Why wouldn't starter work?: Painted handlebars!

Maybe this would have been more obvious to some of you, but I was scratching my head over this one.

I tore down my '81 Seca 550 two years ago, and have done a frame-up refurb. I just got it to the point of hooking up the battery for the first time, and every system worked as expected when I turned on the key. But the starter button did nothing.

I checked the side stand switch, the starter solenoid connection, and more -- basically all the usual suspects. The wiring diagram showed that the starter button has a black ground wire that goes directly to ground -- but my bike didn't have that.

The black wire instead went directly to a wiring harness plug connection (under the gas tank), where it terminated into an empty socket. There was no wire or connection to the main harness side. So in effect, for years my bike had been relying on the ground that existed from the right hand control assembly being CLAMPED to my anodized steel handlebars (which grounded back to the frame through the handlebar clamp).

So when I recently painted the handlebars, I unknowingly blocked that ground from completing.

For my fix, I just created a ground wire to plug from the harness connection back to the frame. Problem solved!

I guess I just posted this to show another example of how sometimes the least obvious things we do can have consequences we would never logically consider.

 

Along the way, did you notice the bike doesn't match the book? According to the factory 550RH manual, the RH switch cluster only has three wires coming out of it and IS grounded to the bar.

Both my 550 Secas have 4 wires, including a ground wire, which plugs into the harness inside the headlight.

Now I'm curious. I want to see where it goes from there, since it's not following the book.

Good catch.

 

Yep, I've noticed a few deviations along the way. Admittedly, I'm using the Clymer manual and not the Yamaha factory manual, but it too showed only three wires going to (and coming from) the harness plug. But there, as clear as day, was my bike with four wires to the plug, and only three wires coming out into the main harness.

Other things have deviated from the manual as well, but part of it (I'm sure) is the fact that the manuals are attempting to cover multiple models as simply as possible -- and in so doing, leave out critical information for some of us who have the "odd man out" model.

Fitz, I'm suprised that both your bikes' right control harnesses plug in behind the headlight. I would have almost guaranteed that your '81 would be the same as mine, and plug into the main harness under the gas tank. Let me know what you find at that connection. I'm curious.