No spark.

This morning, I went out , put the key in turned it hit the start button, the xj700n fired up as it always has. I rode around the block. Parked it in front of the house. ten minutes later, I have no spark at any cylinder.

Last weekend, the old lady dropped the bike in a turn, stabbed the front brake, splat. The housing for the ignition switch was busted at both mounting points. I used some jewelers wire to secure the switch, but it's not quite right. Turning the key there is no secure "click" between connections.

Truning the key on, gets power to all lights, and the starter spins it over just fine. Basically i have power everywhere but the coils. Is this the switch? I will be ordering a replacement from Chacal on Tuesday. It would be sooner but with the holiday i can't deposit the money to cover it until Tuesday.

With the switch only being a three wire circuit, and having power to the entire bike, it just seems there is likely to be something else in play here. What would that something be?

 

Do you have the circuit and wiring diagrams from the factory manuals and a digital test meter?

From memory the ignition fuse is branched after the main fuse. Check for 12volts at both fuses with the ignition on then check for power at the TCI. If you have power there your TCI is getting power but may have lost its ground connection.

Have a look at the circuit and try to work your way around it with your meter. This may help ...

http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=32483.html

 

side stand relay (blue/black module). Under the left side cover, check that little b@st@rd. It has caused more than one problem for me and others. You may need a new one. Try messing with it, pulling it off, putting it on, use dilectric grease, try again. Also, try pulling it off and starting the bike. My fathers x runs fine without it.

It sounds very similar to issues I have run in to.

 

I don't have a repair manual for the bike. However I do have the owners manual and in the back of it there is a fold out wiring diagram. Having spent a little time with it this morning tracing the ignition switch circuit, it doesn't appear that power to the ignition coils is switched by the ignition switch.

So it would seem that the problem is elsewhere. The wiring diagram I have in small and the writing tiny, which means I am having a VERY hard time reading it. So I'm just going to ask, is there an ignition relay? I don't mean the starter solenoid. i mean a relay that powers the coils. If so where is it located?

I really appreciate the help guys.

 

Ok upon closer inspection today I have fond that I do indeed have spark on all cylinders.

However, when I cracked the bowl drains I got really orange-ish fuel from number one, slightly cleaner looking fuel from #2 nice clear looking fuel from #3 and nothing at all from #4.


So it looks like the carbs have to come off again.

 

Ok...now I am completely stumped. Pulled the carbs off, opened them up inspected every jet and passage all are clear and clean.

However it does not seem to be getting fuel to the cylinders, there is fuel in the bowls. Checked by opening drains.

Also...the spark seems to be pretty weak to me. But I'm not sure how strong the spark should be on this thing as I've read that they don't have all that strong of a spark.

So...any thoughts?

 

Initially I thought this was prolly not the issue because it would crank, and normal operation of the side stand switch is it won't crank if the side stand is down and the bike is in gear. But it would crank just fine...just wouldn't fire.

So I'm standing there staring at the damn thing, trying to get the cosmic forces to magically make the problem clear, I look at the relay, and simply to eliminate it as a possibility I pulled it from the harness, turned the key on and basically it started right up as soon as I even pointed at the start button. Plugged it back in...crank but no start. Unplugged it, started it up, plugged it in with it running and it died.

I unplugged it again and it fired right up again. I turned around and chucked the relay into the bed of a passing pickup truck.

Soooo...anyone got the part number for that relay?

 

So yeah...I went through the nightmare of carb to airbox boot installation...for nothing.

 

Bike bandit shows these numbers... not sure if they're Yamaha numbers, though, they don't look like it.

1197238
(286882-001)

They say $68!

Other sad thing is, the problem is most likely not the relay itself, but a switch or wiring problem elsewhere (side stand switch, clutch switch, neutral switch...). Removing the relay disables the whole safety circuit, though, so it will make the problem go away regardless of the root cause.

 

It might NOT be the Relay.

Clean and Lube the whole Side-stand Mechanism.
Remove the Screws that attach the Switch to the Chassis.
Suspend the Switch.
Remove the Activating Rod from the Switch and Drilled Port at the Stand.
Clean and Burnish the Drilled Passage at the top of the Switch.
Burnish with rolled-up Sand Paper.

Remove the Rubber Dust Boot.
Clean.
Use the Activating Rod to "Exercise" Switch.
Flush Switch with Electronic Parts Cleaner or Isopropyl Alcohol.
Lube with Heavy Duty Silicone Spray.

TEST Switch for Open / Closed.
Tests OK?

Lube Stand Passage with Waterproof Synthetic Grease.
Re-install Switch.
Test Start / Run Function.

 

Wow thanks for the tips, I'll check it out tomorrow, Somehow I have to find the time to; inspect/diagnose a non starting issue with an 88 Kawasaki 600R, diagnose the cause of "a huge cloud of smoke that only lasted a couple seconds and was gone" from the engine area of an 81 GoldWing, Try to stop up some oil leaks adjust a to fast idle re-aim a head light that the bulb in has it's "TOP" set at the 3 oclock position and is actually shining up into the trees replace the rear brake shoes on an 81 CB650 custom AND sort out the XJ...on a friggin Sunday! In the middle of a holiday weekend.

I keep telling these people I'm NOT a motorcycle mechanic, hell I'm not even a mechanic. I'm just poor and have no choice but to keep my old 172k plus miles bike going by working on it myself.

I just wanna ride man, I just wanna ride....but all I do is friggin wrench.

 

And...i now have to track down the pick-up truck that I tossed the damn relay into the bed of....

 

Did you get a manual from the link I sent you? Let me know if you have any problems with it. Also please put your bike model and year in your signature and location in your profile.

 

Yup got the manual last night. took me a few minutes to figure out the interface for the site...and my firewall kept seeing the site as "known to distribute malware". But I got it.

 

well, you got it to run. Rick is right, it may not be the relay, but just to eliminate it altogether, go into the headlight bucket and disconnect the green connector. If memory serves, this is the side stand indicator wiring. Also, do as rick said, pull that stand switch apart, clean the pp out of it, and make it work correctly. My father's x runs just fine without the relay, and they can be a little pita too.