Electrical gremlin

I am the 2nd owner of my 11,000 mile 1982 XJ 650 Maxim...my brother bought it new in '82. The bike has always when well maintained,never ridden abusively,and never left outside overnight.Last year the bike started having symptoms as if it was starving for fuel,momentarily losing power while I was riding it. Sometimes it would die completely,but would restart after sitting for a minute or two. I now suspect that the problem is electrical in nature,as sometimes the headlight won't come on until the bike has been running for 20-30 seconds.And most recently,the bike sometimes will not start unless you short across the terminals of the relay behind the battery. Could this be a bad ground somewhere,or do these relays go bad?Is this relay also part of the reserve lighting system?
Any recommendations for what brand of electrical terminal cleaner I should use?
As always,your input is most appreciated!

Dan

 

with my xj750 Seca the relays went bad (as well as the starter relais as the headlight relais first at the right side of the bike, the latter at the left side)

I removed the headlight relais, connecting the lobeam terminal directrly to the red-yellow wire entering the relay (contact driven mains)

I use WD40 for all terminal "problems"
When in doubt wether the connector will catch lots of water i use battery terminal grease...

 

You may be experiencing the relay issues or fuse panel woes. Time to clean them (the relays) out and replace that fuse panel! To clean electrical contacts I use technical grade isopropyl alcohol. The whimpy hospital grade stuff just doesn't cut it. Of course in a perfect world, we would all use electrical contact cleaner that doesn't harm plastic (does it exist? I have heard of this stuff but never seen it). You can use WD-40 in a pinch but it will conduct so you need to follow behind with alcohol or something similar to get rid of the leftovers.

 

From reading some of your posts, you seem to be a pretty knowledgeable guy so you probably already know this procedure. Just in case you don't, or perhaps someone else can use it, Here ya go.

After cleaning the contacts, test the relay in question by disconnecting it and running test leads from the battery directly to the coil of the relay. take your favorite multimeter and measure resistance between the 2 contact terminals and make sure the contact closed. Then, remove your test leads from the coil and make sure the contacts now read open. If not, your relay is bad.

If the relay seems good, it's time to start chasing that gremlin around the bike. They can be a pain to catch, but can make fun little pets once you do. I used to keep one in my starter solenoid... whenever I wanted to start the bike, I'd give it a little tap and the gremlin would do his thing.