Ignition turned on but no power at all. Bike just stop working.
 

Hi,

I was on my way to work today when my bike just died on me.
As I pulled away from a trafic light there was a splutter of rev's and a loss of power. I kicked it into neutral and the bike continued to splutter for about 5 seconds and then stopped running. While the bike was spluttering the neutral and indicator light dimmed on and off and looked as if it ran out of electricity.
After it stopped running I turned the ignition on and off and there was no power to the lights at all. The neutral, indicator, brake and head lights do not work, no power at all.

I am not sure if this has anything to do with the problem but the electric start stopped working about 2 weeks ago and I have been kick starting it since then.

I think the battery is ok as the headlight did come on this morning before I started the bike.


The bike is 3AJ
XT600E (1992)

Has any one had the same problem or know how to fix it?

Thanks
JRM

First off check your fuses. The main fuse has probably blown and maybe others.

Is is it the fuses, you need to find out whats blowing them. bad earth, short etc. Check all connections and especially earth points. Water and moisture in couplings too.

Check the battey next..Its NOT the battery that runs the bike or the lights etc, its the generator. The battery is there to start the bike, no other reason. I cant remember how the XT curcuit runs, will it run with and without a battery in place ??

You need to get yourself a multimeter (only about £5 or $10) and check the battery. You should get 12.5V and over from a healthy battery. With the bike running and the generator chanrging, this should peak at about 13.5-15V accross the battery terminals.

Let us know how the battery is before anything else !!

Yeah, I agree with previous guy, sounds like main fuse. If any other parts failed, ignition, cdi, coils ect you would still have battery power to the lights. Just have to find out what popped the fuse, check connections to and from starter to find out why that died and you will probably cure the fuse as well. When you press the start button, can you hear the solenoid click ?

I had the main fuse blow on my old CB750. It was the first thing I checked when I had a similar problem. The problem was that the bad fuse LOOKED good, so I spent an extra 15 minutes wasting time looking for other reasons.

Carry a multimeter on your bike. They're ridiculously cheap and can save you a lot of time.

The ignition on XT600's is powered by part of generator not at all connected to the rest of the electrics so even if the battery is flat the engine will still run. The main fuse is not part of this circuit and the only thing that stops the ignition working is the kill switch and the ignition switch which both connect a wire from the CDI unit to ground (negative - the frame). When you turn the ignition 'on' all you are doing is opening this connection so the CDI is no longer grounded.

If the engine isn't running and the rest of the electrics are dead I'd first check the connector from the generator to the rest of the wiring and also the connector to the ignition switch, and then the ignition switch itself. As the other guy said, you may need a multimeter to do this properly. But to begin with look for corrosion, broken wires and so on.

Hi, I have a similar problem except that when I jump start the bike it is ok for a while and then splutters, loses power, lights dim, indicators freak out and dies - no electrics etc etc. Did you ever manage to find the source of the problem and how did you fix it. Your help will be appreciated. Thanks

Check out my thread - http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...lem-help-27035

I know this is an old thread, but I had the EXACT same problem on my XT600 3AJ, I had started my bike, it ran for a while, and all of a sudden the lights started flickering and the entire electics died. Nothing happened at all when the ignition was switched on.

In the end I discovered that the main fuse box has actually melted after overheating from a blown fuse. I cleaned up the electrics around the fuse box and replaced it with a brand new modern inline blade fuse box (20A). I also hunted down the cause of the fuse blowing and melting the fusebox which ended up being a wire that ran into my headlight unit shorting out.

similar problems
 

Hi, I know this is an old thread but it's the most similar one i saw to my own problem. Can i ask for some help here?

FYI my bike is a 2002 XT600E
OK so i was riding and the bike stuttered and then completely died. When i turned the ignition off, and then on, i noticed no neutral light / no headlight. I assumed the starter relay fuse was blown, and it was! (20A, there was orginally a 30A one there when I bought it, but heard 20A was the correct one)

When I tried replacing it, the fuse immediately blew out as i inserted it. I assume this is because in the middle of riding (in light rain) some short circuit became reality. I can confirm that i was with the ignition in the off position, and with the 1st gear engaged and the side stand down when i replaced the fuse (25A, only thing available in the Hardware store) and yet it still blew out immediately.

Now, I tried (hard, i think, but with Newb abilities) to find faulty wiring. I assume that with the ignition off, no current should be going to the fuse, but it obviously is. I looked at the main wiring for faults: 1 - negative battery to earth (engine casing) 2 - positive battery to starer relay 3 - starter relay to starter motor... and couldn't see anything obvious. I think the light rain may be the culprit, but a kind man - who asked if my bike was for sale:) - tried helping me find a faulty connection and couldn't see anything obvious. He suggested it could have been the spark plug jolting out of position, but we couldn't spot anything terribly wrong.

So i guess my question is: What do you suggest I do in troubleshooting? I have just spent a lot of money in a new starter motor and would love to avoid an expensive garage trip

I should add (although i dont think its relevant/related) that i can not start (starter motor doesnt even engage) the bike in gear, only in Neutral.

