750 Seca won't shut off

Got this bike October last year. It's been running well. Went to the store for milk at 11 PM last night. On the way home, the oil warning came on -- but it looks okay through the window. Got home and switched the key to "OFF," but nothing happened. Headlight still on, engine running. I finally hit the kill switch button to shut the engine down. My headlight's low beam is out (on the to-do list to replace), so I just switched from high to low. Left the bike sitting in the garage with the red warning light staring at me. No running lights on at the time. That's partly because the PO replaced the stems with minis -- and he put on single-filaments up front, so there are no forward-facing running lamps. I had not noticed the taillight out before, so I don't know if it was off because "it knew" I had turned the switch to off, or if the bulb's just gone bad recently.

I'm a poor college student with a family -- I know, we're all poor for whatever reason, right? ;-) I can change the oil on my car, and I can fairly well follow printed instructions. I don't know much about electrical, and I cannot read an electrical diagram (but I'm not color blind, so if I need to look for a red wire, I can -- although, since I don't own a multimeter, I don't know why I would).

The bike is my primary transportation (cuz the car guzzles three times as much gas), so I need to get this resolved fairly quickly. As of this AM, the red warning lamp is out, so I'm pretty sure the battery is in a no-juice state. I know how to jump the bike (having done so once or twice when it had sat a couple weeks during non-rideable winter weather).

Any help on where/how to start would be greatly appreciated. I don't have the CD yet, but will be ordering one shortly.

TIA!!!!

 

DOH!!! Guess it would help if I said the bike's an '81.

 

First, welcome to the site, whereabouts in UT are you located? Second, do you have a manual (any one should work, Clymers, Haynes, Factory) for your beastie? If not, this will be the first problem you will need to solve. If you made this wise investment already, good on you, best money you will ever spend on your machine. Next thing you will need is a means to verify continuity. This can be either a nice little multimeter (I prefer any type that will make an audible sound, simplifies the process) or a battery, some wires and a light bulb wired together to make a tester. I've whipped up a picture of a testing circuit for you. After obtaining the two prerequisites, you should immediately check for continuity for all of your keyswitch circuits (and check for discontinuity to ground at the same time!!!) and verify that the PO didn't monkey up the wiring in your harness. If he did, you've got some work ahead of you (although if you wish to spring for the trip, I'll come out there and do the job for you gratis, hint hint. Heck, I'll even bring my YICS tool and Colortune). Worst case scenario, you could pull your harness and shoot it off to me and I'll fix it back to factory specs. Do your best to isolate the issue and fire a reply back with what you find. I'll try to post your schematic for you tonight since I'm at work right now. Peaceful day to you.

 

Oh yes, I forgot something too. You should use the bulb from a flash light for this circuit. If you place the test leads on opposite ends of a wire, you will complete the circuit and the bulb should light up. Then remove one test lead from one end of the wire and touch it to ground. If the light comes on, your shorted to ground and will need to isolate where the short is occuring. Good luck!

 

dont let that battery sit uncharged! it will sulfate, and become useless. and you will need a new one. its possible you already do.

sounds like a faulty switch or a short to ground, fo' sure.

 

I'm in the Salt Lake City area (in Kearns, to be specific).

Somewhere floating around the house, I have some kind of OEM manual. Couldn't find it last night. That's partly because, when I got it (came with my '82), it didn't make a lot of sense. Is there one that's generally better for use with these older bikes? Cuz, I hear ya about the value of this investment.

Thanks for the drawing. As I've looked over the fora, it seems there're quite a few references to using a multimeter. Since this bike is 25-yo and not getting any younger -- and since I have a non-running-but-fixable '82 -- it seems it would be another smart investment if I got me one o' them thar multimeters. I have not seen a recommendation on the forum, so I'll ask, is there one specific type or model that best serves my needs?

Since I'm at school today, I won't be able to do anything about the bike until tonight -- and that'll probably be limited to finding a manual. But if I can, I'd like to tackle this prob tomorrow and have the bike running by the end of the day. (In my case, that's probably being a bit wishful ;-) ).

 

I would tend to think the problem is in the ignition switch also.
One temp fix may be to pull the fuses to keep the battery from going dead!
For a multimeter, try Radio Shack or what ever they call it now a days, they usually have a wide selection and prices. Voltage and resistance testing is what you would usually require the meter to do. I would look for test lead length, display/meter readability (size), beeping for continuity testing would be nice also.

 

I would recommend that you invest in an inexpensive (usually on sale for $4 USD) multimeter from Harbor Freight. There is one in Salt Lake City. Here is their link with a map and everything http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/r ... tore_ID=41 or you can hitch a ride there from their main web site. Let me know if you can't find your schematic, I'll try to post mine in that case. I sure hope I can pull it off like Nick does it. I think he uses a URL to post his pictures to get the size big enough to see on the forum. PM me with your E-mail address and I'll send you a JPG. file you can open and print. Hope your successful today!

 

My wife is one of the leaders on our church's young women's group, and they have a campout coming up -- which means her projects are taking priority over my working on the bike. No big deal. after all, she is my wife. 8)

So I finally got to Harbor Freight on Saturday -- they didn't have any multimeters. Had to stop by Home Depot to get materials for one of my wife's projects (I get to make 30 flower presses -- lucky me!). They had several multimeters, so I picked up the one pictured below. Now, since I'm at the bottom of the learning curve, I thought I'd post this pic and find out from y'all if this thingy will do what I need it to do -- before I opened the package and lost the ability to return it. Lo and behold, I get it home Saturday afternoon, and it disappears. Then, one of my kids gives it to me for Fathers Day!

