Topic: Bike won't turn on, what should I check?

[HondaMan]

Yeah it's gonna take some time to find this gremlin!

So everything was working after shorting the battery, then yesterday i turned it on, pressed the starter button, and everything went dark again. I thought "okay cool, that gives me a good place to start tracing wire." Well, in the meantime i tried the "hot wire" trick again, and everything lit back up except my tail light. For kicks i turned the key off and back on to see if everything worked still, and wouldn't ya know it, no lights came back on!

Feels like there is a ground somewhere not making good contact, the hard part is just finding it.

More often on these bikes, it is a Red (or Red-White) wire's plug somewhere. The Ground happens in at least 2 places, so this is seldom the trouble with a bug like this one.

[mrfish2]

When I tried your suggestion Hondaman with making a jumper to the black lead on the voltage regulator, what did it mean when no lights came on when I did that?

And also, the ground wire going from the battery to that rear engine mount is brand new, no reason to think it would be the culprit. The positive battery wire is still the original however, and from the years of sitting it does have just a bit corrosiveness on one end.

I'm gonna tinker with it some more today and see what I can find.

[Don R]

 Cleaning the battery cable connections on all ends is a good place to start. I've seen this before, a corroded connection will come and go. Sooner or later it will go again.

[mrfish2]

Well there's a good chance it was my battery ground cable. I disconnected from the end on the engine, wiped off all the dirt and grime, connected it back up and now everything is working again.

[Airborne 82nd]

Sounds like you have a short somewhere.

I think you are mixing up a short with a open

[HondaMan]

Well there's a good chance it was my battery ground cable. I disconnected from the end on the engine, wiped off all the dirt and grime, connected it back up and now everything is working again.

Many times these ground cables end up in the wrong place: it shuold be trapped between the engine and the frame. Most of the bikes have it connected to the top rear left of the engine, INSIDE the frame. The removal and installation requires retracting that long bolt, at least partway. Honda has made the frame(s) slightly wider at that point, specifically to fit the cable's wide lug. The reason: this contact both the frame AND engine at one site. If the ground is attached to, say, the outside of the frame on the top left rear side, then the engine must ground through the dirty bolt while the frame is lightly clamped to the engine: not a real good ground system.

[madmtnmotors]

the ground wire going from the battery to that rear engine mount is brand new, no reason to think it would be the culprit.

Well there's a good chance it was my battery ground cable. I disconnected from the end on the engine, wiped off all the dirt and grime, connected it back up and now everything is working again.

All the "dirt and grime" off of a "new cable"? How did a "new cable" get covered with "dirt and grime" so quickly?

[mrfish2]

All the "dirt and grime" off of a "new cable"? How did a "new cable" get covered with "dirt and grime" so quickly?

The cable wasn't dirty, it was the mounting bracket. From what I can tell the bracket is being hit by a little oil spray from the engine (yes, the engine sprays a little oil from the head gasket). That, coupled with I had forgotten to connect the engine breather hose back to the air box and it was pointing straight at the ground cable and bracket, made for just enough build-up to cause a problem.