82 XJ550 neutral light sticks on

I've had my 82 XJ550 for several years now and it's been a never ending fixer upper it seems. The current thing that has me wondering is a neutral light that won't shut off. When I first got the bike it only went on when I was actually in neutral. After a couple of years it started doing it when I used the clutch. I ask my stepdad about it and his attitude was if the bike was still running don't worry about it. Now the light stays on all the time, the only time it goes off is if it is in gear with the kickstand down. I'm wondering where the issue is coming from.

Thanks,
Brian

 

The switch itself, or the wiring to/from it.

The neutral switch on a 550 lives in a particularly nasty environment: It's behind the sprocket cover and gets inundated with YUCK over time.

Pull the shift lever, remove the cover (don't lose the rubber piece that bridges the gap at the top) and get busy with some mineral spirits and an old paintbrush.

The neutral switch is held on with three screws, it's a rounded/triangular electrical component with one wire sprouting from it.

 

Found the neutral switch. Tried to clean it all out.

Had thought that would have been it as I was in there a few weeks ago when I changed the chain (I managed to get the new chain bound up when trying to run it through).

So I put it all together again all nice and clean and still a neutral light. So I guess its somewhere in the wiring...

My brother is an electrician, anything he could do to help find the culprit?

 

Hold on there bssieben, after cleaning it, did you check it out with a meter? It is possible you are still looking at a stuck or shorted switch. You need to confirm the wiring from the switch to the light is intact and not shorted. A resistance check will tell you that. If the wiring checks out, you have your culprit.

 

Remove the single wire from the switch. If the light stays on you have a problem with the wiring. Check for a pinched wire. To do a switch check with to wire still off do a continuity test from the wire terminal to ground. If the switch is good you will only get continuity in neutral. Get a digital multi-meter that has an audible continuity signal. If the switch does not check fine remove the switch form the block and clean it.

 

Hold the phone. Did you replace the sprockets when you replaced the chain?

How many miles on this bike?

 

that will do it everytime not changing you sprockets when you change your chain always brakes the neutral switch lol

 

When I got the bike I replaced the sprockets and chain. I just replaced the chain because it's been stretched out over use and with sitting out in the weather it was definitely getting rusty. The sprockets still appear to be in good condition with no wearing or anything.

As for checking the wiring and stuff, I'll have to get it to my brother some time. He knows lots more than I do, and I don't have any of those tools. I did check the neutral light when I had the wire disconnected and it stayed on.

 

First off, I wasn't making a correlation between replacing the chain/sprockets and the neutral light issue; it's a separate but important point, that's why I asked about mileage. Unless you know a couple of "tricks" sprocket wear isn't always obvious until EXTREME.

Yep, if the neutral light is still on with the switch disconnected then the problem isn't the switch. The switch works by completing the circuit to ground, so you've got a wire rubbed thru somewhere grounding out.

 

Thanks for the help guys. I appreciate the comments and the rapid response. I'm not a big motor head at all, though I do enjoy working on the bike. I have definitely learned how to take apart my carbs (so far the culprit every time it doesn't run).

For those of you who want to know more about the bike.

It's a 1982 Yamaha 550 Maxim. I bought it at a garage sale for $500 back in summer of 98 I think. When I bought it, it hadn't been licensed since 91 and sat in the guys garage the entire time (with the gas still in it). So far I've done the general maintenance stuff as well as really digging into the carbs (with help from my brother initially) and I've had to replace the gas tank (rusted through). I also replaced the insides of the fuses as the clips had become brittle and broke. Though now it uses the newer, more available fuses. When I bought the bike it had 7500 miles, and this week I just hit 15000 miles, as well as my first animal on a bike (a dove hit somewhere by my exhaust).

 

Which is why I asked. If you've put 7500 miles on it, you really should have replaced the sprockets with the chain. Your new chain is probably going to wear out very quickly, be sure to keep an eye on it.

Sprocket wear is not always obvious until it becomes extreme, as I said. The way to check is to grasp a link pin in the chain at 3:00 on the sprocket and pull straight back, you should not expose more than 1/2 of the adjacent teeth. If you do, the sprocket is worn; both it and the front sprocket should be replaced.



If your bike still has the original sprockets at 15000 miles, you need to replace them right away, trust me. It's not expensive nor difficult; the consequences of a broken chain are.

 

Well, figured I'd put up an update on this issue. It turns out it was one of those relays held by a rubber strap under the tank. The relay wasn't holding it in any more and so as it was hanging water apparently collected in it over time and made it rust. Took it off, opened it up, cleaned out the rust and made sure that it worked, hooked it up and sure enough, the light works now.

 

Lovely.

The two relays under the tank are the flasher and starting circuit cutoff relay. Since the neutral light has nothing to do with the flashers, it was more likely the safety relay.

XJ4Ever now carries replacement rubber relay hangers (although not listed in his catalog.) You might want to replace that one.