Can someone help me out with this wiring dilemma.

lilxs400

XS400 New Member
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
WA
Hello everyone I am new here my name is Gabe I am 21 years old and from WA!
I came across a motorcycle my mother has had for years and years sitting in pieces under a tarp turns out it was a 1982 XS400SJ, to make a long story short I pieced everything back together cleaned the head and put it back together since it cranked fine, and now I’m at the point where I’m trying to figure out the wiring and what plug goes where I have pretty much every plug, plugged into their right connector. But I’m having an issue figuring out what these red power wires connect to? Do they connect to each identical one through their a fuse. Like - R/Y to R/Y and R/W to R/W, Red to Red and so on? Also another question about this white wire I found when I was unwrapping the wiring harness, it leads to nowhere and looks to be a clean cut so it didn’t tear or break or anything? Also Sorry if I’m not sounding very knowledgeable I’m used to working on 2 stroke dirt bikes and this is the first actual 4 stroke engine/bike build I’ve tried doing so bear with me. After I connected every red wire to their identical wire i hooked up a power jump box to the starter solenoid and engine ground to turn over the engine everything turned over fine but there seemed to be no spark coming off the plugs from either of the coils, also I have a I’m guessing an ignition delete? Because the wires were cut right at the top where it would have been and there was a on/off switch sitting in the box so I just soldered them onto a 3 prong on/off killswitch and also another thing the light in it was actually lighting up for a bit and then stopped lighting up so not sure what that’s about or if my soldering points are shorting out but Id say they were on there pretty good but you never know.... any help is appreciated, thanks guys also don’t mind the organization I’m trying to make sure everything works well the way it should before I start trying to stuff wires in places I don’t know forsure where they go.
.
F7CCCD51-8A0B-4BBD-90CE-A8329FB2940E.jpeg
490A2FC4-4B17-4973-B771-08F574317A01.jpeg
BEB3488A-CCE0-4C3A-A894-C0AADF848D8F.jpeg
A33B3FAF-1E75-44B0-8465-8EE191FA1AB8.jpeg
A33B3FAF-1E75-44B0-8465-8EE191FA1AB8.jpeg
8C7B0F9C-4807-4F98-AB17-6616972EBA01.jpeg
 

Attachments

  • 33D559BD-C7F4-4EE6-8FF0-0C0C5EA7ACDB.jpeg
    33D559BD-C7F4-4EE6-8FF0-0C0C5EA7ACDB.jpeg
    196.1 KB · Views: 249
  • 822E2EF5-0BA8-4F34-B7FC-FE1DC1F57419.jpeg
    822E2EF5-0BA8-4F34-B7FC-FE1DC1F57419.jpeg
    254.6 KB · Views: 241
  • 00AD7F3C-B394-4095-9492-7C4F43F079C5.jpeg
    00AD7F3C-B394-4095-9492-7C4F43F079C5.jpeg
    244.7 KB · Views: 245
  • E7B40175-E1DE-4807-B511-B2C2E1EA75D0.jpeg
    E7B40175-E1DE-4807-B511-B2C2E1EA75D0.jpeg
    242.6 KB · Views: 239
  • DA351FF5-0728-4AE7-BE91-A8A0E18D2277.jpeg
    DA351FF5-0728-4AE7-BE91-A8A0E18D2277.jpeg
    203.3 KB · Views: 276
  • F5302F1D-02D9-4564-8ADB-98BFD619FE1B.jpeg
    F5302F1D-02D9-4564-8ADB-98BFD619FE1B.jpeg
    249.7 KB · Views: 268
  • CBAAEBF6-6A61-408E-9880-412512FD7599.jpeg
    CBAAEBF6-6A61-408E-9880-412512FD7599.jpeg
    181.1 KB · Views: 253
  • 674E4B88-244C-4BB8-A3B9-F980DA15A5B9.jpeg
    674E4B88-244C-4BB8-A3B9-F980DA15A5B9.jpeg
    187.5 KB · Views: 251
  • 65D5122F-F285-4A6F-951C-38456181ED02.jpeg
    65D5122F-F285-4A6F-951C-38456181ED02.jpeg
    221 KB · Views: 231
  • 939556C0-CFEC-4E7B-8A49-68E780F3E518.jpeg
    939556C0-CFEC-4E7B-8A49-68E780F3E518.jpeg
    205.7 KB · Views: 245
Your best bet is to download the manual and find your models electrical layout. Make sure you have a multimeter. Then start traking down the wires and make sure the connections are made with the ohmmeter. If something isnt ground properly you wont get a spark.
 
