620 - engine shuts off 1 block from house

[Privateer]

finally had time to look behind the headlight.






the bullet connectors looked kind of suspicious but they're just the brake light and the clutch switch.

there's one spot you can see on the steering head where the paint has worn off so I felt around that bundle of wires but everything seems intact.

Started up OK, bounced the handle bars quite a bit and wiggled back and forth, still idled.  jiggled all the wires I could move, some quite vigorously, but still idled.

I'm kind of at a loss.

any ideas?  Do I need to completely dismantle the wiring bundles (I don't know the right word) and inspect every wire now?

I was kind of hoping I'd get the headlight off and find something super obvious.

[DarkMonster620]

Look for the white connectors . . . sort of large . . .

Wire HARNESS is what you are trying to say, but, don't worry


BTW, did I sent you the link to the manual?

[Privateer]

Look for the white connectors . . . sort of large . . .

Wire HARNESS is what you are trying to say, but, don't worry


BTW, did I sent you the link to the manual?

I did, thank you.  work/family has been busy so I haven't had time to do anything.

I didn't see any overt white connectors, so it sounds like I should disassemble the headlight/gauges area as much as possible, slice open the wire harness and look for damage?

[DarkMonster620]

Ok, connectors could be white or black with 6 connectors and 4, IIRC . . .

Since your issue is WHEN you are moving, I am leaning very very hard to either a connection that has to do with "killing" engine such as:

1. Clutch lever engaged micro-switch
2. Side stand sensor or wiring
3. Kill switch wiring INSIDE rh switch . . 

As said, if it ONLY happens when riding . . . Check those circuits and IIRC you have already replaced the relays . . . Just for fun, can you spend a few bucks replacing ALL fuses? And the trying to go for a ride . .

[Privateer]

Ok, connectors could be white or black with 6 connectors and 4, IIRC . . .

Since your issue is WHEN you are moving, I am leaning very very hard to either a connection that has to do with "killing" engine such as:

1. Clutch lever engaged micro-switch
2. Side stand sensor or wiring
3. Kill switch wiring INSIDE rh switch . . 

As said, if it ONLY happens when riding . . . Check those circuits and IIRC you have already replaced the relays . . . Just for fun, can you spend a few bucks replacing ALL fuses? And the trying to go for a ride . .

the gauges not sweeping is what makes me think it's something beyond a kill signal...

[Privateer]

well initial dive into the switch gear, headlight, and gauge harness was fruitless.  nothing obvious so far.

[Privateer]

i thought I'd found something when I discovered this tear, but nothing inside looked wrong

[Privateer]

well I opened up the wire harnesses behind the headlight and found no faults.  I've replaced all the fuses as well as suggested above.  can't run it around the block right now, but I'll report later.

[Privateer]

oh, and note - when you don't have a standard gas cap and an almost full tank of gas, it's going to leak fuel when you prop the tank.

[koko64]

+1 on those tests. A paper clip to bypass the sidestand switch is an easy test. Close the circuit and tape it in. Same with the clutch switch test, you can paper clip it or tape it on. Were they covered previously? Be careful.

[ducpainter]

oh, and note - when you don't have a standard gas cap and an almost full tank of gas, it's going to leak fuel when you prop the tank.

They tend to let in a fair amount of water too...

not that it's a major concern for southern Californians from most reports.

[Privateer]

Interesting tidbit.  the pack of fuses I bought had a little 1-light idiot tester thing.  A few of the fuses I noticed gave very sporadic lights, while others were solid no matter what I did.  also noticed a few of the removed fuses, were kind of.. thin.. that is, differing thicknesses in different parts of the actual fuse section.

Hopeful, I started up today no problem.  idled for several minutes, no problem.
~20mph jaunt down my street and back with no problem.  back up the driveway, parked, adjusted chain, still idling.  all good.  helmet/gloves to run around the block. 

hit the bottom of my driveway and it konked out.


haven't tried bypassing anything yet.  the gauges not sweeping and blowing out the headlight doesn't seem to lend itself to the sidestand switch or the clutch switch.  I mean it could be, but the headlight seems like a weird by product of that.

buddy of mine commented on the rectifier.  I don't really think that's it either, but i suppose if it was some kind of intermittent failure it might act the way it is, completely shutting off power to *just* the engine?

I dunno, I'm kind of at a loss.  I keep expecting to find something obvious and just coming up blank every time. 

[koko64]

Yep, pull 'em out and take 'em to the auto parts store.

[Privateer]

Yep, pull 'em out and take 'em to the auto parts store.

if you're referring to the fuses I already replaced them all.

if you're not, I don't know what you're referring to.

[Privateer]

oh, also.  battery is ~4 years old, shorai.  I wouldn't think a bad battery would kill it while running.  I've had a dead battery before and this isn't behaving that way. 

rectifier and stator have about 30k miles on them.