broke down....

I have a 76 kz900 I was out for a ride when out of no wear My bike cut off. I tried to re start by electrical starter nothing happened I then tried to kick start and nothing happened any tips on what I should check? thanks.

Fuse?

asevans wrote: Fuse?

+1

Also why is it blowing a fuse? if it did.

When the bike dies and all the electrics are dead there's really only 2 maybe 3 possible reasons.
1. Either one of the cables to the battery or ground have come loose
2 the main fuse has blown.
3 Ignition switch knackered.

This happened to me at the weekend and it was the main fuse. After replacing the fuse it fired up and I rode home. I spent 4 or 5 hours on Monday looking for a short and found nothing. Rode 40 km today and no problem.
A few years back I blew a main fuse and blew the replacement immediately and ended up pushing the beast almost a mile home. Eventually I found a short in the headlight bucket where some old electrical tape had come off a connection - blame PO. After a proper repair all was fine.

Sometimes when they are old the glass fuses will blow for no reason (wanna guess how I learned this?). What's worse, sometimes they look perfectly fine. Wheat happens is the little metal caps loosen from years of vibration and separate from the filament inside the fuse. So when you look at the filament it looks ok, but it actually has disconnected from one of the metal caps. If the fuses are more than 10 years old I would replace them all. Ed

What Ed said, but look for evidence of burning at the fuse contacts, (melted plastic, ect). Common problem for bad contact between the 20A main fuse and it's clips, fuse runs red hot and burns open, then you are dead. I worried about this riding at night more than drunk drivers and deer combined. If it was today all the KZs would have been recalled by Kawasaki and a better fuse setup installed. It's more than a nuisance, it can be deadly when this happens.

If all else fails look closely at the solder connections in the right switch block (use a continuity tester). My KZ900 had one go bad with the same symptoms.

My 81 KZ750E did exactly what Ed described on the way to work one morning. I pulled into a residential area driveway and was working on it when my boss' boss pulls up. She offered me a ride, but I already had things in hand. Literally, the cap in one hand, the glass and the rest of the fuse in the other.

Thanks every one only one problem I can't find a single fuse on my bike. I have a different front end with duel headlights no dash or gages my ignition is on the side ov my bike poorly placed its maybe half an inch above my battery i didnt do this this is how i got the bike in gonna relocate it here is my theory... I went over a bump right before this happened actually after hitting the bump is when it turrned off on me could it be that when I hit the bump my battery termanal touched my ignition. And caused it to ground out or burn up or something like that?

I believe you are correct that going over the bump made your bike cut out. At first glance it appears your bike was modified a bit, the front end looks like it was raked that's all I can spot from the small picture in your avatar, so it's a good bet that more than that was done. There really should be fuses somewhere, have you checked behind the side panels (typical location) or under the seat. maybe take the tank off and look there in case the fuse box was relocated. Maybe if you can post some bigger pictures.

Everyone rags a Wiredgeorge ignition relay but I install them on my bikes because it is a simple way to hotwire the bike.

If you were to carry a small length of wire with two alligator clips you van run a wire from your battery to the hot wire going into the coils. This has come in handy a couple of times.

roy-b-boy-b wrote: Everyone rags a Wiredgeorge ignition relay but I install them on my bikes because it is a simple way to hotwire the bike.

If you were to carry a small length of wire with two alligator clips you van run a wire from your battery to the hot wire going into the coils. This has come in handy a couple of times.

Thanks Roy. That sounds like a good tip. Am I right in thinking that I could also bridge the terminals on the starter relay with a screwdriver blade to turn the starter motor over ? I'm to old to bump start. This would be a last resort / get you home kind of roadside repair.