Looks like a lot of those plastic connectors are not factory. The headlight should have 2 yellows, a black, and a green wires. All of them are bullet connectors going to the headlight. The black is just a ground so that wire can either be in the harness or you can mount on the frame. You can kind of put any ground anywhere as long as its a good connection. The green and brown wires are L/R turn signals, bullet connectors. The horn will be a pink wire and I believe a black wire, theres will be spade terminals. The rest should all be plastic connectors.

Your wire harness is a bit of a mess. You may be better off getting another. Ive seen much worse before.

You may have 2 blue wires in the bucket. One of them is for the tail light and the other goes to the starter solenoid.
 
honestly half of the connectors on my red power wires I’m sure were just put on there just to extend the wire further, I was going to take them off and solder them together that was just what I could come up with right then and there, Also any idea what those red with yellow striped wires are for? It seems like the brown wires are tapped into those wires, or vise versa can’t remember off the top of my head right now. I just need to know what those red with yellow stripped wires are for and those brown wires that lead to where the original fuse box would of been (fuse box was deleted). Also if they all need an inline fuse between them? Also another question would be why would someone tap those wires into each other they would end up leading back to the same place it isn’t powering anything else ? It’s just excess added wiring off those original power wires? Or


Looks like a lot of those plastic connectors are not factory. The headlight should have 2 yellows, a black, and a green wires. All of them are bullet connectors going to the headlight. The black is just a ground so that wire can either be in the harness or you can mount on the frame. You can kind of put any ground anywhere as long as its a good connection. The green and brown wires are L/R turn signals, bullet connectors. The horn will be a pink wire and I believe a black wire, theres will be spade terminals. The rest should all be plastic connectors.

Your wire harness is a bit of a mess. You may be better off getting another. Ive seen much worse before.

You may have 2 blue wires in the bucket. One of them is for the tail light and the other goes to the starter solenoid.
 
There should only be I think 5 wires going to the back that will power the L/R turns, tail light, brake light, ground wire.

Tail light is blue and brake light is yelllow. The yellow wire should also run up from the rear brake switch and splice to the factory wiring. Even from the factory, the whole harness is a mess. Youll find dead end wires or extra length wrapped up in there.

The battery will have a heavy gauge lead going to the starter solenoid and a smaller wire but thicker than the rest of the wires. Its the red/white wire I think I can see in one of the pics. That is the main harness power and NEEDS A 20AMP FUSE.

BATTERY>20A FUSE>HARNESS.

After youve figured out the rear lighting for the bike, that leaves the connectors for the regulator/rectifier, starter solenoid and that should be it. You can look at the wiring diagrams available here
 
A bit of searching in the TECH section my find the proper wiring diagram for your bike.
If the wires you are asking about being the same color, yes they most often connect together. Some places the colors may change from one side of a plug to the other. Such as on the TCI pick ups. The diagram shows colors that are in the diagram but on the actual unit they may not. The pick ups are from a subcontractor and they use their own colors.
I don't have a diagram for your bike so I can't help much.
Your bike being an 82 should have the TCI box. Full battery voltage goes to the box on a R/W wire. this same power goes to the coils.
Check for the voltage on these wires. If you don't have it, no spark.
The power goes to the coil then to the TCI box. When the TCI box gets a signal from the pick ups it turns the ground for the coils on/off, just like the points do. This causes the spark.
If all your bits and pieces are stock parts they should all have matching plugs on the stock harness. No two parts have the same number and color of the wires. So finding the right plugs isn't too hard.
If someone has been trying to modify the wiring you may find most anything. Like thos hopuse wiring caps.
Gettint the right diagram will make fixing your issues much easier.
Leo
 
Back
Top