HELP!! Neutral light suddenly turned off, bike won't start 82 XJ650J

Hi everyone, I am hoping somebody might be able to offer some guidance here. I have been wrestling with a 1982 XJ650 that I picked up last summer, trying to get it to run. I finally got it going pretty well, only for me to accidentally stall it by putting it in gear with the stand down while testing my clutch function (oops). Since then, my neutral light (which had been working fine before this) refuses to come on and the bike will not fire unless I hold the clutch and jump the solenoid with the side-stand up. I tried disconnecting the neutral safety switch, that did not help (I unscrewed the little phillips head screw from the sensor and moved the wire so it was not contacting anything). Please help!!

 

The neutral switch should be grounding the light blue wire when the bike is in neutral. Try disconnecting it at the bullet connector and jumpering the upper end of the connection to ground. If the neutral light comes on, then you have a bad switch or a broken wire to it.

 

Of course, also make sure the bike really is in neutral.

 

it is definitely in neutral, I even double-checked and was able to roll it a good 5 feet. Ill try your suggestion, thank you!

 

I have been trying to fix my bike for almost 4 months thinking it was everything else. Your post solved my issue. Much love.