Lights come on when battery terminals are connected

The bike is an '85 XJ700X with 16K on the clock. I just bought it yesterday, started working on it today and the first issue I ran into is this electrical problem.

The key doesn't even have to be in the ignition switch......when the + & - battery terminals are connected the lights come on, signals work, horn, brights, pretty sure the starter button has power also.

Something is sticking but I don't know what....has anybody run into this before or have any ideas on what I could check?

Thanks

 

If the PO hasn't done some major rewiring, I think the only possibility is the ignition switch.

 

The PO didn't do anything at all to the bike, including flushing coolant, changing oil, etc., just drove it! Luckily, not enough miles to hurt it and it can all be un-done!

I was wondering if it might be the switch also.....had it out yesterday but couldn't figure out how to get it apart, will it come apart for inspection, or is that not the way to go?

Thanks!

 

sounds like the switch, but first lesson in buying a used bike 1. never ever believe everything the po told you cause chances are he is lying or at least embellishing the story. Look at your wiring and double check for tampering ie electrical tape, miscolored wires, in line fuses etc....

 

sounds like the switch, but first lesson in buying a used bike 1. never ever believe everything the po told you cause chances are he is lying or at least embellishing the story. Look at your wiring and double check for tampering ie electrical tape, miscolored wires, in line fuses etc....

 

Yeah, I agree with you there, but those are my words based on what I've found so far in the teardown. It doesn't look like the guy ever touched anything, let alone actually tackling a wiring project!

The funny thing is, I can unplug the ignition switch and it doesn't make a bit of difference, the guages & headlight are still lit and there's power to the starter button. I expected everything to power down but it didn't.

I'm pretty weak on electrical systems but is there a main relay or something like that, that allows power to go thru to the system???

Solenoid??

I'm at a loss.

Thanks for the help!

 

I just got done checking all the wires in the headlight shell and on the panel under the seat, also looked at the harness under the battery box. Everything looks good, real good actually....once I wiped off the oil/dirt film the wires were bright colored, flexible, no corrosion and there was no sign at all of anybody messing with them.

I don't get it!

 

That's a REALLY funny thing, because all of the power for ALL of the circuits goes thru the ignition switch.....

1) are you sure that you unplugged the main ingition (key) switch?

2) if you did, pull the MAIN fuse and see what happens.

 

Yes, the plug with the 4 or 5 wires coming out the back of the ignition switch....everything stayed on.

I will try it again shortly.....Thanks!

 

My mistake, the ignition whip has 3 wires, a brown, a red and a blue....double blue actually.

I connected the battery back up, with the key off.....all the lights, horn and starter button had power.

I unplugged the ignition switch wires and there was no change....even the starter button was still hot.

Pulling the main fuse (single fuse under the seat) kills the system entirely.

All the wires are in nice condition, nothing tampered with or altered....everything looks to be factory.

 

I think id get a good wiring diagram and start in the headlight bucket to make sure all is as it looks.

 

That's what I'm doing right now. Thanks

 

Found it! The connector for the ignition switch had been subjected to abnormal heat....I noticed a tiny bit of yellowing on the plastic and, even tho the little partition between the terminals looked fine, I broke it apart and isolated each connection.

It works like it should!!

The tip-off was when the brown wire from the switch tested hot whether the key was on or not.

Thanks everybody for the help!!

 

glad to hear it, nice catch electrical stuff can be a real pain in the arse.

 

Thanks! The weird thing was, the plastic looked solid but spark was jumping across there somehow. Good lesson learned, if there's ANY sign of heat in those connectors they may be bad.

 

A lesson learned on this one! Even if you have a guess that seems not likely to solve a problem, but is at least rooted in some basic level of reasoning and common sense, it might help or lead to a line of thinking that reasolves an issue! I had the thought "I wonder if that connector is melted or something....?" But then I thought, Nah, he would see that and I would feel dumb for posting something so obvious and irrelevelant. From now on I will be more likely to post a dumb-sounding idea, it's not like you guys will pick on me or anything......right?