I assume it's electrical

I posted this over at a Kawasaki forum already but I'll repost it here hoping someone might have some ideas.

Hi guys. My name is Steve and I just bought a project.

I picked up an 82 Spectre 1100 from craigslist. I bought it knowing that it didn't run. I'm hoping that if I give you all the information the previous owner gave me you can help me out.

The bike was running but it had some screwy issues such as honking the horn would shine the brake light, hitting a turn signal would flash the headlight, etc. but the bike would turn over and run.

The owner had someone install a new wiring harness and that fixed all the electrical problems. The previous owner went to get the bike, fired it up and put it into first to ride it home. That's when he said it died and it wouldn't run.

In the group of fuses under the seat one is missing because I was told it kept blowing.

I have the bike in my truck right now in my garage and I can go take pics of anything you guys might need to help me check it out. The batter has a little charge and the fuel line isn't hooked up and the bike AFAIK doesn't have brake fluid.

I hope you guys can help me out. Even better if you guys could help me find out that it's simple fix.

I went out and took a bunch of pics. You can click the link below and get the zip file.

downward-spiral.us/spectre1100.zip

Also, dmy bike have a neutral safety switch or a kick stand switch? I was wondering if the bike thinks still in first gear and that's why it won't start or if it thinks the kick stand is down. I thought those yellow wires might have to do with a kick stand switch.

Whew! If you're still reading, can someone point me to the wiring diagram for my bike? I tried looking for it on here but there isn't a sticky section at the top of the forum.

i can't help you with a diagram but i will tell you what the 3 yellow wires are that are hanging out in the open they are the main wires used in your charging system either from the stator or from the voltage regulator/rectifier you will need to figure out which. the bike won't charge with them disconnected if those arent hooked up properly it makes me wonder if the rest of the stuff that was done to this bike is wrong as well getting those wires hooked up right is very important

Ok. Without a diagram how would I find out where I hook up those yellow wires to?

I was thinking about what else might be screwed up as well. The guy said there were some things miswired but he had someone put a new wiring harness on the bike and it fixed those problems. He also said that he got it started but when he put it in gear it died. Not sure if that means anything to you.

I was wondering how hard it would be to get a new harness and wire the bike from scratch. I was told elsewhere that if I could get a shop to work on it they charge about $80/hr. I can't afford that.

Honestly it sounds like I might be selling the thing for scrap because I don't have tons of money to dump into it.

the reason why it stopped when you put it in gear was because it it has a sidestand switch in the system or in the new harness you will have to figure that out the three wires are they coming from the engine or are they coming from a small finned box mounted on the frame somewhere. about 3" by 4"

Ok. I guess that would make sense, no matter if the bike is in neutral or not if there's a side stand switch and the bike thinks the stand is down it won't fire up.

So if/when I figure out what wire is for the side stand what do I do with it? Does it just have to be "jumped" or something? I know that might sound like a dumb question but this is my first bike let alone first project bike.

Here's a free manual download: www.kz1000r.com/downloads/Kawasaki%20KZ1...Service%20Manual.pdf
Saw a wiring diagram for a KZ1100 in the back of the manual. Should work for your bike.

Just be patient and go through the wiring one connector at a time and hopefully you'll figure it out. Don't give up. It took me a long, a** frustrating time to figure out my electrical issues on my KZ650, but she's running great now, and before I worked on that bike I hated electrical issues and was really intimidated by them. I learned a lot from the experience and now electrical problems aren't so mystifying to me anymore. Buy a cheap multimeter, ask lot's of questions, and follow the troubleshooting and testing procedures in your manual and you should do fine. Whatever you do, don't scrap that bike, it's a mighty fine looking ride. Hope this helps.

I took off the tank, side covers, seat and started looking at the wiring. I couldn't find anything that might have been a side stand switch.

I also looked and the fuses are wrong and one is missing but the auto parts store doesn't have 10 amp AGX fuses.

The wiring has a lot of splices in it instead of proper connectors. The other thing is I noticed the bike is missing the red connector that is (I believe) for the rectifier/regulator. From what I read in the manual that's where those yellow wires should hook up to if I read correctly. The yellow wires go back into the (uh) engine sprocket cover...

yes those wires should be hooked up to the regulator

Yeah after closer inspection the reg/rectifier is there underneath be battery area where it should be and there are 3 yellow wires hooked up to it, but not the wires that should be.

