Key won't turn to "on" position

Hi everyone, I have a slight issue with my XJ700 that I hope you guys/gals can help me resolve.
Like the title says, the key for my XJ won't turn to the "on" position and I have no idea why.

a bit of background, I am doing some cosmetic changes to my bike (new handle bars, new tail light and rear turn signals) so not everything is plugged in. I recently had the headlight opened but all the wiring in there is plugged back correctly, as far as I know.

Does the bike have some internal mechanism that prevents the key from going to the "on" position when not everything is plugged in? did I mess something up?

Thanks!

 

Is the key bent, or worn? There is nothing that is designed to keep the key from turning, exept for the relationship between the key cut and the pins in the tumbler.

 

Did you try squirting some lube in the key switch? It may free up the mechanism.

 

My $ is on a worn key not dropping the pins. I could be wrong.

Gary H.

 

tried the 3 keys, none of them worked. I could try some wd40 see if that helps it. I know cars have steering wheel lock, can that happen with a bike? although the steering is moving pretty freely so i dont think that is an issue.

 

Try light oil, it lubes better than WD40.

 

first did the keys ever work for you?
does the key work in the gas tank?
does your key have a number on it if so make sure the number matches the number on the bottom of the ignition switch.
i use pb blaster to loosen my frozen key lock took a few days of treatment and turning
and a link for you
Clean and lube the ignition switch

 

So I've fiddled around with it a bit more and it turns out theres's a bolt inside the headlight that I screwed on too tight which was causing the key to not be able to turn into the "on" position. loosening it up seemed to solve my problem

Thanks everyone.

 

Glad you found the problem. Sometimes it is the littlest things. That is why I try to only work on one issue at a time when doing maintenance. You never know what unintended consequences there might be to a modification or "fix."

 

Sometimes the tumbler gets "caught" between the off/on side to the right, and the off/park/lock side to the left. You have to push down and turn left for that. When you turn back right, the cyl has to pop back up. If its a bit stick it may not get all the way back up. Then it won't turn. You may have unknowingly depressed it a bit.

Dave