84 Maxim 400 - Died!

Greetings - 22 km into my riding season and I'm on hold. My Maxim 400 (1984, under 20,000 km) simply died the other day. I have lights, horn, etc, but zero cranking.

I did have a fusebox problem before I took it out a few days before that, the 10 Amp fuse labelled "Signal" popped when I turned on the ignition so I had no cluster/signal lights. The bike still started up. I repacked some wiring around the +terminal of my battery and also loosened up the back of the instrument cluster (I replaced it over the winter but the bike still ran fine). The next fuse was fine and I put everything back together slowly, checking each time I secured something to make sure the fuse wouldn't pop. I rode the bike without issue about 10km. Then 2 days ago, she quit.

I also lubed the chain with proper chain lube, so I wonder if that could have somehow affected the sidestand switch....

Anyway, could sure use some advice on this as electrics is not my strength...

Thanks!

Al

 

I guess the chain lube *could* have gummed up the sidestand switch possibly. How about we eliminate this as a suspect first by unplugging it & joining the connections in the loom together (to make the bike "think" the stand is up) and see what happens then.

Also with you saying you had a fusebox issue, have you checked all fuses & their connectors are good? The old Yamaha fusebox connectors can go brittle and lose their grip on the fuse over the years.

 

you did some work by the + terminal of the battery........ that's where the solenoid lives........hummm, maybe go back and have another look there.
another place is where the tank hooks on the frame and where the wires go around the steering neck.
jimmy up a rubber band on the starter button so you know if you wiggle the right wire

 

It is also possible that when your fuse popped, it was because the rectifier has gone bad. If the rect. is shot, then there can be too much juice in the system, things get overloaded, and as the rpms increase, so does the volts until things blow.

I've had the opportunity to find that out on two bikes, so far, that people have brought to me for help........"my bike won't start. I was riding it and it just quit!" (blown fuse, put a new one in and starts right up, ride up the road 1/2 a mile and blows fuses and bulbs by the time I hit 65, turn around and push it back home, fortunately downhill-ish most of the way) So now, if there's a chance of that, I put in new fuses, get the volt meter ready. Start it up, and check voltage as rpms increase. I don't have any spare tci's anymore. LOL

Dave F

 

it'a a wise man who tests motorcycles going UP the hill

 

Thanks all for the info, gives me plans for our rainy Saturday. Yes, I did some sloppy work around the +terminal when I reinstalled the battery (1 yr old, after a winter on a trickle charger, 12.79V now). I believe the original "Signal" fuse blew because of some kind of short near the solenoid. Now I wonder about the solenoid. Would that make sense? Also, there's a couple of relays right underneath the base/back of the gas tank, cube shaped. One of them, on the battery side, seems to have suffered some damage, not sure how or why, but it has a dent in it.

I will look at the sidestand switch first though.

 

If it doesn't start, give it a damn good thrashing with an uprooted larch sapling