Hey everyone, my name is Gabe and i need some help! So i drove my 81 heritage to my folks house and it had been running great for months. threw some new clutch and brake levers on it and after i put the grips along with the throttle/killswitch assy. back on i get no spark. I also broke the killswitch knob thing trying to take it apart. So i hot wired the two red & white wires together as you can see in the pic. Now i just blow the ignition fuse every time i kick it over. Is there a wire grounding out somewhere else from moving crap around? Any info is appreciated.
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Stranded, need help
- Thread starter wildroses
- Start date
CadXS
XS400 Addict
You say you put on new clutch lever...did you wire the clutch switch? I'm not 100% sure as I don't have an '81 but didn't the clutch have a cut out switch and there should be a safety relay somewhere. This means the bike must be in neutral or the clutch pulled for the motor to kick over. I thought this was all in the starter motor circuit. When you say kick it over do you mean literally that, or are you using the electric start?
Ah i didnt even think of that! thats probably the answer. Yes, literally kick it over. I put different aftermarket levers on though that i can't just plug the wire back into, how could i work around that? Is there any way to ditch the clutch sensor thing?
Well i tried just plugging the sensor back into the old lever and pushing the pin but it still blew the fuse when i kicked it over. But now that i think about it... these bikes need to have clutch lever out to start or else it wont grab. Also, the sensor wouldnt know it's in neutral from the clutch. Damn, can anyone think of anything?
hmusket
XS400 Addict
I don't think the fuse issue has anything to do with the clutch lever issue. I haven't tried starting my bike this year, I switched forks and handle bars and don't the controls on and electrics all together, so I can't do any experiments. I'm thinking there's something wrong with you kill switch setup. Do you know exactly when the fuse blows? Does it blow when you turn the key? If so remove the right control, take the hot wiring apart, put a new fuse in and turn the key. You probably see what I'm getting at. Also, check to see if any bare wiring is touching the handle bar.
hmusket
XS400 Addict
Its hard to see the detailing of how you hot wired the R/W wires together. Its blurry. Did you wrap any electrical tape around where you hot wired? If you didn't then I suspect they're shorting on the handle bar, which is a ground, therefore blowing your fuse. You could try hotwiring them together again, not putting the control on the handlebar and see if the bike starts or wants to start with the kickstarter.
hmusket
XS400 Addict
The electric start button may only work when the left and right controls are on the handlebars where they complete the ground. If you want to experiment, remove the r/w wires from the housing, check them over for any breaks in the insulation, put the control back on the bike,leaving the two r/w wires together outside of the housing, put some tape over the joint, and then see if the start button works. BTW does the neutral light come on?
Yes the N light comes on. I just tried electrical taping the kill switch wires together, put the stock lever on with the clutch sensor plugged in. I didn't kick it just tried pressing the start button and it blew the fuse. I'm really confused. Before it would only blow the fuse when i kicked it now thge fuse slowly got hotter(i touched it, it burned) then fried. I'm stumped.
hmusket
XS400 Addict
Did you take left control switches off when you changed the clutch lever? If so take it apart again and check for any crimped or cut wires. Another thing you can try is take the other fuses out, except for the ignition fuse and see what happens when you try to start the bike.
