1981 XJ650 Maxim - Electrical Gremlin?

Very frustrated... had the bike running great (carbs done, new starter button..) but while it was running the headlight and gauge lights would cut out intermittently at various rpm. Then it just stopped and can't get it to fire since. No spark at all. Also i have to short out the solenoid to get it to turn over. The starter button signal is making it's way to the solenoid, but nothing happening. Perhaps the solenoid is bad, but it should still fire up and get spark when i jump the solenoid. One very strange thing: The oil level light does not come on when I switch the key on... which it did when it ran fine. Is the oil level light tied in with a relay to indicate something wrong?

 

Sounds like your power from the main circuit is intermittent.
Have you worked on your fusebox yet?
If you haven't, It's one of the first things we usually suggest to replace with something better -- the old glass fuse type corrode and fail (often like you've described), and sometimes look just fine till you go to move anything, then they break.

 

Interesting... I had the airbox off when I did the carbs, so that makes sense. All 4 (i think there were 4...) fuses are suspect of this? I don't feel like replacing anything at this point, so can I just investigate/clean corrosion as required and see if that works? Any tips/pics?
Thanks for the quick reply! I have today off, so was hoping I'd get an answer and get out to the garage... great!

 

Most of us replace the whole fusebox to get rid of the glass fuses entirely.

Yes, they're all suspect, but the MAIN circuit sounds like the one giving you trouble. Check the fuse and the holders looking for corrosion.

For replacing, the two most popular choices are:
In-Line fuse holders, like this:


Or a full fuse box, like this: