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katjbus, The black wire he is talking about is the trigger wire for the solenoid. He has power at the button but the power isn't getting to the solenoid. Jumping the solenoid was done long before this step.


The right switchgear is the right hand control. On a 76, it has a big bundle of wires coming off it that go into a big connector lying on the right hand side of the bike's neck. There is a connector from the wiring harness where it hooks up. The black wire can be traced out of the button to the connector. You should check for voltage on the pin associated with the black trigger wire on the switchgear side. Put the connector together and then check at where it comes out and gets soldered on the solenoid. If you have done this, and there is no juice when the ignition switch is on, the kill switch is in RUN and the start button is pushed, the wire between the connector and the solenoid is bad (broken, fried, dead, etc). There isn't much point in chopping up the harness for this one wire and adding a wire outside the harness bundle is a good idea.

If the kill switch and stuff in the switchgear get hot, this isn't good. It indicates something is loose or dirty or both... higher resistance is turning the stuff in the switchgear into a heating element. You will want to verify the connection of the wire coming in from the headlight shell that hooks up to the kill switch and the wires coming out of the switch... clean them and their contacts and check for the solder joints...

All right, thanks for all the help, I'll let everyone know how it turns out. By the way, does anyone have an idea what gauge wire I might need to replace it with? Thanks again.

-Glen

18 ga.

I finally figured out what it actually was; a broken kill switch. Anyway, i bought the right hand controls from z1e. When i went to put it on i noticed the new controls had three connections coming out of them; a black switchgear with 4 connections, one blue wire, and another blue wire with 2 connections. Yet my old controls only connected with 2 wires, the switchgear and one red/yellow wire, how do i install this thing? Thanks for the help.

In other words, what do i use to connect the headlight wires together? (are they 18 ga. wires?) Thanks for all the help.

-Glen

Glen, When I use the word switchgear, I mean the housing that holds your switches... the black aluminum thing... the term doesn't refer to specific wires. You may be using the word switchgear to describe a connector.

Let's get on the same page. For right now, the IMPORTANT thing is what wires come off the connector. What color are the wires coming off the old control and what color wires off the new. The WAY they connect is likely different for your bike than for the new control you just bought. Is this new control supposed to be for your bike?

Here is what usually happens: power comes from ignition switch and goes into the right control. There will be a connector; usually in the headlight shell to connect. There will be a wire going to the right CONTROL (I didn't call it a switchgear hehe). Generally at least two wires will come off the kill switch. ONE wire will go down to the start button. It will be black and stay black till it gets soldered onto the the starter solenoid.

If you unwrap the tape on the old wiring bundle, you will note that the yellow/red wire comes out and then is spliced UNDER the wrapping. I think you will find a BROWN wire and a BLUE/RED wire and BLUE wire. The blue wire will split yet again with one leg generally going to the white connector at the end of the wire bundle as will the brown and blue/red. The other leg of the blue wire is left hanging out of the bundle with a spade connector. The reason is that it connects to a blue wire from the LEFT HAND control (or switchgear). This wire goes into the control and feeds the Hi/Lo beam switch for your headlight. Out of this switch, a red/yellow wire and a red/black wire come out and run into your headlight. There they connect to a small pigtail that plugs into your headlight with the same wire colors plus a black/yellow ground wire which plugs into your main ground circuit.

If you tell me a couple things, I can tell you how to connect the wires... what color were the OLD wires coming off the right control? What color are the NEW wires? Is there an on/po/off switch on the new control? The blue wire and one other wire connects through the on/po/off switch, as I recall. The other wire may be the hazards... just don't recall and will have to look at wiring diagram. I can't remember what the PO part of the switch does even though I have two bikes with this function hehe

www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=2040

This is the new control i bought. The old one was the same except the single blue wire was a red/yellow i believe (can't recall for sure because i'm at work) and the other blue wire with the (dual spade connector?)did not exist on the old controls. The new ones do have the PO setting.

The single blue wire seems to be the headlight, and the controls work when i plug them up. I just need a way to connect the two terminal pins, they both seem to be male connectors, they are the same and do not attach, yet when held together they control the headlight(single blue wire from new controls). And i assume that the other blue wire with the dual spade connector is left unplugged? Thanks again, i hope i'm not too confusing.

-Glen

Post edited by: Glen4747, at: 2007/07/17 10:30