FZ600 Resto - the hotrod XJ

As long as it gets squeezed into what little clearance there is on the interference fit, it should seal I would think. There's always green loctite. Not sure about its fuel resistance but they dont call it sleeve retainer for nothing.

 

I liked your Loctite suggestion and picked up fuel resistant thread sealant.

 

sleek wind cheating styling evolved through the years for best performance.
Same applies to the FZ!

 

Look, there he is!!

 

Who’s a good boy.
Who's a good boy.

 

On another post last summer I described how my dog knocked the FZ over and broke the RH mirror.
Last night I finally received a replacement in the mail.
Yamaha no longer sell these, it took about 9 months of searching Ebay to finally find a new in the box RH mirror.
These mirrors are unique to this model. Rare find indeed.

 

perfect day for a ride on my vintage sport.
I shut it off here to take in the view and the bike was completely dead, no lights.
I even hooked up booster cables from a car there but still no dash lights.
Fortunately I was riding with friends, my brother came back with a truck and trailer and that was my ride, bummer.
I installed this battery last year and I think I fried it when I initially got it, left it on the 2A charger for the night before I remembered.
I think the battery is fried, its home on the charger now.



all the local ladies checking out my ride!

 

did you you check to make sure the side stand switch wasn’t stuck in a little bit?
Did you check the fuses?

FWIW—a number of years ago, I was out on my 900......about 45 min. From home, and was on my return home, carving my way through ilion gorge. The bike quit....lost power, no lights, nothing. Dead as could be. I rolled it around, and fortunately the gorge was down hill almost all the way, I silently rolled and rolled til I got to a co-worker’s house. We loaded into his truck and brought it home. Two days........dead. Nothing found. Third day, I was outside just standing next to the bike, had even touched it that day yet......just standing there, I heard the sound of a relay click. WTF?!?! Turned the key.....and the dash lights came on. Well, let’s see——. Got on, pulled the enricher and touched the start button—fired right up like normal.

Has NEVER done it since, it was a one-time thing.....weird.

Hope it’s simple for you, too

 

Ya the fuse box was the first thing I checked, the main fuse looked good (still glass) but without a multimeter hard to be certain. I just checked it after the battery tender has been on it, still no juice.
Could be the ignition switch also. Hopefully I get time to check it over with the mm tomorrow.
Can't be the side stand because there's no dash lights at all.

 

Ok, then I’d look at main fuse or the clips for a break or even just oxidation thick enough to break current

 

I pulled the 30A main fuse and tried one of the lower circuit fuses and got nothing.
Do you know if dead battery can still prevent a booster battery from getting juice to the system?
Does that make sense?

 

I should mention the fuse box is new so no broken clips, no oxidation.

 

Hmmm

 

Check them anyway, then onto the switches, I guess. Any chance you hit your kill switch by accident? I know someone who did that one time and didn’t realize it......no it wasn’t me

 

Hmmm is right, I checked the bike with a m/m and I get 12.7V at the battery. That's obviously not it.
I get the same reading 12.7V across the main fuse when the key is off.
Turn the key on and I get a reading, but < 1V.
Same thing on all the other fuses, I get just less than 1V with the key on.
The kill switch does not change these readings.
Where does that point?
I'm suspecting the main ignition switch.

 

Open the headlight Bucket and see if the clip fell apart

 

no headlight bucket on the FZ. If I get time today I'll remove the gas tank and start fiddling with all the connections.
I'll unplug the main switch and jump the wires like a functioning switch if I don't find anything obvious.

 

Well, then look at the connections wherever they are and see if something came loose

 

Just follow it allong from the battery, fuse holder?, ignition switch? Next set of fuses etc...
Where you lose 12V is where...... you know the rest.

 

It depends on how you are measuring that?

Across the main fuse would be DMM negative on one side and DMM positive on the other side of main fuse, which should give you zero volts with the ignition switch off, and 12V with the key on "IF" the main fuse was blown or open from poor contact.

If you are leaving the DMM negative on ground and getting 12V with key off and <1V with key on at the main fuse that indicates an issue at the main fuse or before (inclusion of the main fuse depends on whether you are on the input or output of the main fuse).

The negative side should also be considered, and most likely if the cause would be at the battery cable to battery terminal. When you check the battery voltage with the key on be sure to check on the battery terminals and then move to the battery cable to ensure the connection is good at the post. If you have a headlight that illuminates with key on there would be a fair amount of current that will drop a good bit of voltage with a poor connection anywhere in the loop.

 

this is what I did. Same results on both sides of the fuse, so no problem with the fuse box.
Battery connections are all tight. I'm not sure when I'll get around to this as work will take me on the road next week.
The quarantine was kind of nice while it lasted, got lots done on my bikes.

 

Have you checked where the negative battery cable connects to the engine/frame? A real good place for corrosion to block current flow. Sort of hidden connection generally that gets little to no love or care.
John

 

I have not, yet but I'm sure I did a year ago.
I'm not sure if this would explain good voltage until the key is turned on though.