Thanks all in advance

I am not familiar with Yammy wiring, but I will have a crack at it anyway :rofl:
From the way I read your post, the bike will start, but not in gear. Is that correct ??

I would be looking for a fault in the side stand circuit or a clutch lockout circuit.
I know my KLR has a stupid lockout device under the clutch lever perch. Somewhere that you would never look doh
If the bike will not start at all, then I would start looking for a chaffed wiring loom under the tank :thumbup1:

It's been a while .......................
 

........................ since this web site has been mentioned within the HUBB.
But it is a decent start point for anyone who is trying to track down that elusive electrical fault.
http://www.electrosport.com/media/pd...ng-diagram.pdf

Fault Finding Guide - Motorcycle Electrical Fault Finding Chart - ElectroSport

If the bike starts ok in neutral and cuts out when put in gear, it's likely to be the side stand safety switch as previously mentioned. With ignition off try unplugging the switch then start bike and put in gear. If it cuts out the two wires need to be joined together. Try this first..

Follow each wire starting from the batt positive terminal looking for any bare spots.

Thanks for the troubleshooting links Walkabout.

Sorry for the confusion, I meant that it could start in Neutral (but not in gear), before the fault. Now it doesn't start at all. Switching the ignition between off and on doesn't light up anything because the ignition fuse is blown and continuously instantly blows when replaced.

Thanks, I will use the links as a guide to try to find the fault and report back.

Edit: I have noticed the fault finding chart is for the charging system. Could that be why the ignition fuse keeps blowing (short circuit somewhere), or is it normally something else?

Start unplug all connection sockets and check fuse, you couldnt start bike with clutch handle in?

Before the fault happened, I couldn't start the plug with the gear engaged, even if the clutch was handle was pressed.

Thanks for your tip. Just to clarify that no fuse is in at the moment because every time (2 times in 5 minutes) I tried to put in a new fuse it blew. The situation now is that as I insert the fuse I see a small spark, so I take the fuse away before it blows. This all happens with the ignition in the off position!

Ok so your connction to clutch is not working, cause this one would make bike start with clutch handle in. All sockets are easy to find and unplug, then you can start plug them in one by one if fuse is not blown. If it still blown you must have visible shortcut on a mainwire.

That sounds like very good advice, I will try that, thank you very much!

I have taken a look at the diagram and if its the correct fuse iam looking at its conncted to rectifier, coil and mainswitch. If all of them are disconected from sockets you should get a result or the battery is shortet.

That's why I was suggesting starting at the battery and going outward. He has a direct short somewhere in the main power supply wire that goes up to the ignition switch. That would be the first thing to disconnect and see if there still is a short. A multi meter can be used instead of another fuse.

Or , put a nail in place of the fuse and whatever starts smoking is the problem ! :innocent:


(only joking, don't do it )

Hi,
Couldn't fix it yet,

I checked the voltage across the battery and it read 12.9V

Then i disconnected the socket closest to the relay and tried inserting the fuse. It didn't blow, so i guess that may rule out the short being in the main power supply, and instead it might be in the wires between RR or ignition swith.

http://i.imgur.com/VbhbFWz.jpg

Now this is where I got stuck.
1 - RR
I saw in the service manual that the RR is behind/below the seat (near the license plate), so i removed it and followed the wire to near the rear indicators.

http://i.imgur.com/Zf52YMp.jpg

I removed a flap and could see no obvious damage to the wires, so my next step would be to check the wires that go near the fuel tank and into the ignition... This is where i stopped because i couldn't feasible remove the fuel tonight.

So this is all i had time to do before getting tired, and re-assembling everything (my motorcycle is on a public road, and i have limited time to work on it during the week).

Just to make sure i didnt miraculously fix something, i removed the starter relay fuse, re-connected the starter relay socket and when re-inserting the fuse, it instantly blew.

Can someone point me in the right direction?

Is there a socket i can disconnect between the main socket near the relay and the RR that i can disconnect and try the fuse again, so i can make sure the faul is/isn't there before trying to trace the short to the Ignition key?

Or alternatively can soemone tell me what i did tonight makes no sense at all, and i don't know what i am doing/talking about, and give me some other guidance/tell me to go to a mechanic? bier

I will take all the guidance i can get!:thumbup1:

Can you tell me what color is on the wires and do you see where they come from?Easy place to check for fault is remove the headlamp cover, check wires from ignition and the headlamp. The socket on the headlamp is weak, mine had meltet down due to bad connection, remove and check.

I will try removing the cover and remove the socket and look at it, thank you.

I will also try to take pictures or remember all the colours of the wires from the relay!

Thanks,

Ok, its the cable that comes directly from starter relay? I only have 2pin plug, red/white, blue/white. If you take a wire and connect to + on battery then to the red/white wire on the socket that goes to the starter relay, and use a wire to ground the blue/white. If it not starts up your rele is gone.

Sorry if you have done this, but have you checked the ignitionswitch itself? It sounds shorted. Disconnect it and see if it helps.

What happend here?