Electrical Gremlins

Hey guys, lont time since I posted...

I have an '80 xj650 maxim, for reference. It DID run when I took it apart, and I had put thousands of miles on it, and did some maintenance items along the way, so I am somewhat familiar with the bike mechanically.

I have now had the bike in pieces in my garage for the past 2 years or so as I was ticking away at a DIY restoration of the bike. I had it all the way down to the frame and motor, and had the wire loom hanging up in the rafters during the other work, and all electronic components were disconnected and stored separately. I am doing the reassembly now, and have run all the wires, hooked stuff up that needed hooking up, and installed a new fresh battery. Flashers were not pulsing at first, so I went back and cleaned the connectors and now they work fine. Rear driving light and brake light works, license light works, etc.

Here are my issues:

1) This one confuses me a lot more, not sure where to start. My "neutral" light is not activating the neutral light bulb, but is instead activating the "oil" light (as in, when in neutral, the oil light lights up, turns off when in gear). My Neutral light bulb doesn't turn on at all. Now, the thing I'm confused by here is how this could possibly happen, and where to look. It seems like the wires in question are joined with the loom Via block connectors, and they only fit one way, maybe I have one crossed or something? Help... Flasher light works as expected. Can't test high beams lights, so not sure about that bulb... Which brings me to

2) The bike's starter won't turn.... anymore. Initially when I installed the new battery and started checking all the electric stuff, I hit the started button just to hear it crank, and it gave me a few wimpy pumps. As I've continued to track down the other gremlins, I've pressed the starter button a few times to just see if I can get it to do something, but it instead does nothing at all. No solenoid click, no buzzing, nothing. I had rebuilt the starter prior to the disassembly and it was working great, had a new solenoid on it, etc. I do still have some other things to check, including the "how to test your starter circuit" threads, so I'm not out of ideas here, but if anyone has ideas, I'd take them.

Thanks for your help.

 

Have you tried connecting your battery directly to the starter?

 

I haven't gone that far, I had limited time this morning, so I didn't make it too far in the diagnostics of the starter issue yet, I figure I need to go in and clen all the grounds, and make sure the connectors are cleaned up before I get too far ahead of myself.

That is a good point - someone have a good advice on how to Clean the block connectors? I've been using alcohol on a combination of q-tips and pipe cleaners. Pipe cleaners for the female ends of block connectors.

 

if you hook your battery to the starter positive to the post on the starter and the negative to the case of the starter it will tell you if there is a problem with the starter if you do this and the stater turns like it should then I would check thee starter relay next also make sure you are using a good battery.

 

The neutral switch and the oil level switch both have bullet connectors that are along the frame rail on the left of the engine. It is possible (though unlikely) that they have been connected incorrectly.

 

I just solved BOTH my problems, I spent all day at work thinking about it, and so it was the first thing I did when I got home, even before I hung my hat! As unlikely as it is, I DID have the bullet connectors on the left side of the bike connected backwards. I was going back through the loom and cleaning contacts which I had connected and distributed a few weeks back, and sure enough, there was an obvious error. Two wires, a black with red tracer, and a blue set that were connected in reverse. Swapping this fixed the neutral/oil light issue. It must have been a brain fart during reassembly.

I also did some searching on my lunch break and found a nice step by step on diagnosing my starter issues, and by testing the solenoid, starter and then bypassing the cutoff relay, I single out my starter button.

About the starter button:
I think my starter button is aftermarket or off another bike? Can't seem to find pictures of what mine looks like. Mine has a little red plastic bit that slides onto an aluminum post. The post has a collar that retains it in the housing, has a spring holds onto the aluminum post, holding it away from a "copper button".

I cleaned the copper button, and reassembled it. It did not work initially but I twisted the aluminum post and retested, and found that it does work, but only in some positions... I'm guessing the spring is making contact with something in the housing when depressed in certain configurations....

Anyone have a starter button like this, and do you have a suggestion for making this reliable (as in, not having to spin the aluminum post to find the sweet spot?

 

You should thank k-moe for the swapped bullet fix and post a picture of the control switch; maybe someone will recognize it.

Gary H.

 

I would have thanked k-moe for the info, but I found the issue prior to reading his post. I will thank him for contributing to the thread though, and for knowing the one place where my fault was likely to come from. Shows he knows his stuff, and that he actually read and tried to understand my issue. Forums like this are so great for the amateur moto mechanic!

So THANKS k mo, and thanks to all who contribute to this and other motorcycle forums!

I will try to post a pic in the next day or so.