The 3 yellow wires that connect to the reg/rec are attached to the alternator located under the engine cover on the left side and are the ones ("The yellow wires go back into the (uh) engine sprocket cover...") you mentioned earlier. According to the wiring diagram the only other yellow wires in the harness are 1 in the ignition switch, and one in the IC igniter to pulser coils.

Splices are ok as long as the wires are good, are connecting the wires they should, and they're crimped together properly. Simply twisting the bare ends together and covering with electrical tape is a definite no-no and should be fixed properly. Are you missing the 6 pin connector that goes to the reg/rec? The wiring harness can be salvaged with some work (i.e. replacing missing/bad wires and bad connections) if it has been butchered, but you'll have to ask yourself if you might be better off buying a used harness off ebay (can be had for around $30) if your existing harness is in really rotten shape. If you're planning on fixing the harness, Z1 Enterprises should have your wiring needs covered: www.z1enterprises.com/catalog.aspx?pid=KP441 Or the local hardware store should have at least a small selection of colored wire, crimpers, and connectors. Should be around 14-16 gauge. The rec/reg connects to the + side of the battery via a red/white wire that plugs into the 6 pin connector.

The reg/rec has nothing to do with the ignition system and is not the reason your bike's not sparking. It's purpose is to convert the ac power from the alternator to dc power in order to charge the battery and to regulate the proper voltage to the lighting system. The bike will run with the reg/rec disconnected, but the battery will get drained and you may blow some bulbs (especially if you rev the bike up) as the unregulated voltage may be too high for the lights. (Had that happen to my KZ650 when I ran it without the reg/rec. Blew my neutral light when I revved 'er.)

Cychotic wrote:

Splices are ok as long as the wires are good, are connecting the wires they should, and they're crimped together properly. Simply twisting the bare ends together and covering with electrical tape is a definite no-no and should be fixed properly.

Yeah, there are some questionable splices.

Are you missing the 6 pin connector that goes to the reg/rec? The wiring harness can be salvaged with some work (i.e. replacing missing/bad wires and bad connections) if it has been butchered, but you'll have to ask yourself if you might be better off buying a used harness off ebay (can be had for around $30) if your existing harness is in really rotten shape.

I am missing the red 6 pin connector that goes to the reg/rec.I've got my eye on a replacement harness from ebay.

If you're planning on fixing the harness, Z1 Enterprises should have your wiring needs covered: www.z1enterprises.com/catalog.aspx?pid=KP441 Or the local hardware store should have at least a small selection of colored wire, crimpers, and connectors. Should be around 14-16 gauge. The rec/reg connects to the + side of the battery via a red/white wire that plugs into the 6 pin connector.

I might need connectors anyway so thanks for the link. Oh in case you didn't see, I have pics of the bike and the crappy wiring.

downward-spiral.us/spectre1100.zip
downward-spiral.us/wiring.zip

Judging by those pictures, your wiring doesn't look too bad IMO. At least the splices are crimped. If missing the 6 pin reg/rec connector and the alternator wires bare-ended are your worst problems, I'd keep your harness. You can live without the 6 pin connector and crimp on new flat pin connectors on the alternator wires and it'll work fine, just won't be very waterproof. My bike is missing the 6 pin connector from the harness to the reg/rec and so far I've had no problems. I just don't intend to do any riding in the rain. Replace your missing wires and connectors, clean up all corrosion on the connectors with electrical contact cleaner and steel wool or sand paper (clean up the fusebox as well), dab some dielectric grease on the connectors before snapping them together to prevent corrosion, and make sure your battery is good and fully charged, and that everything is connected as it should. I just remembered that you mentioned the bike kept blowing a fuse. This means that there's definitely a short somewhere along that part of the wiring and you should be able to track it down with the help of the wiring diagram and fix it. As a precaution you might want to replace all the fuses. Sometimes it's hard to tell just by looking if a fuse is bad.

If you do all that and still no spark, check for power at the coil. Turn the key to on, set your multimeter to the next highest level above 12 volts dc (on mine it is 20), touch the black probe to ground and the red probe to the red wire as it attaches to the coil. 12 or more volts is good, anything less than that means your wiring is fading and you may get spark, but it will be weak, and you might want to do the WG coil mod: www.wgcarbs.com/index.php?option=com_con...view&id=12&Itemid=26
Keep at it man, that is a really fast, powerful bike and is well worth fixing.