1984 xs400 shut off while driving. Problem solved, but wow I felt dumb.

misternovice

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This happened a few days ago coming home from work. Hopped on the bike, turned it on saw the green light come on, hit the starter and... nothing.

Rolled it down a small hill to try and get it started that way, thinking the battery might be dead. It started after a few tries, but I got 1/2 way home before it died again (just as I came off a bridge, phew).

Managed to randomly get it going again, and made it to a lot by my house. Managed to replicate the problem there, but it was 11 pm, and pitch black, so troubleshooting more than checking basics with a phone light was out.

Next afternoon, walked home from work, and had a chance to look at it more thoroughly. At this point I've read through the manual again, and the section on electrical wiring is printed out and in hand. I'm hoping that it's a simple short, or disconnected ground wire, but dreading that it could be the starter.

After taking off the fairings I could, and the seat, tracing all the cables I could see for breaks, and finding nothing, I kicked it a but out of frustration. The silly thing clicked to green, and started first try.

Looking over what I kicked again, found that the negative terminal on the battery, the wire seemed a bit corroded. Sanded it down to improve connection and voila. Started immediately, and has been good since. Such a simple, easily missed problem, I would have never thought to check for it.

This weeks project is changing out the fuse box from the original fuses, to a waterproof blade box. I've seen some guides on here and it doesn't seem difficult at all.
 
It's really pretty straightforward. My only note is to make sure you crimp the contacts you use well because they can vibrate loose if they aren't well-crimped and cause another no-start situation.
 
I'm fairly certain I have access to a soldering Iron, so I'm going to seal the contacts with a that to ensure they don't rattle apart afterwards.
 
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