Electrical Woes - or - Ghost in the Machine ?

Yes, my 82 Xj550 Maxim is still on strike. And I have been so nice to it as of late. In fact, I just installed a new blade-style fusebox to replace the original (Thanks Chacal !! Awesome install kit) but unfortunately the fusebox was not the issue. Sure looks pretty now though.

Sooo. Here its is:
Bike does not start when start button is pressed. With ignition turned to on position, headlamp does not come on, and the oil light does not either. Only lamp that lights in the display is the green neutral light. (yep i got it in neutral).
When I hold clutch in, the headlamp lights as well as the rear tail light. Interestingly, my sidestand safety switch (the plunger next to the sidestand itself) sticks in and when i pull it out all the way (with the sidestand up) the headlight comes on then as well. Unfortunately, pull this plunger to the fully extended position does not allow the bike to start either.

When I push the start button nothing happens. No click, no oil light coming on. Just the silence of my failure to understand what my bike is trying to tell me. I have checked every inch of wire (this is not a joke) in the harness. I have replaced the relays with ebay used relays(the blue,yellow and black ones) off a running bike. The start button and its connecting wires all seem to be operating fine. There are no shorts or exposed wires anywhere I could find anywhere on the loom. There is not any corrosion I can find on connectors.
All I can think is going on is either tci unit has bought farm or one of the safety switchs has croaked as well?

Any ideas or words of encouragement would be really welcome. I am almost to the point of bringing it into some mechanic and having him hold me over the coals on this one...

(Just for testing purposes, can I just remove the relay for the the sidestand and clutch to seeif it will run without them and to prove that one of them is bad?)

 

Sounds like it's time to buy a new tool: VOM (Volt-Ohm meter). Some people prefer analog, some like digital. I personally have three different digital ones and an old analog one. What you need to do is test the relays, then start looking for voltage loss across connections and continuity through the circuits. Guaranteed you'll find the problem.

 

+1 on the multimeter. Follow this link http://xjdiagrams.thundervalleypower.com/
And print the correct diagram for your bike. Locate the starter solenoid and work back from there.

It could be the kill switch on the R/H switch cluster - I took my bike out and someone switched it off for me - all that would happen is the oil light came on when I pressed the switch.