Starting Issue - 79 XS400

[Vanmoto]

Got a bit of a head scratcher...
I turn my bike off after a short ride and come back one hour later and it starts back up. The bike idles for less than a minute and stops running. Figuring it just stalled out and I try to start again and have zero power. The bike would not boost start or even start with a fully charged battery and still no power, no lights, anything. So I do the old screwdriver trick across the starter solenoid and get ignition working but the bike will not start and still has no power.

Any ideas on this one?

 

[Scorpio1963]

Could be a number of issues realy,I dont know if your bike has those kickstand relays or the nuetral safety relay but it could be one of those.

 

[Vanmoto]

No issues there. I'm thinking my kill switch is broken and I'm going test it out. Still pretty baffled about why it quite running as then had no power.

 

[kindest]

check the usual culprits, ground and fuses. The fuse boxes on are old bikes don't age well. A lot of people replace the whole fuse box and connections because of this. I've lost power twice and one time it was the main fuse and the other time it was because the positive battery post vibrated loose.