So confused, my '82 has become a large paperweight... Where do I go next?

so a little history: 1982 Yamaha xj650. Had massive problems with what I thought was my starter early this summer. It was struggling to start upon hitting button. Died on me riding down the street a couple times. It would come back after a few more atrempts to restart. Replaced the starter, seemed like all problems were solved, nope!

Next it began giving me trouble starting again. If have to hammer the button quite a few time, then eventually I'd push her down a hill to start it because it was trying and trying to turn over. Battery tested good at vip, also when it was running it ran fine, so that made me rule out alternator.

So now I'm on a part replacing tirade and I've replaced the: spark plugs, starter stolenoid, battery terminal cables, stolenoid to starter cable, and lastly the rectifier, and yes the starter.

Tired of buying parts with no results. I can even get it started via push start. The ignition button just causes a sad repetitive ticking from the stolenoid. If I charge it on the trickle for awhile it'll turn the engine a bit. Won't seem to fire up any way I try at this point. The headlight won't turn on upon attempting to start the bike which is odd, but I'm sure irrelevant.

Can you guys point me in the right direction. I'm a pretty green bike mechanic, but I'm understanding slowly. This is just killing me tho, wish I had a kick start

 

First off, stop trying to take over the world; that's Blofeld's job.


You need to slow down and diagnose instead of swapping parts. It's highly likely that the old parts are all still good, so I hope that you kept them.

First clue is that when the starter issues began, mashing the starter button helped. The starter button is the most likely cause of the trouble. Take the switchgear off that side and have a look. It's either corroded or broken.
After that read The Information Overload Hour ( link in my signature).

The headlight is doing exactly what it's supposed to do; stay off until the engine is running so the starter can draw enough amps from the battery.

 

What Kmoe said.

But I'm also thinking, would a bad starter button cause it to die while riding?

Did you replace fuse box? My bike died intermittently while riding and would not start, and it was the dreaded (an known) corroded/decayed fuse clip problem...road bumps were causing it to cut in and out electrically.

Just a thought, and a cheap thing to try and fix (should be done anyway).

 

pull the side cover off the right side and jump the solenoid terminals if the bike start with no issue then its the button as kmoe said. If you still have the issue then you might want to go to staples and buy a stack of paper to slide under the bike so its not useless.

You might want to look at the possibility of an electrical short or a faulty kill switch.

 

Still sounds like a bad battery to me

 

I'm voting for multiple problems, but the starter switch needs looked at (sidestand switch too as a sticky one can cut power when going over a bump).

Then everything else needs looked at.

 

I'm voting for multiple problems too. It was running fine for a long time and now, balls. I mean I seriously can't even push start it in gear.

Yea the fuse box looks like shit. The previous owner did some kind of magic addition. The fuses themselves look kind of wet inside but not blown. Battery tested good so they say.

 

I don't really care what THEY say. Have YOUput a volt meter on it to see what is ACTUALLY happening with voltage when YOU push the button? Seriously, I have seen and had brand new batteries that test perfect, but when they are installed, turn out to be bad right out of the box.

 

what happens of you jump across the solenoid (large wires) with a screwdriver?

BATTERY
test the voltage drop when you press starter button ,meter on battery terminals press button what do you get?

pull the sidestand relay. this bypasses sidestand switch

location
- on all 1982-84 XJ650 Maxim models: onto a welded bracket outbound of the left outer frame tube, just behind the left coil.
- on all XJ650RJ Seca models: under the front of the tank, behind the turn signal flasher relay.

ohm out your ignition system .
Pick-up coils:
1982 XJ650RJ Seca (non-yics engines): 700 ohms +/- 20% = 560 ohms to 840 ohms acceptable range
1982-84 XJ650 Maxim: 650 ohms +/- 20% = 520 ohms to 780 ohms acceptable range
1982 XJ650RJC Seca (yics engine): 650 ohms +/- 20% = 520 ohms to 780 ohms acceptable range
1982-83 XJ650 Turbo: 120 ohms +/- 20% = 96 ohms to 144 ohms acceptable range

Ignition Coils:
Primary side (input from main wiring harness):
2.5 ohms +/- 10% = 2.25 ohms - 2.75 ohms acceptable range

Secondary side (spark plug wires, without their end caps):
11K ohms +/- 20% = 8,800 ohms - 13,200 ohms acceptable range
Spark plug caps:
5K +/- 20% = 4,000 to 6,000 ohms per cap acceptable range
Spark plugs:
0 ohms per plug

 

Ok just tinkered with it today. Took a look at the throttle control. It looks ok in there, pretty nice and clean. When I move the kill switch back and forth between OFF/RUN/OFF i noticed that the neutral green light flickers off when I get to the run position. The ignition button barely triggers the starter stolenoid. When it does manage to tick away it drowns out pretty quick. At this point it's not even turning the engine over.

I'm gonna look into the battery test tomorrow. This thing wanted to start the other day, something simple and stupid is preventing it

Thanks guys I'll update again, between this and my broken ural I'm pretty pissed. This week Maine is in the 70's!!!!

 

I know how feel......there's a broken urinal at work, too.

 

At my work all the urinals are in good repair. If we could only get the boys to use them....