltage goes to blue wire which goes to tail lights
then a brown wire which brings voltage to the remaining fuses. do you have 12 volts on the fuse clips? check where the wire is crimped

lets test for voltage at the tci box under the seat, red/white wire right side connector do you have 12 volts there?
do you have 12 volts at the solenoid red/white wire? this voltage comes from starter cut off relay
voltage goes from ignition fuse to kill switch then to tci ,oil light, then to starter circuit cutoff relay and then to side stand relay.
do you hear the relay under the tank clicking as well as the side stand relay clicking

the connector for the starter button and kill switch is a 3 position connector under gas tank near coils
this is probaly the best place to bypass kill switch 2 red /white wires
the blue wire is for the starter button..
test to see if you have 12 volts at the horn.
let me know about your voltages,
clean the ground wire from battery neg terminal to frame.

 

yes it does it rarely works but can be fixed it is turned to far left. there is a link for this on xj4ever.com
http://www.xj4ever.com/clean and lube the ignition switch.pdf

 

Thanks! Works on my Kaw although I never use it. I have a 650 but couldn't even tell ya what box my switch is in I still need to pull that and the controls out for a rebuild.

I'm wondering if something failed in the switch after "minutes" of trying to start it. If the contacts were dirty it could've heated up and failed.

 

On my XJ550 when I turn the key I only get the tail light. Everything else turns on after the engine is on. IIRC, there is a relay for this.

So, you are probably looking at a no-start. You should be able to find the starter solenoid by following the positive lead from the battery.

 

Neutral safety switch? Clutch lever safety switch?

What is the actual voltage at the battery when you press the start button?

 

After further inspection and the starter(rigged up one on the frame) being taken apart, the bike will start fine if grounded at the starter and the headlight will come on if you ride the bike. The brake light still doesn't work, tail light does though. None of the dash lights work. What besides the fuse box, which has been well tested, would be causing this still?

 

post a photo of this starter rig
if you test the voltages as I asked in another post I will help you find your problem but with out that info I can not help you.
have you removed and tested your bulbs?

what do you mean by grounded at te starter? are you grounding the starter to make it work ?
or grounding the bike to starter to make the lights?
if it is the latter then you have a grounding issue. the motor is the first link in the groung system the battery is grounded to motor and at that point the frame is grounded to the motor by a wire from connection at motor