Welsh Boy buys 750 Midnight Maxim

Took delivery on Saturday gorne, very nice condition too for a four decade bike.
Issue is no neutral light, tested bulb and it works so ruled that out.
I know about the saftey start regards side stand as previous owner of Seca model, on checking this bike, there is nothing of this by the side stand assembley. Reading verious sites they state this model was never made with it!

So, how do i get that neutral light working?

Another thing i found, under the main stand three wires have been cut and left! traced them up to connector block by the battery, coulours are 1. Green 2.Black 3. Blue stripe.

Bike starts/rides fine and all lights work.

Any help on this would be appreciated as always.

 

Well all XJ750 Maxim models should have a sidestand switch, the wire colors would be:

- solid Black
- Dark blue with a yellow tracer stripe
- Green with a dark blue tracer stripe

Our experience shows that the dark blue tracer stripe can be quite hard to be seen against a dark green wire, especially if it's old and dirty......

Bikes with a sidestand switch will also utilize a "cube-shaped" sidestand RELAY, which has a 4-cavity connector going to it with the following wire colors:

- Dark blue with a yellow tracer
- Black with a white tracer
- solid Black
- Red with a white tracer

There are 2 different "cube" relays on your bike, one is a starting circuit cut-off relay, and the other is the sidestand relay. The relays look identical to each other (besides the wording imprinted on the top of the metal cube) but function completely different from one another and although they will physically interchange on their harness connectors, the set of wire colors going to each differ and the relays operate in a completely different manner from each other, and thus are not interchangeable

https://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/the-ultimate-relay-switch-sensor-and-diodes-guide.27543

Very nice looking bike. Tank emblem appears to be the wrong size, but without a close-up it's hard to tell. Missing the mirrors? Fork gaiter boots have been added. Seat may or may not be correct, would need a better picture of the sewn pattern. Tiny little air filters may make tuning problematic.

 

Thank you for they reply, appreciated.
On your site i read:
Sidestand (kickstand) Switch:

Location:
- the switch is attached via two flathead screws to the left lower frame tube, somewhere either just forward or behind that actual kickstand mounting bracket.

Identification:
- cast metal housing with two or three lead wires coming off the housing, leading into bullet connectors (550 models) or plastic connector shells (650 thru 1100 models). NOTE: 1980-81 XJ650 Maxim and Midnight Maxim models did not use a kickstand switch, nor did the XJ900RL

 

The note about the Midnight Maxim models refers to 1980-81 XJ650 Maxim models, including the 1981 XJ650 Midnight Maxim. All XJ750 models had a kickstand switch, and kickstand "cube" relay, as did all 550 models, all 1982-up 650's, and all XJ900'ls besides the noted models. It was a safety issue, you do not want to drive off with the kickstand in the down position, it's a fine (but unfortunate) way to kill yourself..........

 

Looking on bottom rail alongside side stand there is no referance of ever being one, all paint original and smooth!

 

Larger picture

 

Very odd..........is the 4U8-xx cube relay present? It would be located under the left frame triangular side cover, on the plastic regulator-rectifier mounting plate, held in place with a rubber "strap". There would be a 4-cavity white connector shell with the aformentioned wire colors in it.

 

As mentioned, i found wires cut further back just hanging, black,gree,blue/stripe.
Bike starts fine, select first run on centre stand, push side stand down, keeps running. Do you think wires have been got at!
It don't bother me, i'm 68 and been riding for over 50years, hardly going to pull off with stand down. What i would like to know, can i get the neutral light working again!

 

The bike was imported some two years back, not sure of history as quite a few new oe parts have been done.
Main stand/side stand. Complete rear arm. Chap i bought it from was second owner in UK, he owned it for just four month as health issues got better, he said bike came like this with added bonus (to me) fork seals done and new tyres. Worked prices out, all items done add's up to £818, i got a bargain as no mor MOT/TAX ----------- yay

 

Is this a Japanese market or US/canada? The Jap ones had some unique stuff on them.

sometimes the crap welding holding the side stand mechanism leaves company with the downtube, it has on my 650.
Neutral switch is under the crankase, single blue and white wire? It's a pig to get at, the exhaust is in the way.
Where are you in sunny Wales? The bike looks to have had some work, no way it's original looking like that, one change I would make is to bin those cheapo air filters - proper K&N s are better, especially if you can mount them as far from the carbs as you can.

