Kill Switch issue (76 kz400)

I've always had a sticky kill switch and I've put off fixing it. Today it crumbled on me. I was having issues getting any power when turning the key ignition to on. No neutral light or anything. So I started messing with the kill switch and it just popped right off.
This is what's left:


So I'll have to order a whole new assembly, but in the meantime how can I rig this up to give me power to ride for the time being? It's one of the last warm days here in Northwest CT, I gotta try to make it out for a little while :pinch:

Did i upload the image incorrectly?

Going to the kill switch there is a brown wire and a red/yellow wire. Jumper the two together.

loudhvx wrote: Going to the kill switch there is a brown wire and a red/yellow wire. Jumper the two together.

where do the two wires come from before the switch? fuses?

They are going to be in the main harness. The brown gets power from the ignition switch and the red/yellow goes to the coils.

If you want to just hot-wire it, run a jumper from the main fuse to the ignition coil's red/yellow wire. But make sure to have the ignition switch turned on when running so the charging system works and lights work. And also make sure not to leave the jumper in place as it will kill the battery. You will also not be able to shut off the engine with the ignition switch. You will have to pull the jumper.

I would find where the right-hand switch assembly harness goes. It would be easier to jumper it that way and then the ignition switch will do everything for you. Maybe it's in the headlight bucket.

Unplugging the right-hand control harness will also disable the electric start. If you want that to work, you will have to jump the wires while the connector is plugged in.

It might be easiest to jumper the wires inside the kill switch housing. You have to take it apart to replace the switch anyway.

loudhvx wrote: They are going to be in the main harness. The brown gets power from the ignition switch and the red/yellow goes to the coils.

If you want to just hot-wire it, run a jumper from the main fuse to the ignition coil's red/yellow wire. But make sure to have the ignition switch turned on when running so the charging system works and lights work. And also make sure not to leave the jumper in place as it will kill the battery. You will also not be able to shut off the engine with the ignition switch. You will have to pull the jumper.

I would find where the right-hand switch assembly harness goes. It would be easier to jumper it that way and then the ignition switch will do everything for you. Maybe it's in the headlight bucket.

Unplugging the right-hand control harness will also disable the electric start. If you want that to work, you will have to jump the wires while the connector is plugged in.

It might be easiest to jumper the wires inside the kill switch housing. You have to take it apart to replace the switch anyway.

I’ve located the wires (brown &red/yellow coming down the right handlebar from the kill switch housing/throttle area. They rub down and under the front of the tank and I can’t really tell where they go from there without removing tank.

Can I cut them off here? And what does “jumpering” them mean exactly?

I would not cut the wires where you have found them. I would open up the right hand control and jump between the brown wire and the red/yellow wire. In doing this you are bypassing the kill switch, all other things in the right hand control will function as they should.

Jumpering means connecting one existing wire to another existing wire by connecting them together directly or with a third new wire. The third new wire will just be a short wire. The short wire is the "jumper".

When jumpering, the two original wires might be cut or disconnected, or they might be left entirely in tact as they were, with the only difference being that they are now connected to each other.

In your case, what you do depends on what your overall plans are.

If you are going to replace the entire handlebar unit, including the sub-harness, then you can just cut the brown wire and yellow/red wire near where they go into the handle bar control unit and connect them together. (And insulate them with tape.)

If you are going to repair the unit and want to keep the original sub-harness, you have a few options. You can open the switch unit and disconnect the brow wire and yellow/red wire from the switch contacts and connect them together somehow. Or you could unplug that sub-harness and install a special jumper into the main-harness end of the connector to connect the brown to yellow/red. This jumper will have to have terminal ends that can plug into the harness connector. Or you could live with the hot-wire method I described earlier. This is less invasive, but less convenient.

loudhvx wrote: Jumpering means connecting one existing wire to another existing wire by connecting them together directly or with a third new wire. The third new wire will just be a short wire. The short wire is the "jumper".

When jumpering, the two original wires might be cut or disconnected, or they might be left entirely in tact as they were, with the only difference being that they are now connected to each other.

In your case, what you do depends on what your overall plans are.

If you are going to replace the entire handlebar unit, including the sub-harness, then you can just cut the brown wire and yellow/red wire near where they go into the handle bar control unit and connect them together. (And insulate them with tape.)

If you are going to repair the unit and want to keep the original sub-harness, you have a few options. You can open the switch unit and disconnect the brow wire and yellow/red wire from the switch contacts and connect them together somehow. Or you could unplug that sub-harness and install a special jumper into the main-harness end of the connector to connect the brown to yellow/red. This jumper will have to have terminal ends that can plug into the harness connector. Or you could live with the hot-wire method I described earlier. This is less invasive, but less convenient.

Went the route of connected the two wires under the kill switch housing. No dice, maybe the issue lies elsewhere.



Any other obvious places to look for getting no power from the battery? I don’t really know where to look next.

The ignition switch board (bad solder Joint) and his connector plug could be an issue (no neutral light)

Like Scirocco said, that splice only addresses the broken kill switch issue. As he said you may have a broken wire at the ignition switch.

Was it intermittent when you jiggled the key?

If it was dead solid, then maybe check the fuses for continuity.

I have to ask. You did strip the insulation off the wires and twist the conductors together. I'm asking because from the image, it looks like the wires are side by side under the tape.