Not turning over

I just picked up an82 XJ650RJC that has been sitting for about 5 years. Previous owner said it ran until the last time he parked it.

I have zero mechanical knowledge, and bought this as a project for my son and I to learn on.

We changed the oil, installed a new battery, and new plugs. There is power to everything on the bike except the starter. Nothing happens when yo push the button. Just wondering if it’s as simple as replacing a fuse, or is there something else we should be looking at?

 

First, the basics: make sure it's in neutral, that the neutral light comes on, and that the Run/Stop switch is set to Run.

If these are all correct, but nothing happens when you hit the starter button, the two most likely issues are:

1) Original fuse box with glass fuses. If you have this you should replace it with a modern ATO fuse box like the ones the site sponsor/vendor XJ4Ever sells. The original fuses and fuse holder clips oxidize and lose conductivity and become brittle, which leads to plenty of problems.

2) Bad starter solenoid. You can try bridging the two large terminals on the solenoid (round thing to the left of the battery) with a screwdriver. If the engine cranks then, that tells you that your starter is probably good. It's not a confirmation that the solenoid is bad, though, because there could be other problems like the fuse box, a bad starter switch, a problem in the safety circuits... A more complete test of the starter solenoid is to use jumpers to apply 12V from the battery to its Red/White terminal, and ground (chassis or battery negative terminal) to the solenoid's Blue/White terminal. A good solenoid should click and run the starter at this point (assuming the starter is good).

 

I also bought a used XJ550 about half a year ago. Also nothing happened when I tried to turn it on either. i just got a red oil light to light up. No engine turning over nothing. Also went through the sparks, battery checks, gas checks.
What ended up turning the bike over for me was 1. getting the bike into neutral and pulling up the side stand. the green neutral button lit on and engine started turning. 2. flooding the carbs. this may help you as well since it seems the bike hasn't been turned on in many years. Set your petcock to PRI position for 1-3 minutes. What this will do is it will drain gas down into your carbs ''priming'' them for a start up.

if that doesn't work and you checked battery, sparks, then carbs may be the next logical check.

 

you are discribing built in safety fetures and I would say your clutch safety switch is broken
also sounds like sidestand switch is stuck