Headlight/tail/dash lights only on in 'park'

Please excuse the fact that it is an XS and not an XJ :twisted:

Bike is a 1977 Yamaha XS750

Alrighty, so I got this bike recently and the headlight wasn't hooked up and it had no tail light

I put a tail light on and wired up the headlight, but they will only turn on if the bike is either in 'park' (the third option to the right) and not while in 'on' mode which is what the key needs to be in for the bike to run.

I have however found a little sweet spot between on and park that allows the headlight to stay on and the bike to run but this is not safe as any little vibration can kick the key to the right causing the bike to turn off. :wtf

Any idea what this could be?

This is the 'on' position as you can see the neutral/oil light turns on.



The 'park' position where all of the lights including the dash light turn on



and the 'sweet spot' where everything works

 

Sounds like your ignition switch is going bad. You can maybe find some information here on rebuilding ignition switches and cleaning the contact points inside it. or buy a new one from chacal at xj4ever on this site.
sorry I couldnt help you much.

 

+1 on the ignition switch,had exactly the same symptoms on my xj900. Apart from needing a good clean ,I found that the metal "locating" ring inside the switch was missing (no positive stop points) A trip to the spares rack in the shed fixed that. Cheers, Murray