TOPIC:

thanks pinball.ken here I was assuming there was a faulty part that was causing my problems. I should have known better and checked the wiring. My friend always jokes when I find something fucked up- I bought this bike off of an "airplane mechanic". anyways I was trying to troubleshoot the coils and I had the key switched on. I leaned my hand against the main wiring harness and the lights turned off. I noticed this and tapped it and they turned on then off. I realized the vinyl was gone and it was electrical tape covering the wiring harness. After some inspection I found a broken wire.

Airplane mechanic?
Steve

Yeah airplane mechanic. The PO literally told me he was an airplane mechanic when I bought the bike from him. I've found all kinds of shady stuff someone did to this bike while I've been going through it. Doesn't instill confidence in air travel.

are these crimps stock? I can't imagine that they are. wrapped with blue electrical tape to identify them as crimped wires. then wrapped with black electrical tape over the whole bundle to protect them....

The crimp is stock. I've found blue and yellow tape covered by black.
Steve

oh that's good that they're stock. I was just worrying about how much deeper I had to go with this. The dirt packed in the wires under the black tape probably isn't stock. Unless the wiring room at the kawasaki factory had dirt floors......

Well the thing is 30 years old and god knows where it's been.
Steve

I've also found blue tape over factory crimps.

BTW, the outer black covering isn't electrical tape. It's non adhesive. Try finding some high temp grade Elliott tape. You can find it on ebay. Good stuff.

My wiring harness definitely has black electrical tape wrapped around it. It is all sticky from adhesive and packed in dirt. And when someone cut off the viyl tubing they didn't cut it all off or even make straight cuts. Oh well that makes me feel better about the crimps, Thanks Nessism for the tape info that was gonna be my next question.

I've made that mistake... using electrical tape to wrap a harness. It's a total mess if you have to unwrap anything. Do what Ed (Nessism ) said and look for non-adhesive tape on ebay. It's more expensive than sticky tape, but at least the roll is really big.

You use small bits of sticky tape to hold the wires together before wrapping, and also use it to cover those bare, factory crimp-junctions. That's why there will be small bits of sticky tape under the non-sticky wrap.

you are very welcome. I am glad I could point you in the right direction. how is it running now?
my son has been riding his nearly everyday since i fixed the wiring.
I wish you safe riding.

I haven't been riding it. I ghetto rigged the broken corroded wire for troubleshooting purposes and I finally had good spark on all cylinders. I ordered some crimps and a decent crimper so I can make a proper repair once that stuff comes in the mail. I also got some of the Elliot tape Nessism recommended. I fired the bike up once I checked the spark and it was still running on 3 cylinders! WTF. I opened the carb bowl drains and the #3 bowl was bone dry. I must have mixed up the float needles when I reassembled the carbs after cleaning and this one was sticking really bad. What are the chances, no spark and no fuel on the same cylinder. By the way I checked the carbs first multiple times before finding the wire and it was not sticking then. Anyways I fixed the sticking float needle and I think it should be all set now. I am still waiting for the crimping supplies to button up the wiring repair and then I will try riding it again.