TOPIC:

Alright uh, Tore down motor, top end rebuild. Sweet. Runs like a dream. Encountered some of the delightful gremlins that come with owning a police bike. It was the fuse box. I have another harness, so I decided to install that one. I am 99.9% sure that I matched everything correctly, seriously. The one thing I did do was remove the siren harness that always seemed to be in the way, and only connects one wire to the positive side of the solenoid. That is fine, and before you ask, yes, I did put it back in to see if that was my issue, no luck. All the lights come on, and everything seems normal, but the start button won't start the bike...no click, no whir, no nada. I have tried 3 different solenoids, no go. When I cross the solenoid points the starter works. I have power at the button. It registers 1, then jumps to 2 or 3 when pressed and back to 1 when released. Everything appears in order. Any suggestions?

Does your bike have some type of lockout switch, maybe on the clutch or kickstand? I think if these were not operating then it can give you the problem you have.

OKC_Kent wrote:

Does your bike have some type of lockout switch, maybe on the clutch or kickstand? I think if these were not operating then it can give you the problem you have.

Good call,Kent.
Maybe the clutch safety-switch wires didn't get connected...

Typical Kawasaki design for starter solenoid control (small wires) is:


Positive signal: Battery to fuse box, fuse box to key switch, keyswitch to Kill switch, Kill switch to Start switch, from start switch to solenoid.

Negative signal: Ground to Neutral switch to clutch switch, clutch switch to (option, starter relay) to Solenoid.

Eliminate the safety (clutch / neutral) by supplying a ground to the solenoid (yellow / black?). MAKE Sure its out of gear!!! Does this work (will is start with the switch)? No?

No luck with running a negative from the solenoid. I tied off the side stand kill switch long ago. I'm gonna go through one of the connectors and see if thats the deal. Its the red one which holds the power wires. How can I identify the clutch safety-switch. I was not aware of its presence.

Sweet Back wrote:

How can I identify the clutch safety-switch. I was not aware of its presence.

I just checked the cross-reference for the part number,and it was used on the 78-80 police models.(part number 27043-002).It was used on a LOT of other KZ models,but only those "P" models.
Look at your clutch perch,and see if it has any wiring coming out of it.Inside the perch itself,is a switch.Where it connects to your harness(under the tank somewhere),I'm unsure of.If you DO have that switch on your bike and it ISN'T connected to the harness,that will keep the engine from turning over,as it's tied into your start-button.
Here's a pic of that switch...(#10)

Clutch swith is bypassed by applying a ground to the black yellow wire at the solenoid.


MAKE SURE YOUR in Neutral.

Time to get nervy,

Reconnect the negative side of your starter solenoid. Supply a positive to the SMALL red/orange wire at the solenoid. Go in steps. MAKE SURE YOUR in Neutral. Put key in ignition and turn it on, bike SHOULDN'T START cranking yet. Pull in the clutch, bike SHOULD NOW START cranking!!! If the bike did not crank, you have a failed solenoid coil or poor connection. If it did crank, you have a problem in the positive circuit, see previous post.

I do not have a red/orange wire at the solenoid. If you are basing this off of a nother kz model please let me know which one so I can compare and find the equivalent wire on my bike.

I went up to the dealer who sold me the bike to compare my wiring with other police bikes. Its all he sells. I discovered that I had an extra "pulser", as the manual calls it. I thought maybe that was the issue so I removed it, reconnected as seen on the other bikes, and no go. I'm gonna check for a break in the swithch wire. It worked prior to switching the harness. Its my only place to go now.



Did have one more question.
My starter, prior to switching the harness, would try to start the bike...then roll over to an awful grinding sound. It would happen once or twice, and then the bike would start. Is this indicative of something specific? Haven't searched the forum yet but thought I'd throw it in here. Thanks again.

Read up on starter clutch.

There should be two small wires on the starter solenoid. One is fed a positive, the other a negative. With the key on and the kill switch in the run position, one of the two wires should show battery voltage with respect to ground. Is this not the case?

Your starter issue may be cause by a bad main ground to your battery.

Wow... lots to wade through in this thread. Sweetback. If you starter is verified by hot jumping across the solenoid, then the problem is the TRIGGER source from your starter button. First, you said, quote: It registers 1, then jumps to 2 or 3 when pressed and back to 1 when released. unquote

This isn't good or right if you were measuring DC voltage. At the IN to the start button from the kill switch is the small BLACK wire. It should read 12VDC or something in that neighborhood. Coming off the start button is yet another BLACK wire that goes down and connects into the main harness either by going through the main connector that connects the right switchgear OR a separate black wire. This wire then is soldered onto the side of the solenoid. Check to see if you have 12VDC with the key on, the kill switch on and the start button pushed at the connector where the start button wire goes back into the main harness on its way back.

As far as an interlock switch, there is one on your bike in the left clutch lever. It is a loop that carries power from the kill switch over to the clutch kill switch and back out to the start button. If this loop or the switch is buggered, then you won't get voltage at the button. You can hotwire the switch by just removing the IN and OUT black wires and tying them together rather than go through the switch. These switches are not very reliable when old. Kind of like me bwhahahaha

By the way, if the guy can jump his solenoid and have the starter turn over, he doesn't have a bad ground. I would also check the power to the coils alongwith the hot trigger to the solenoid since they follow a very similar path.

AH! King George...always a pleasure.
Some weird things happening.

First, I have 2 wires at the starter button, red and black. I checked both with the kill switch on and the start button pushed. Almost no reading. I also checked the red wire at the coils, no reading. I checked the black wire soldered on the back of the solenoid. No reading. Battery is charged. and the post on the solenoid which connects to the positive battery post is of course, showing the same voltage as the battery. I switched solenoids, same readings. These were all taken with the kill switch on and the start button pushed. Fuses appear good, they are new. All my lights are working.

I have some gas, and a match. please help before I use em. aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh