Kick Stand Switch or not????

I am trying to troubleshoot a problem I am seeing when I first start the bike up after sitting for 4 hours or more? When I go to put it into gear, with the kick stand up, the bike will shut off. It seems that I have to wait a little bit to let the bike warm up before I can put it into gear and it stay on.

Is this normal?

Or should I replace the kick stand switch?

 

Take the switch off. Look at your wiring diagram and see what terminals are for the coil. Put 12v on it and check the contact terminals with an ohm meter to see if its switching ok.

I took mine apart and found it full of rust powder. Blew it out, glued it back together and it worked perfectly.

 

the connectors it plugs into are one male and one female you can unplug the switch and TEMPORARILY bypass it by plugging those two connectors into each other. Mine was missing whe I got the bike, bought a used one and it failed. Bypassed, ordered replacement. Checking switch with VOM produced interesting results: when closed (stand up, should be 0 resistance or close) it BOUNCES all over the place, changing after each "actuation" of the switch, and wiggling the plunger makes it better/worse. So it would work sometimes and not others...

 

make sure your switch is actually moving, mine got gunked up with rust and grime. and it would die alot until I cleaned the switch shaft with some wd40 and fine emery cloth. works great now.

 

Sorry, i was thinking of the sidestand relay above. you should check like redfire said, you need to determine if it's the switch, or the relay.

 

Don't clean it with WD40, I think the stuff is great... but it's also highly flammable and spraying it into an electrical sensor is not thee best idea. Use electrical contact cleaner, basically same stuff but it won't light on fire.

 

I think mine is either missing and bypassed or rusted shut (closed). my bike starts and runs with the kick stand down with the bike in gear. normally it won't start with it in gear, but the one time i wasn't sitting on the bike when I started it off it went... grrr new clutch lever required and 3 days of riding missed.

 

Well, I checked both the relay and switch, and everything looks solid. And after I put the switch back on, it seems to be working fine now...

 

Sometimes you have a thin coating of corrosion on the terminals. Just the act of unplugging and replugging the connectors can remedy the problem. you need to clean them as best you can so you wont be stranded on the road going back through the connectors trying to get the bike to start.

I've been there before.