1980 KZ550 dead switch

Hey guys. I was wondering if anyone could help me diagnose an ailing stead?

The bike stopped running last week, but prior to that it would start up fine and hold a charge, but intermittently the electrical would stop working and the battery would eventually go dead. The last two rides I made, the battery died at 20 miles. The first time I was able to compression start it. The second time, not at all. Also, on the second ride, I found one of the fuses had been blown (not sure if it was blown on first ride though)
By wiggling the wiring harness I was able to get the ignition switch lights to come on and the starter button to work. That only worked once though.
Currently the bike is stripped down in my driveway.
Yesterday I unwrapped the wiring harness and found four different wear points or connections that were bad. I replaced those.
The dork who owned the bike before me saw it fit to remove the main wire from the fuse box, so I only have the headight and the taillight wires going into there.
I checked the ignition switch but couldn't find any bad connections. Using a volt meter I traced the ignition wires back to or near their begginings, and checked their ohms.... all read high.
I only have one hot wire going into the ignition switch. Shouldn't I have two?

This may be a stupid question, but when I cross from the positive bat. terminal to the stater cable I get the starter to crank healthy. When I checked the solenoid, it had power running to it. When I tried arching the two terminal posts on the starter solenoid though, I couldn't get anything. Shouldn't arching them cause it to turn over?

I already checked the fuses for conductivity. They seemed fine.
I need to check the bat. ground wire for connection still, but it was securely fastened to the frame.

Does anyone have any thoughts/advice? Sorry for the lengthy description.

Matthew
Yakima, Wa

Starter Solenoid/Motor Checkout Procedure

Some simple steps to determine what is working and what's not:

1.Fully charge and test the battery(most bike shops can load test the battery, and then use a floating ball hydrometer to check specific gravity in the charged cells).

2.Clean all battery terminals of corrosion.

3.Tighten all starting related connections(Positive RED(+) battery terminal, Negative BLACK(-)terminal) and from the terminal to the engine case. All connections must be clean and tight.

4.Clean the cable from the starter solenoid to the starter motor.

5.Clean and check the "bullet connectors" going to the coil side of the starter solenoid.

6.Try again to start the bike, keep in mind some Kawasaki’s have a clutch interlock to prevent cranking the engine while it’s in gear, so the clutch lever must be squeezed.

7.If no luck, go to step #8

8.Wearing eye protection, bridge with pliers or a screwdriver the two heavy duty(large)terminals on the solenoid. If the bike cranks, your solenoid may be bad.

9. If the starter won’t turn over, one of several things has happened; The starter motor has seized due to brushes binding up, lack of lubrication in the bushings of the motor, the battery is weak , the engine has seized or it could be a combination of any of the above. Some websites for starter motor rebuild kits are:

A. www.mawonline.com/newsite/rick_s_motorsp...-starter_brushes.htm

B. www.cyclewareables.com/pages/street_star...kits/startmtrkit.htm (not sure if the website is still viable)


10.The dealer may want $$$ for a new solenoid, but take your old one along and visit the nearest riding lawn mower shop. They have solenoids for about $15 that with a little work will fit. Be aware that the new solenoid from the lawn mower shop may require a ground wire for it to work.

11. I’d recommend upgrading from the existing battery cables to at least 6 gauge welding cables.
They are available in two colors(RED and BLACK) have more flexibility due to being constructed with finer conductors, and will fit in tighter areas.

12. The welding cable is sold by the foot, so take careful measurements or bring your old cables along. Most battery shops might be able to supply the cable too, so call to find out. The battery shop should be able to crimp/swage on the end of the welding cable the terminal ends or lugs using either a dedicated crimping machine or a tool that looks like a bolt cutter that has special dies to terminate the cable.

I'd open up the right handle bar switch pod and inspect for dirty contacts on the run/stop switch and start switch.

For electrical troubleshooting read this:

The Dreaded Shorting/Intermittent Electrical Problem!


Here is the most basic method I know(Taken from www.kzrider.com by member Patton)

1. Charge your battery and have it load tested if you can. The floating ball hydrometer can be used to check the specific gravity of the charged cells in the battery.

2. Disconnect the Black lead from the (-) Battery terminal... or Red from the (+) Battery terminal, it does not matter which one.

3. Connect one of the following test setups in series with the Battery terminal and lead:
3.1 A 12 V light bulb,
3.2 A 12 V test light,
3.3 A 12 V test buzzer or,
3.4 A 12 V horn... you get the idea.

4. With the Ignition Switch OFF, go through your harness and wiggle the wires while looking/listening for the test setup to go on/start buzzing.

5.With the Ignition Switch ON, repeat the test except this time the looking/listening for the test setup to go off/stop buzzing.

6. Be prepared to open the Ignition switch and check/test for solder joint failure and or circuit board micro breaks (don't ask how I know this ).

7. Be prepared to pull the wires out of the Head Light to test for failures at or near the grommet.

8. Be prepared to open the harness at or near the Steering Neck for failures. This is where wires tend to exhibit fatigue due to repetitive movement.

9. Be prepared to open the left and right switch gear to search for rust and or broken parts. CAUTION: watch out for flying springs, ball bearings and stuff. Do indoors on White sheet (again don't ask ).

10. Be prepared to follow the heavy gauge wire from the Starter Solenoid (Relay) to the starter for bare wire exposure. Especially near bends and grommets.

11. If you can reproduce the fault symptom your are pretty much home free. Be prepare to find and repair/replace any internal wire breaks, insulation break downs, exposed wires, rubber grommet failures, etc. Often, shrink tubing will solve the problem temporarily until something better can be done.