Btw, Happy Fathers Day to all you XJ-owner-Dads.

So, is this multimeter gonna do the job for me, or do I need to get something different?

 

Looks good to me kipper.

 

robert i just did this flashlight bulb thingy u said,

i just have one question, do i have to disconnect the bikes

bettery to test it?

i'm a bit electrically disabled i guess,

i had to come back and read u specified flashlight bulb!!

 

You do need to disconnect the battery Secaman.
Kipper, good score, nice of your youngster to hook you up with a quality tool. How thoughtful of the little tike. It will serve you well for this and many other uses. You will probably use the 200 ohm (funny looking squiggle on the upper left quadrant of your dial) setting. As with all resistance readings, you must remove the power to the circuit or you will fry your meter!

 

Thanks for the info, Robert. It's been a busy week so far, and I still haven't had time to do any work on the bike. BUT, I did make an interesting discovery.

I went out to see if I could jump start the bike Monday morning. Just for the heck of it, before hooking the cable up, I thought I'd try to start it. Put the key in and switched it to the ON position. The red warning light came on. So I put it in neutral (I had left it in gear so the neutral light wouldn't stay on while the bike was parked) and the light came on. Doing well so far, so I pushed the starter switch -- and it started as if nothing had gone wrong.

So I wonder, "Well, if it starts normally, will it shut off normally?" Switch to off, and the engine continues running. Now, I'm sitting on the bike at this point. After shutting it off, I get off -- and the warning and neutral lights go out.

Anyway, I ride the bike Monday, doing enough running around to tick off another 100 miles. On one of these, when I go to park, before I turn the ignition to "off," I put the kickstand down and rest the bike on it -- so I'm straddling the bike but my weight is off the bike. I turn the ignition to "off" and the bike shuts off just like normal.

Through several permutation of this, I've established that if I dismount before turning the ignition to "off," the bike will shut off normally. If I turn the ignition to "off" while my weight is on the seat, the engine continues running -- and it will keep on running even after I get off the bike. So it seems to me that I must be pinching some wire under the seat or tank.

Thoughts?

 

I would agree with your hypothosis, a pinched wire sounds reasonable given your description. I would suggest you disconnect your battery before you go poking around in the wiring harness, so as to not short anything and set your precious steed afire. Just a thought, preface your wire routing diagram in the Haynes and make sure that the PO didn't monkey with it or stuff it into places it wasn't meant to be.

 

so whats this thingy for?
to measure continuity right?
or it does something more than a multimeter?

 

It is a cheap alternative (or free if you have the parts laying around) to the purchase of a multimeter. It can only do one thing, continuity. The multimeter can do a range of functions (thus the name multi...) covering resistance, voltage, current and so on. The bulb, battery cell and wire can only tell you if the circuit is complete.

 

I have not abandoned this problem, and I appreciate the comments so far. Life has just been hectic, and the bike seems to be functioning perfectly normally except for the apparent pinch in the harness. I'm hoping to get some time to work on it in about two weeks.

I have one question before then -- Where can I find some info on using a multimeter? (And I guess it would help if I sent off the check for the CD in the next day or two so I have an idea what wire does what.)

Thx!
kip

 

Most multi meters you can buy will come with some basic instructions on how to use them. Only important bit is to make sure you understand and set the meter to resistance or volts depending what your intending to measure.

Measuring voltage while the meter is set to ohms is not smart. :wink:

Don't ask. :roll:

 

http://www.doctronics.co.uk/meter.htm

above is using a multimeter , thery'rd be small cheap books too in da elektrik shops..

yeel out here if you would like to know certain tricks and details KIP...

 

so have u solved your problem?

u sure its not the seat weight switch?

or one of the many kill switches these bikes have!!

 

First, again, thanks for all the input. If the wife and kids don't throw some emergency at me, I will be trying to track this problem down on Friday.

No, I'm not sure. Like everyone else, I shut the bike off with the ignition switch. Unlike everyone else, while I'm on the bike, it keeps running. When I stand up or get off the bike, it shuts off. If I sit on the bike before putting the key in the ignition to start it, the neutral light illuminates. I still don't have a manual, so I don't know where the seat switch is (and, in fact, I'm only assuming there is one. ).

 

Kipper, Secaman is pulling your leg, there isn't a seat switch, but it looks like he got you! Sounds like your touching parts of your fuse box or pinching wires somewhere, I'd be very a'feared of a short and/or fire! Hope you find that gremlin, it could be very costly if you don't!

 

Kipper. I have an 81 Seca 550 that has been doing the same thing. I replaced the main fuse link with an in-line fuse last year and I found if I wiggled the solder connection I could get the ignition to shut off. I'm not convinced that this is the problem though. If you turn the ignition switch on and off and listen closely, there is a relay under the tank that you can hear opening and closing. I wonder if the relay is sticking and when I wiggle the wires it jars it loose? Could be the same result when you sit on the seat and stand up. I'm still working on my problem. You are not alone!