Swapped handlebars, have electrical issues

Hello all, this is my first post. I am a new rider, and have a 1980 kz750 ltd. yesterday I swapped handlebars, and removed the front turn signals, disconnecting them from the harness inside the headlight housing. Today when I was riding, the voltage guage was going haywire and the bike was missing badly. The headlight and taillight was dimming down at idle, and the rear turn signals would come on but not blink. I made it home, and checked the voltage at the battery. It was around 13.2 at idle and close to 14 at 4000 rpm. I shut off he bike, and now it won't start. When I turn the key I have the horn, neutral light, and brake, oil, and high beam light, but no headlights, taillight, or turn signals. The voltage gauge also doesn't move. It won't turn over, click, nothing. The PO put in new dyna coils and a sealed battery less than a year ago. The three fuses behind the side cover are fine. The two handlebar switch housings appear to be fine, with no loose wires. I have had no issues with the bike until now. Can anyone guide me in the right direction to figure out what is wrong? Thanks.

I'd pull the headlight back out. Since that's what you did before you had troubles. Your rear turn signals won't bling without the front ones hooked up, it has to do with letting you know that one isn't working. Check all the connections inside the headlight,especially for corosion. Also check the connections behind the side cover too. Dirty or loose wiring can give a lot of headaches.

While you're in the headlight housing, do this:

Cleaning Motorcycle Electrics

1. Get some of the De-Oxit electrical contact cleaner and figure on spending a good day going from the front of the bike to the back. It’s a plastic safe cleaner/preservative. www.deoxit.com is their website. It can be purchased at most Radio Shack Stores or any electronic supply places. Or use any plastic safe electrical contact cleaner(NOT WD-40 !).

2. On the older Kawasaki's, a majority of electrical connectors are inside the headlight housing requiring removal of the headlight, then the fun begins.

3. Do one set of electrical connectors at a time to avoid mixing up what connects to where. Usually disconnecting, spraying with De-Oxit and reconnecting is about all you'll need.

4. However, when encountering the green crud of corrosion, a brass wire brush may be needed on the pins you can reach. Some 400-600 grit wet and dry sandpaper strips rolled into a tube should reach the male and female pins in the more difficult to clean connectors.

5. Smoker’s pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and wooden toothpicks work as cleaning aids.

6. Really small electrical connectors may require the use of a welders tip cleaning tool assortment.

7. Most pins in the connectors are coated with a thin plating of tin, and others may be nothing more than copper or brass.

8. If moisture is added, the resulting corrosion lowers the voltage/current being carried causing dim lights, slow engine cranking, slow turn signal responce and lower input voltage to the ignition coils resulting in weak spark.

9. The left and right handlebar switch pods will need attention too as they have circuit functions like turn, horn, run/stop, and start. The older Kawasaki’s have reports of the soldered connections crumbling, if your bike has this problem, just ask, as I’ve got a repair procedure for this.

10. Usually a spritz or two with actuation of the switch is about all needed for these switches unless corrosion is detected and then careful disassembly is required.

11. The ignition switch may or may be not sealed to allow spraying the internal contacts. I urge caution if attempting to open this up as springs, and ball bearings may fly out never to be seen again!

12. If your bike has the older style glass tubed fuses, I suggest replacing them as vibration can cause internal failure. AGX is the type used, and most auto parts stores can get them for you, along with boating supply stores.

13. Clean the fuse holder clips, looking for signs of overheating(discolored insulation, signs of melting). I use metal polish on a cotton swab, followed by spraying another clean swab with the De-Oxit and then rubbing the inside of the fuse clip.

14. All battery cables must be clean and tight for maximum current transfer. Check the cables going from the Negative(-) battery terminal/post to the engine mounting bolt

15. Also the one going from the Positive(+) terminal to the starter solenoid and from there to the starter motor.

16. If any battery cable feels ”Crunchy” when flexed, replace it as possible corrosion is inside the insulation. Inspect all heavy duty battery cables and the smaller wire terminations(Bullet Connectors), for failed crimps, and those used in the electrical connectors, as they can fail over time.

17. Each "Bullet Connector" will have to be sprayed to ensure good connectivity, especially the ones going to the energizing coil of the starter solenoid.

18. The alternator output “Bullet Connectors” are usually behind the engine sprocket cover and will need inspecting and cleaning too.

20. The turn signal light sockets will benefit from a spritz from the contact cleaner along with the tail light/brake light socket.

21. Some brake light switches can be sprayed on the actuating rod, with the spray running down inside to the electrical contacts, others may be sealed requiring replacement if the switch is intermittent in operation.

22. Some people put the Di-Electric Grease on cleaned terminations/connectors, I don’t, as I’ve read/heard it can cause problems when it gets hot, actually insulating the connections, so the choice is yours to use or not.

I think I've covered about all of the electrical systems on the bike.........

“I spent a weekend going through every electrical connection and switch on the bike with a little scotchbrite pad and DeOxit - what a difference! Everything was brighter, gauge backlights, indicator lights, turn signals, I was getting a nicer spark, it fired up quicker, etc. Well worth my time. WELL worth it! “

From a forum member at www.kzrider.com

I also rode several miles before the problems started. All connections inside the headlight appear to be solid. If I take the signals off, would that affect the rest of the bike? i'd think not unless the ground is connected to something else.

No, the way the standard silver can flashers work, is to have both front and rear signals in the circuit for them to function. You might be able to use an electronic flasher for just the rear signals, but then you'd need front ones to meet your states vehicle regs.

I went through all the electrical connections I could find. They all appear to be fine. The bike will start and idle, but after about a minute the headlight and taillight begins to flicker, the voltage gauge will drop to 8 volts, then back to 12, then 8, etc. whenever the voltage drops to 8, the rest of the gauge lights( low fuel, oil pressure) flicker on and off. The bike will start to stall out if I throttle it, but will throttle up. Eventually it will die, the headlight and taillight go out, and it won't turn over. If I wait about 1-2 minutes, the lights come back on, then it will restart, and the whole cycle repeats. The battery connections are clean and solid, the handlebar pods are clean and solid. Anyone experience anything like this?

The only thing I have changed is taking off the front turn signals. I can't imagine that causing all this trouble. I reconnected them to see if that fixed things, but nada.

If not already done, would assure a good ground connection where the negative battery cable attaches to rear of the engine.

Also, the battery may not be holding a charge (for whatever reason).
Would remove the battery, add water if needed, charge overnight, and get it load-tested.
Most auto parts stores, also Walmart, etc. will perform the load test.

Good Fortune!

Okay. Saturdays are about the only chance I get to work on things. I opened up the crankcase cover to get at the r/r, following an electical system flow chart i found online. First thing I notice is there is a little oil from the oil pressure switch, I presume. The red and yellow leads have a little oil on them, and about 1mm of copper is exposed on each lead. I cleaned everything up, and the bike starts and idles normally. I get about 14.5 volts at the battery at idle. So, my question is, could the oil have caused a short in the r/r between those wires?

Well, the answer to my question is no. Took it for a spin, ran fine for about a mile and then had to limp home. Doing the exact same thing.