Oil light, no start (87 fz/xj600)

hello,
i have an 86 fz600 (xj600 platform) and i need some help trying to get this bike running.

whenever i press the start button i get the oil light coming on and no crank. i've read practically every thread on this forum and out about this issue across all kinds of bikes. here's what i got:

i had this issue since figuring out everything else on the bike. i tried replacing the solenoid, only for the cheap one i ordered to get fried. it would crank the starter but the bike wouldn't turn over, did this until whenever i even connected the pos+ to the battery it would just start cranking without even doing anything. switched back to the original solenoid and pressed the start button once and bike started immediately and ran fine (albeit surging a little). fixed the surging (i needed new tight hose clamps going to the intake). tried starting it since and i get nothing. back to square one.

ordered another solenoid, original off a working fz and this one gives me the same issue. whats interesting is i crossed the two blue/white wires on the diode (see pics, fig. 38 L/W), and then when i press the start button it will crank (with or without the killswitch). these blue/whites i trace go to the clutch (5) and sidestand safety (26). i bypassed the sidestand safety a while back, and in any case i dont think it could be either one because the bike already started before perfectly fine. also, when the blue/white is crossed, it will crank but not turn over. i don't really want to keep cranking and kill my starter, especially when it started perfectly fine at one point barely even cranking for a second.

measuring the mA on these two wires at the diode, the bottom right (the first one to the left of the crossed out slot) i get .17 and it goes to 0 when i press the start. the one to the left of that i get .17 but nothing happens when i press the start, so maybe my issue is somewhere here? regardless none of this explains why just two weeks ago the bike started first click like nothing.

yes the battery is charged, and this is the second battery. all fuses are good in the box, i have two different diode boxes off original fz/xj and both yield same results, (crossed or uncrossed blue/white wires). the neutral light is bright and green.

gonna try another battery maybe? and i guess i could try crossing the solenoid itself but i doubt it will yield different results than crossing the blue/whites, idk. i'm just really confused at this point, any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Welcome to the forum. We might need a little more background on the bike. Has it been sitting for years, outdoors? Sounds to me like you will need to do a little TLC on all the electrical connections on the bike. If once you bypassed the starter ckt the bike fire right up, there you go. Take some time to go through all the connectors on the wiring harness. One at a time so you don't get them confused. Inspect, clean and put back together.

Do the same thing to the right bar controller as well. You might find a broken wire in there or something that needs cleaning up. An excellent new battery is also a must in troubleshooting and staring our bike. That or jumping the bike with a much larger batter.

 

yes, bought it from a guy who garaged it in a storage unit for about 30 years so its pretty clean all things considered. i was thinking about doing just that, however this is my first bike and while i am not inexperienced working with motors n the like i get real anxious about wiring stuff. are there any tools i should have to get into cleaning the connections? by "go through" do you mean like, taking the individual wires out of the connector plugs and stuff?

also i did end up taking apart the right bar buttons and stuff. ruled out the starter button and kill switch and wiped everything down, needed to screws for the little button casing cause the old ones were starting to strip and now its all put together.

 

Glad that you are making some progress. Wow, has not been run in 30 yrs?! I would take the spark plugs out and spray some penetrating oil down each cylinder just to help get things oiled up a little. Will not hurt, just don't over do it.

The connectors only, not each and every wire, that would be a process if you did each individual wire. I use compressed air, a brass brush, some dielectric grease and anything else you can think of to clean individual contacts. A small file or blade of a small knife or flat tip screwdriver.

Guessing you might need to go with a different starter solenoid then? If you have used a multi meter or other testing device and tested out the start button from the right bar to the wire on the solenoid, and it is good, then have to dig deeper. Check the ground wire for good connection to the engine. Same process for checking and cleaning those wires as well. When you get a chance take some pics and let us see that FZ. That was my first street bike back in the day.

 

thanks for the advice! will definitely have to go through the connectors. was thinking of checking the engine ground wire as well seeing as it can't hurt to rule out something so simple.

i am going to try a new battery as well as switching back to the original solenoid again to see, will update when i get to it! i haven't used the multimeter for the bar wires, only took it all apart and cleaned it and rebuilt, but that seems like a good idea too.

i absolutely can't wait to ride this bike! been eager since i picked it up later last year. it only has 8000 miles and it sounded amazing when it started up. unfortunately the PO was goofing around with the fairings so it looks a bit messy but i will deal with that when all this mechanical/wiring stuff is settled. will take pictures for sure then!

 

https://xjbikes.com/forums/threads/xj-parts-catalog-section-d-electrical-system.44641/
https://xjbikes.com/forums/threads/tech-topic-the-real-costs-of-maintenance.14581/
https://xjbikes.com/forums/threads/in-the-church-of-clean.14692/

Here are three links from the upper right-hand corner of the forum. These you would read over a bit to make sure you know what you are getting into . I am sure you will be fine but taking your time and getting everything road worth and safe is very important.

 

okay okay, found the big issue but now even more questions i got a new battery, still wouldn't start. so i checked the spark plugs and they are not getting spark at all! go to the fuse box, the 10A for the ignition is blown! try to switch the 10A from the signal (didn't have any extras) and it blew that one too. went and got a bunch of 10A fuses and the bike eats them up, it's like the second i press the start button and the engine cranks it blows the fuse. going to do some more research now but any ideas on this?