I have nothing

This question isn't about my kz. But I'm asking it here because you guys are the most knowledgable forum out there. It's about my 1982 honda 450. It's a chopped up bobber. I'm using the original wire harness, but none of the original blinkers headlight light etc. I also know that it's very hard to diagnose these kinda questions on the internet. I just have headlight, tail light, brake light, electric start. The bike ran fine for two years. Then one day it just quit. No headlight or tail light. Or nothing. It's like it's just dead. Even with a battery charger on it it won't do anything. I have looked it all over for fried wires and checked all the fuses. Can a bad battery be causing this? Or anyone have any ideas?

One more thing. When I put the battery charger on it. The only thing that works is the little light that lights up the license plate. That's it. It's really weird.

Do have a wiring diagram? If not, try these websites.

You may have to order the manual to get the wiring diagram:
Manuals (Some of these websites sell used manuals, just ask)
www.repairmanual.com
www.manualsnmore.com
www.midwestmanuals.com/
www.books4cars.com/
www.repairmanualclub.com/motomanuals/
moto-manuals.com/
www.e-classicbike.com/
www.repairthatmotorcycle.com/manuals/kawasaki.html

Yes I have a wiring diagram and I wired the bike myself.

dynastydudge wrote: Yes I have a wiring diagram and I wired the bike myself.

Please post your custom wiring diagram.

Have you confirmed that the battery is fully functional, or tried to run it from a different battery?

I don't have a custom wiring diagram. I just used the clymer book and hooked up what I needed hooked up. I have not tested the battery or tried it with a different battery because I didn't want to spend the money on a new battery if it wasn't the case. Thanks for the replies guys. I know these questions are hard to answer on a forum. And I understand it could be a lot of different things causing the same problem. But I just didn't want to get into buying the parts troubleshooting that way is expensive.

I'm going to ask the obvious, but have you checked fuses? I know if I blow the fuse on my Z1 there is nothing. I haven't blown a fuse on the C14 so I don't know about it.

dynastydudge wrote: I don't have a custom wiring diagram. I just used the clymer book and hooked up what I needed hooked up. I have not tested the battery or tried it with a different battery because I didn't want to spend the money on a new battery if it wasn't the case. Thanks for the replies guys. I know these questions are hard to answer on a forum. And I understand it could be a lot of different things causing the same problem. But I just didn't want to get into buying the parts troubleshooting that way is expensive.

any 12 volt auto battery will do.......just don't have the cars engine running as it will scorch stuff....... better to take it out and try... or use a 12 volt jumper box...... :dry: 12 volts is 12 volts just in a larger case with more amps......

Do you have a multi meter? If not then it's a good investment.
What's the voltage at the battery measured between the positive an negative terminals?
With the meter set at ohms can you see resistance (continuity) between the negative terminal and the ground/frame.? Ground cables sometimes corrode internally and while they look ok can be bad.
With the meter set at Ohms you can check fuses wires and circuits for resistance. When you get open circuit (infinite resistance that's likely where your problem is.

This happened to me. I had a perfectly running and operating bike. The next minuet it was dead. I went through everything 3 times and couldn't find problem.

no head light, tail light, ignition switch, starter and turn signals......it was all dead.

After some very stressful hours, I found the problem.

I had purchased a new negative battery cable. It had a pigtail coming off of it that was supposed to be plugged into the main harness ground, it wasn't. I connected the two wires and wammo......I had all my power back.

Don't know if this is your problem, but worth looking into. Check the main harness ground.

Fairly common for the Ignitiong switch to go bad in the old hondas.. I have had to swap those out a couple times to fix strange electrical problems in a couple different hindas.

I thought about the ignition going bad. So I cut it off and bypassed it. I took the battery out and hooked battery charger directly to the positive and negative. I got a clicking noise out of a connection like it was trying. I took the rubber boot off the starter cylanoid. And I had a headlight and brake light. It looked a lil rusty and I sprayed wd-40 on it. And then I had nothing again. Anybody think getting a new cylanoid is a good place to start?