82 KZ1000 Problem, Need Help

Sooooo... Im ridin with the wife some 400 miles from home. Doin the tourist thang, several stops to take pics and such. Everything golden.. until...

Turn a corner, accelerating up to 30, engine suddenly loses power. Thinking loose/blown fuse, and am correct. Second fuse from the right blown... Badly.

Replace fuse, hit start button and nothing.

All lights on, but nothing from the start switch. No click at the solenoid, no dimming of the lights, nothing.

Replace ALL the fuses for fucksake, and turn on the key. After about 30 seconds, fuse box starts smoking from the underside. Nothing major, just small wafts of smoke. Burn the shit outta my finger on the fuse I just replaced.

Shut everything down, disconnect battery, and tow it home.

Read everything I could find about no crank/start symptoms, eveything I found says defective start/kill switch, and I begin to think in earnest that this is the problem. Dead short symptom, no starter activation upon switch engagement.

Unplug start/kill switch under gas tank, attack the plug under the tank with a multimeter. ZERO voltage, but getting continuity upon switch engagement. Unplug two leads to solenoid and jump out with 12v, starter engages and she cranks, but no spark.

After extensive wiring/connection/looking at everything and getting WAY to intimate with the beast, I get to the igniter. Follow up to fuse block, and surprise, that is the fuse that blew.

One last note, after tracing wires for over an hour with the key in the on position, the fuse that blew, the one for the ignitor, is ICE cold, and no more smoke ever appeared.

I am now thinking the ignitor is what shorted out.

But I really have no idea how the kill switch operates, so I have some questions, in no perticular order.

1) Is the start/kill switch in any way connected to the ignitor.
2) If so, does the ignitor feed the 12v to the start side of the switch?
3) If the start/kill switch has nothing to do with the ignitor, how does the kill side actually kill the engine, and where does the start side get its 12v from?
4) Is there a testing procedure for the ignitor?
5) If it is the start/kill switch, I know I can bypass the start side, but is there a way to bypass the kill side of the switch

Please help! I cannot go for long without ride therapy....

Rich T

www.kzrider.com/filebase/doc_download/260-z1000k1
www.kawiworld.com/index.php?option=com_c...icle&id=77&Itemid=99
Hopefully this will help.

The run/stop (kill switch) supplies power to both ignition coils via RED or RED/YELLOW wire. Find "Loudhvx" a forum member, and see if he has a copy of his IC Ignitier replacement. He created it as a replacement, as new ones are $$$$. This only works on bikes with the mechanical ignition advancer(your's has one).

Thanks Motor Head!!!!!!!!!!!

With wiring schematic in hand, I started by looking for the 12v from the ignition switch that feeds the start/kill switch, which I found under the tank on the 4 pin plug. Now knowing how it ran through the start/kill, I checked for 12v coming back out and found none. Talked with helper about how I was going to try and bypass it by simply snipping the 2 12v wires and connecting them, and installing an external start switch, and got a call that I had to take. Go back outside, and helper had installed one of those side by side connectors to the 2 wires on the switch/kill side (wrong side of the plug dammit). Figured since the damage had already been done, I pull in the clutch and hit the start button fully expecting it to smoke.

Surprisingly the damn thing cranked....

Pull the choke, twist the wick, and hit the button again, and she comes to life!!!!!!!!!!

Later tonight Im going to pull the start/kill switch off and completley disable/remove the kill switch.

Also gonna put in an extra lead on the correct side of that plug and run it to the battery area with a female connector that I can hook up in the event that this happens again. Already outfitted the solenoid with connectors and rigged a starter switch which is now nestled in the toolbag

Awwwww... who am I kidding.... Ill do it in the morning, Im going riding tonight!

Once again Motor Head, Thanks!

Rich T