intermitting ground issue... maybe? KZ1100 Spetra

My 1983 1100 just up and decided to not run. Rode it around town some, ran into a store and when I climbed back on and hit the starter button, it went dead. Did the usual checking of fuses etc and no fix was to be found. I pulled the ignition and checked it and had power to the switch. As soon as I hooked it all up it had full power. Again, I hit the starter and it went dead again. I heard a click noise under the seat somewhere, or at least I am 80% sure. Messing with it for a few hours I got power(just noticed it back on...didn't do anything specific to get power) and each time I heard the same pop/click sound under the seat. The only reason I say 80% sure it is there is because the last time I did get power I noticed it happen. I as messing inside the headlight bucket, but the pop/click sound was somewhere behind the bucket, possibly under the tank... maybe even back under the seat. Anyway, I messed around some before giving up for the night.


Anyone with any ideas? Would love to hear them.

The Main Fuse in the fuse panel is a know problem area. Make sure the fuse is indeed good, the fuse holder clips are tight against the fuse ends, and there is No sign of heat damaging. Also your battery cables at the battery, and the Red/ White wire which comes off of the positive post, and hooks into the fuse panel.
The clicking noise is most likely the starter solenoid. Make sure the connections for the battery cable, across the solenoid is tight. The negative cable also grounds to the engine block, down on the right hand side near the swing-arm pivot. Make sure its tight.

A loose battery terminal screw will often pop.
It will give you enough juice to power lights and acc but as soon as you put a decent load on it like a starter it will arc.
I'd start there and if you havnt already,put a small dab of blue loctite on the screws.

The BLACK with YELLOW stripe wires, are part of the ground circuit, so do one at a time, by taking a M6 X 1 tap to the holes in the frame, removing rust and corrosion. Check the tightness of the engine mounting bolt that has the Negative(-) battery cable going to it. It should be clean and tight.

And, if not already done, would assure integrity of the ground connection where the negative battery cable attaches to rear of the engine (or other stock ground location).

Good Fortune!

Got the problem fixed. It was one of the grounds... inside the headlight bucket. Was not well connected. Killed the battery but once I found the issue and cleaned up the connectors and reconnected it, everything came on.

Thanks for the help guys. Here is a pic of how I got her.