TOPIC:

In December, I was running my '79 KZ650C in the driveway getting ready to take a ride. As I revved the engine all of a sudden it died..........no power, no lights, nothing. I seem to recall hearing a "click" before the lights went out. The three fuses look good and I replaced one that looked suspicious. Battery is good. No power at all in any ignition key position. Any ideas?

Scott

sounds like the main fuse,, check it with a meter or a light, sometimes they pop up in the metal cap end and you cant always see it

BSKZ650 wrote:

sounds like the main fuse,, check it with a meter or a light, sometimes they pop up in the metal cap end and you cant always see it

Good advise. This happened to me last Saturday. I had just completed my Spring tune up and started the bike. It ran great! I ran it up and down the street and it ran well. I shut it down, went to grab my jacket and went to re-start it again. Nothing. No power anywhere, no lights, nada, zilch
I checked the main fuse first. It 'looked' fine. I checked it with my ohmmeter. It tested good. I ended up searching for hours for a broken wire, loose connection, whatever. It was a very frustrating afternoon! I could not help but think that it HAD to be something simple. I looked at the fuse again. It looked fine, the metal strip was intact and tested ZERO resistance. I decided to remove the fuses and check the connections. It was while doing this that I discovered that the main fuse was indeed broken...or rather it had apparently rattled apart. The metal base cap on the bottom of the fuse was loose but not detached from the glass. So when pushing on both ends with an ohmmeter it would read good but when the metal cap was not pushed on the fuse would open. VIOLA!
I grabbed the stock spare replacement fuse out of the fusebox and guess what??? It also 'looked' good but also had a loose base!!! So I went to the local parts peddler and bought a new set of fuses and replaced all of the fuses, just in case.
I must have replaced a thousand fuses in my life but believe me I was fooled by this one
Live and learn. We lost a day of good weather riding but I'm still grateful that it happened in my own driveway rather that 50 miles away!
Check your fuses. Pull them out completely and check the caps. If they're old and original, even money that this is your problem.
That's my 1% for the day

Best mod I've done to my 77 650 was to replace the fuse box with an automotive blade type box. I immediately noticed brighter lights and faster blinkers. I replaced it trying to fix a problem with blown main fuses. Haven't had one blow since.

I second that blade fuse suggestion. They even come in a couple of different sizes. I have found that the smaller of the two are harder to find at the convenience stores, so I carry a pack or two in my armor jacket.

i did the same thing with this. 4 circut 4 Circuit ATO/ATC Fuse Block

Hey Vach, that's exactly the one I wanted to use as a replacement, but wasn't sure it would fit. When you get a chance could you send me dimensions ( length between bolt holes, width, and depth with cover.)

Thanks!

kind of funny this came up,, while working on the 1000 yeaterday, went to fire it up nothing, damnit,, the PO installed a inline fuse for the main,, fuse was good the holder had a broken ear on it,, it was not keeping enough pressure on the fuse connection,,,, replaced with a new one

well........I replaced the main fuse yesterday and still no power.........jiggled some of the leads but still nothing........any suggestions where to start looking?

It's time to get a multimeter and start looking for continuity. First place I'd look is across the fuses.

The tool you need is a VOM, a volt-ohm meter. You'll also need an electrical schematic for your bike. Your electrical path from your battery is open somewhere. Use the VOM and check for voltage at various places in your wiring. Start at the battery. Make sure your battery cables are good. Then go the to fuse box and check voltage to the main fuse. Then check the voltage coming out of the main fuse. Keep on checking further down the circuit until you find the place where the voltage disappears. Keep in mind:
- The open could be on the ground side
- Fuses can look good, but still be bad.
- Connections to fuses can look good and still be bad.

Good luck.

Ok, go to game plan #2,, did you check the on off button on the bars,, maybe you hit it or it has gone bad,.
Next the wiring goes thru the bars, I had all kind of problems until I pulled them, repaired the wires and ran them on the outside