 

Brain fart from someone who should know better from me - I was thinking about the low oil level switch, not the sidestand - sorry.
Interestingly, none of my 650s have a sidestand switch....
The neutral switch though is under the selector casing, guess its a contact on the edge of the drum?

 

US/Canada model. Quite a lot has been done looking at things, all to my advantage as costley if you can get the parts that is.
Just hope someone comes along and point to how i can get the neutral up and running, seems some idiot with new set of cutters decided to chop wires

 

Shame it came with airbox stripped out, never run a bike with pods! any advice would be good. Maybe change back to original set up next spring if i can find airbox for a good price.

 

https://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/xj650-neutral-light-wire-routing.124190/#post-623726

That thread has a good picture of the location of the neutral switch - it should be a sky blue wire attached to that terminal with a Philips head screw that shorts to chassis when in neutral.

If your starter is disabled when not in neutral (clutch out) then likely the neutral switch is working and connected, but not reaching the light. If the starter engages when not in neutral (clutch out again) then the safety has been bypassed, and likely some creative cutting / grounding to the sky blue wire to engage the starter cutoff relay, but didn't want a constant neutral light so they left that disconnected.

 

Are you referring to three different wires? It's a little confusing the way you have written it:

- a solid black wire
- a solid green wire, no tracer stripe?
- some color (?) wire with a blue tracer stripe, or, a blue wire with some color (?) tracer stripe on it?

As mentioned previous, the kickstand SWITCH should have these 3 color wires running from it:

- solid Black wire
- Dark blue wire with a yellow tracer stripe
- Green wire with a dark blue tracer stripe (and it's very hard to differentiate the dark blue stripe on a dark green wire unless the wire is clean and observed in a good strong light........)

 

That is a great picture, not only showing the switches (neutral and oil level sender) but also that funny clip that gathers all those wire sheathes/bundles together.

BTW, the neutral switch grounds thru the shifter drum itself (inside the engine); there is a little halfway-embedded "ball bearing" (or a BB) in the drum that stands proud (higher/taller than the drum itself) and which contacts a spring-loaded plunger inside the neutral switch when the drum is rotated to the neutral position. You would think that the grounding of that circuit is thru the switch body (to the crankcase threaded hole) but it's not; in a functioning switch, there is never any continuity between the screw terminal and the body of the switch!

 

Huge thank you to all who replied, appreciated and going to have to live with it as is.

Spoke with the first keeper (UK) last night to shed some light on things, he turned out a real gent and went through everything he'd done in the eleven months of ownership. Second owner had it for four months before myself, he loved the bike but developed a hip problem, he told me he never had chance to ride the thing, shame life takes a horrible turn like that.

First keeper bought it from West Country (UK) bike importer, it was a mess but he like's a challenge, he has various collection of bikes, mostly British so he was dipping his toe in the Jap market. He sold as per picture as the bank balance was looking bad fast, over £2,000 he spent getting to this stage, not including the purchase price. As per all projects when you sell, never see your money back and it went for a huge loss.

Asked about missing safety wires under clutch lever and kickstand, that’s how it came, also the neutral light, no and the missing air box - all came as is.

My huge bonus from all this, rear swing is New complete with bearings/oil. New stands, side/main. Forks compleatley rebuilt. New tank. New handlebars. All these parts were also powder coated. New set of tires, he said they cost alone £300.

Lifted one of the fork gators yesterday for a look, chrome tube is like new, fair do’s to him.

As for the cheep air pods - bin job get some quality K&N,treat myself as iv’e saved a fortune. The XJ600 (stop gap) I had when I joined here I sold, this one cost me £150 more than what I got for it----- happy days.

 

The plunger on my neutral switch was worn Ken. Replaced it all sorted. Usually it's wiring though. Still got it just thought mabe it's just gummed up .

 

This is not my first dance in XJ range but never owned a Maxim before. All my past XJ’s were original air box set up. Having taken delivery of this model that came with pods you see in aviator and reading the NO’s on here I have decided to go back stock item, the deciding factor was pulled plugs last night and black sooty was result.

Polite question,will air box from XJ750 (UK) models fit this bike! Or point me in the direction as to which one.
Kind regards as always

 

Silence is a Bitch!