12. I use a very good electrical contact cleaner/preservative called De-oxit made by Caig Labs in San Diego Ca. Their website is www.deoxit.com It can be purchased at Radio Shack and any other electronic supply store. I use it on all of my motorcycle’s electrical connectors , in my home entertainment center’s stereo patch cords and cordless phones charging cradles.


If your going to replace the glass tubed original fuses, read this:

Fuse And Fuse Holder Designations

1. The older Kawasaki’s use a glass tubed fuse with the designation of AGX 1” long. Most good auto parts stores can get them for you. They are ¼” in diameter.

2. The more common AGC is 1 ¼” long and may not fit the smaller fuse clips. Again, ¼” in diameter.

3. To clean and polish the fuse clips, I use a cotton swab(Q- Tip) and some Brasso metal cleaner or Turtle Wax Chrome Polish. I suppose any good metal polish would work.

4. These fuses can fail internally but look good, only by removing them from the clip and electrically continuity checking with either a self powered test light, or a multimeter set on OHMS can they be determined to be in good shape.

5. A physical inspection of the metal end caps for tightness will tell you if the fuse is serviceable.

6. Most modern motorcycles are now using the automobile “Blade” style fuse with the designation of ATC or ATO.

7. The reduced sized “Mini” Blade style fuse holder uses the ATM size of fuses.

8. If the fuse and fuse holder overheat, it could soften or anneal the grip of the clip, it might require squeezing the clip to restore the tightness.

9. A list of where to purchase “Blade” style fuses and holders:

www.waytekwire.com order.waytekwire.com/productdetail2/M50/...20%20%20%208%20FUSE/

www.rallylights.com www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=765

www.delcity.net www.delcity.net/cartviewitem?item=73805&search=y

Thanks for the reply bro., but I've seen this... maybe posted by yourself in response to another member, and I've already done most of these checks.

Should I check my regulator and rectifier, or are those only in use while the bike is running?

pusher wrote:

...need to check the bat. ground wire for connection still, but it was securely fastened to the frame....

Would remove, clean up, and re-attach.

Am thinking supposed to be attached to rear of engine, but perhaps this particular model is to frame.

As engine head is part of ignition secondary loop, and sometimes engine to frame conductivity isn't the greatest, would consider moving negative battery cable ground attachment from frame to engine.

Good Fortune!

pusher wrote:

...only have one hot wire going into the ignition switch. Shouldn't I have two?....

Wiring diagram seems to show two hot wires going to switch:

--- blue/red from 10 amp fuse

--- white from 20 amp fuse

Here's an excerpt from the wiring diagram available for download under Filebase (under KZ Information).

Let us know if have any trouble navigating to and downloading the wiring diagram.

Good Fortune!

[Click on image to enlarge view.]

This was an unintentional duplicate post. :S

pusher wrote:

...Should I check my regulator and rectifier, or are those only in use while the bike is running?

With a good fully charged battery, bike should perform just fine without any charging system components whatever (i.e., no alternator, no rectifier and no regulator) until the battery runs down, as all the charging system does is keep the battery charged.

All the chassis and ignition electrics run off the battery, and don't care how the battery stays charged.

Good Fortune!

Even with no wiring issues and a properly functioning charging system, the battery may be failing and unable to hold a charge. Fluid levels should of course be checked and replenished if needed.

Could also charge over-night, and then do a specific gravity check. And would also have the battery load tested. Usually a free service at Auto-Zone or other battery supplier.

With a fully charged battery installed, may test charging system by measuring voltage across battery terminals at idle (look for 13+ volts) and at 4000 rpm (look for 14~15 volts).

Excessive voltage may indicate regulator failure.

Inadequate voltage may indicate rectifier failure, or possibly alternator failure.

Good Fortune!

To those who read my description, thank you. I can't test such things while the bike is running, as the bike does not run. It is my problem afterall.

I'll go check my ground now. As for having a fully charged battery, it cranks the engine over fine if I direct wire the starter to the battery, therefore, there should be sufficient juice to power the electronics, if such powering is possible.

Thanks for the wiring diagram man. I actually have one, (probably downloaded from kzRider itself), but all the lines are a little confusing to my little mind. I mentioned that the "main wire" had been removed from the fuse box by a previous owner. Unfortunately, this is the wire that would have had the size 20 fuse. I'll go try to figure out which wire should have juice, and then figure out why it doesn't.

I had a thought guys, let me know if it is ludacris. I tried checking the ignition wires for ohms, and they tested out. Would it be a good idea to go through all of my wiring harness (after disconnecting lights, etc.)and connecting one end of the harness to a 12v battery and test the other end to check to continuity and resistance? Or should an ohms test be sufficient? Also, what kind of ohms should I be reading on the volt meter?

Thanks guys.

BTW, Does anyone know what wires are what at the ignition switch, and which ones should be hot? You know, juussssttt in case I can't figure out the wiring diagram

With plugs removed and bases grounded against the engine head, is there spark when spinning over the engine with ignition switch ON?

Good Fortune!

Just want to double check with what you posted, but if you turn the key nothing comes on correct? no headlamp, neutral light, front markers correct? I just picked up a bike that did the same thing. my problem was the main brown wire was snapped off where the main harness goes around the headtube. Not saying its the same thing at all, but worth a look.

When the switch is turned on, the blue and red wires get connected together, and separately the white, brown, and yellow wires are connected. the white wire is the main power wire, it is the one that is supposed to run through the 20amp fuse in the fuse holder that you appear to be missing.