loose kill switch wires

KZ owners beware of loose kill wires (3) inside the switch. They vibrate loose and will cause confusion. Anytime you are having on\off, and spark problems check that these wires are tight. There are 2 screws visable and 1 under the 2. Righty tighty lefty loosey

nads.com - Moved your post to electrical forum.

You make a good point. There is one wire going TO the kill switch and usually two out. They generally have a split UNDER some wrapping. One wire will feed coils and the other most everything else... like your lights. The kill switch is a poor design on most KZs. Not only can the wires loosen, but the red knob on top has a couple of contacts and you are pushing a bb around a slot when you turn the knob. The slot just wears out on most KZs over time and the contact gets loose. If you are wiring a bike from scratch, it is probably a great idea to have a kill switch but buy a new and more modern type... you can generally pick one up at a place that sells dirt bike stuff.

The design of the horn and starter buttons also sucks! (but that is another rant).

Tell me about the horn. I spent a good few hours trying to get my horn to BEEP. All I get is a quiet meep. Tried different wiring set up, by-passing the horn button, and got a good loud BEEP. Checked the switch with a meter, and it seemed OK. When I finally got it wired up again, too quiet. I have been thinking of buying a new push button to mount somewhere and rewire the horn, just haven't got around to it.

You can buy a new button kit... contains a new button and spring I think but I doubt that is your problem with the horn "meep"... if it has a wimpy beep, I think most of the older horns have an adjustment pot. Hold the button with the bike running and turn the pot till you get a better beep... The adjust pot is located on the horn body. Also check to ensure the cables that connect it are nice and clean and put some dielectic grease on the contacts.

I disassembled my horn and starter button switches, and cleaned the contacts. It made a significant difference. For the horn, another possible improvement is to install a horn relay (standard item at autoparts stores, cheap). This results in a lower current throught the button switch, with the actual horn current passing thtrough the relay. It will allow you to install double horns, or a higher powered horn. BEEP!

if you remove the safety switch wires from your clutch lever you can reroute the wires to differant spot that no one knows about and mount a toggle switch.so if the switch is turned off nobody can start your bike,even with the key!if your worried about looking origional run a seperate set of wires to the kill switch!this wont allways stop a thief,but atleast it might slow them down!a guy who owns a bikeshop in omaha got a cherry 73z1 swiped in front of a casino in council bluffs a while back,so watch your bikes!