 

So it would seem it is before the fuse box if you are attaching the DMM to the battery negative at the battery and you are sure that is a good connection.

An easy test, with the key set to on connect the DMM negative to the positive terminal of the battery and the DMM positive to the main fuse, it should be zero volts but I suspect it will be close to 12v indicating a poor connection in between those two points.

If OK with key still on try DMM negative to negative terminal of battery and DMM positive to chassis / engine ground. That should be zero volts unless there is a poor ground as John suggested.

 

You can have enough contact for the low current of the quiescence of the key off but then when the key is on there is a much higher current draw that cannot pass the poor or corroded contact.
John

 

this seems to be tight without corrosion. I didn't loosen it and re-tighten, perhaps I should.

yes makes sense.

this test just registers .1-.2V

this registers .04V with the key on.


I rigged this pigtail up and installed it in place of the main switch.
There was no difference so nothing to do with the main switch.

I'll try loosening the main ground and retightening it tomorrow.

 

So, the above is not really possible, so there must be some communication issues going on. Think of it this way, the third statement "Turn the key on and I get a reading, but <1V." If you have the negative probe on the battery terminal (not the battery cable) you are essentially adding a wire length to the positive terminal and probing that with the meter. It it reads anything less than 12V (battery voltage) then there is a voltage drop somewhere along the way. Now, if you are connecting the DMM negative lead to the battery cable or engine / frame then you are introducing another potential issue for voltage drop - the negative cables / wiring and the quality of the connection to their components.

I would suggest giving the battery terminals and cables a good cleaning also.

 

OK I re-did this test, I get 0V

again, reading 0V

 

If the fuse to ground is 12V with the switch off and then ~0V with the switch on, I would suspect a short to ground of some type beyond the ignition switch. It must not be a direct short or there would be smoke or melting wires if the switch was left on for long.

 

Wrong - there is a load pulling the supply down.
Makes sure the battery earth to frame and engine is good, then measure everything wrt earth. Then with the fault present follow allong the path from battery to main fuse, ignition switch, then secondary fuse etc. Don't assume supply at one end of a wire means it will be at the other end - you are looking at a fault after all. Where you lose supply voltage is where the fault is - nothing easier, or less complicated.

 

Not entirely true, though you make a good point. A poor connection can also cause the same symptom as a short (just a really BIG load in essence) when measuring from ground to a point in a circuit. The bottom line is his battery is unable to supply adequate current to maintain voltage across the load present.

The best tool I have found for chasing 12V problems is a PowerProbe. Not cheap, but simplifies the troubleshooting process as it provides the tools for many tests to chase down shorts, opens and poor connections in one easy to use tool.

 

And since we talked about communications before I was assuming you checked battery voltage with the key on, is that correct?

I wouldn't lean towards a short, unless the battery is toast and then it's not really a short but just a bad battery.

CCA (Cold Cranking Amperes) is the most popular industry rating and is a measurement of the current a fully charged battery can deliver for 30 seconds and maintain a voltage of 7.2 volts (12 volt battery) at a temperature of -18°C.

So that battery fully charged could maintain somewhere around 100 amps for 30 seconds and maintain a voltage of 7.2V, which is well above the reported measured voltage and certainly enough to blow fuses and produce flames.

^^So true and easy

 

I have seen a number of cases with symptoms just like this, where a wire's insulation has worn away and it is rubbing against bare metal, making a connection between 12V and ground. Since the connection is not good at all, the resistance at the connection is high and there is still some low voltage present. Certainly something that cannot be discounted, especially since this happened during a ride.

As others have said, a systematic approach towards identifying exactly where the problem is happening is your best bet. Don't be afraid to disconnect parts of the circuit to isolate where to look next. The ignition switch pigtail was a good example of this.

 

I measured the battery tonight and got 12.5V after being on a tender for 2 days. Still no power to light anything.
Then I measured the new battery in my Seca Turbo and it measured 12.9V.
I put the new battery in the FZ and everything is working great.

 

For the moment.. 12.5 volts is plenty to light up panel lights - even a nadgered battery will do this. I still get the impression there's an underlying fault. If so it could also bugger up your new battery

 

12.5 volts is a fully charged lead acid battery at rest, but just coming off a charger, it should be somewhere over 13V. Is your battery tender a trickle charger or a Battery Tender brand charger? If it is only a trickle charger, it may not have enough current to charge a depleted battery quickly.

In any case, a100man is correct and 12.5V should light up an incandescent or LED bulb, so I don't think you have found your problem yet.

 

So pretty sure the FZ600 utilizes the starter / headlight switch, so with key on the headlight current along with other circuits would be enough current draw to identify a defective battery or battery connection. It's probably time for a new battery but I might clean it up and try again, or have it load tested somewhere just to be sure.

 

Am I able to put that front headlight set up you have on yours on mine is a 89 radian it's kinda quick