Couple questions on '82 KZ1000....won't start

Another riding season and I'm working to get my buddy's neglected KZ running again. He let it sit all winter without doing a thing to it.

Anyhow, It would turn over fine after a night on the battery charger but wouldn't fire up. I pulled and cleaned the plugs, drained the gas and put fresh gas in, pulled the air cleaners off the cabs and cleaned them up. After I finished all that the bike won't do anything. I started by checking fuses, wires, etc but don't see anything. I tested for power on the starter, nothing, tested power going into the starter relay next to the fuse box under the seat and nothing. Next I pulled the starter switch apart and cleaned it out and then tried to test for power inside the switch. I'm getting nothing there either.

My guess right now is there's possibly a fuse or fuse box I'm unaware of or the clutch switch that only allows to the bike to crank when it's disengaged is faulty. I know the switch for the key is good because I'm getting lights when it's on.

Can someone give me any advise on where to check for these things or if you have any other ideas.

Thanks.

Post edited by: GA_RR, at: 2006/03/09 09:39

Welcome. OK... The stuff you have done hasn't helped trouble shoot the problem much. Your basic problem is that the bike doesn't turn over with the starter as I read your note. Here is the way the starter relay works...

Power goes from your fuse area through your key. When the key is turned to the on position, it goes to your right hand switchgear. When you push the starter button, contact allows the power to pass through and TRIGGER the starter relay.

One of two things ain't happening... first, no power is getting through to trigger the relay OR the relay isn't working.

It IS possible you are having problems with the clutch in the starter itself but it sure sounds like the problem is in the relay or trigger of the relay.

You say you have cleaned the contacts on the button in the switchgear? If you have opened the switchgear, you will see that power goes through the killswitch to get there. You did make sure the kill switch is in the ON position? Anyway, (you will need a spare set of hands to do this), get a multimeter and put the meter in VDC scale. Put the POS lead (red) on the lug where the trigger wire comes INTO the relay... this is the wire that comes from the switchgear button. The NEG (black) lead should be put on a frame ground or the battery negative terminal. Turn on the key. Now push the starter button. You should see the meter light up to 12VDC or thereabouts. If you don't, the problem is in the trigger circuit; most likely a bad kill switch, bad connection on the button contacts or the big connector that connects the switchgear with the relay that plugs in on the right under the gas tank somewhere. If you DO get power when doing this trigger test, let's now check the solenoid by elimination. Note that the solenoid shuts when the trigger is applied. You can hotwire the solenoid by JUMPING from where the battery is connected to the starter and eliminating the trigger. Just use a thick (heavy gauge piece of wire) at least 14 gauge or thicker. Touch one end to the battery connection and the other the end where the starter is connected. You can do this with the kill switch in the OFF position. Hold the wire in place momentarily and see if the starter spins. If it DOES spin, remove the wire from in place immediately! The solenoid is BAD and needs to be replaced. If the starter DOESN'T SPIN, the starter or its clutch is bad and needs to be repaired or replaced.

That is all you need to fix this problem I think. If you have any issues, just shout and thanks for helping a KZRider out! You are a pretty good neighbor I think.

Thanks for the quick response!

I forgot to mention that I did also already check the starter by using a jumper from the battery to it, it's good to go.

I'm following you on testing the power going through the switchgear but what I was testing for before was for power even getting to it. It is a + trigger and not - correct? If so, when the ignition key is turned on should I not be getting power to one of the wires in the switch gear? Before I tested each wire I saw in there and didn't get any power.

Does the hot wire that comes into the switchgear go directly to the key'ed switch with no fuses in between? Also, isn't the feature that keeps the bike from starting without the clutch depressed just a simple bridged + switch? If so, where is that along the lines, between the key switch and switch gear, between the switchgear and rely, between the relay and starter(I hope not).

Thanks again for all the help. I'm going to try to get back to working on the bike again today or tomorrow. Got to get my riding buddy back up and running.

PS- Next winter I think I'll just keep his bike at my house....it's far too cool of a bike IMO to be neglected the way he does it.

OK, nevermind. I don't know if I'm just stupid or what. Anyways, your post got me excited about getting the bike running again so I took a break from work(who wants to do C programming when they can work on a bike right:laugh: ) and headed out to the garage. Determined the culprit to be the relay. Power going on, nothing coming out. It's making a light clicking noise but I guess just isn't quite bridging the gap.

So, next question is, is there a good place to order a replacement online or will a dealership be semi reasonable for that part? Or can I just pick up a basic auto relay from an auto parts store?

Thanks again.

Post edited by: GA_RR, at: 2006/03/09 10:43

Not sure if this will help or not, but my 1100 will not start unless the clutch is pulled all the way in.

Good luck.

The power on your battery is ALL positive and the battery is negative ground. If you want to get technical in the trouble shooting, the wiring goes from the battery area to the ignition switch. When the key is on, the power travels to the right hand switchgear. First step would be to find the wire that goes INTO the kill switch. Trace back the wire to the connector between the ignition switch and right hand kill switch and disconnect it. Test for power on the pin associated with the kill switch power wire. Clean the connections and put some dielectic grease on them and reconnect IF there is power (+12VDC). Open your switch gear. With the key turned on, check power on the wire coming OUT of the kill switch and going TO the button. With the kill siwtch in the on position, you should find +12VDC coming out of the kill switch BEFORE it goes into the start button. If you have power, then check the start button by turning on the key and pushing the button. There is a wire coming OUT of the start button and you should find 12VDC there. Last would be the finding power on the connector out of the switchgear where it joins back into the main harness. The reason I didn't type this long winded stuff is that you could start by checking for 12VDC with the starter button pushed and ignition on AT the solenoid. If you have power at the solenoid where the wire triggering this relay comes in, then the stuff I mentioned isn't necessary but the steps could help you isolate the problem, if there is not power at the trigger.

Guess you missed my earlier post. Thanks for the explanation on the wiring for this bike though.

The relay is the problem after further testing. Just wondering if someone knew the best/cheapest place to pick one up at.

The starter relay is sort of generic and most any solenoid relay can be substituted. Finding one similar to the one you are replacing makes bolting it on a lot easier as they come in a lot of sizes and shapes and some would be pretty hard to bolt into the original location. I use one from a Suzuki on one of my carb test bikes. The one thing about the Kaw relay is that it has a ground wire that hooks into the regulator on a KZ900. I just connected a wire to a ground point and connected to the regulator to substitute for the wire missing from the Suzuki solenoid. I had to open up the holes on the bracket that holds the solenoid slightly to get the mount bolts through but otherwise, it was a pretty direct swap. You can watch eBay or buy a Kawasaki solenoid for more money. www.bikebandit.com may have them in stock; also, you can buy generics in denniskirk.com