Yamaha-Not Working

[Ryder29]

Update: I poked at things with a multi-meter. I found that the voltage between the battery terminals was around 12.5. It was about the same at the fusebox and the starter relay. But it read around 0.7 at the end of the cable where the sparks go. Is this normal?

Also, at the cut-off switch, it gave me normal readings...except at where the cable from the fusebox connects to the back of the starter button. it was covered in rust.

I also got my hands on some brand new fuses, but still can't get the center console to light up.

Any ideas?? By the way, thanks again for all this advice. Appreciate it.

[seruzawa]

Your electrical connections must be clean and free of corrosion. Otherwise you will get low voltages, phantom grounds and all sorts of weird feedback. Trust me on this. I spent enough years as an electrician as well as on dozens of motorcycles to learn this lesson. You most likely have a ground and/or open where there isn't supposed to be one. You're going to have to inspect the entire wiring harness. Clean all connections and corrosion off all terminals. Unplug all the connectors and plug them back in several times. You can get some spray contact cleaner at Radio Shaft.

[Kenneth_Moore]

Originally Posted by Ryder29

Update: I poked at things with a multi-meter. I found that the voltage between the battery terminals was around 12.5. It was about the same at the fusebox and the starter relay. But it read around 0.7 at the end of the cable where the sparks go. Is this normal?

Also, at the cut-off switch, it gave me normal readings...except at where the cable from the fusebox connects to the back of the starter button. it was covered in rust.
.

There won't be voltage at the end of the sparking plug wires until the bike is turning over and/or running. Then there will be a heap o' voltage. It's easy to test sparking plugs and their wires; simply remove the plug, stick it into it's wire, and hold it against unpainted metal on the engine. Crank the bike and look for a bright blue spark. Yellow weak sparks are no good. Also, be sure to hold the plug with insulated pliers, or find a way to wedge it in place. You don't want to be the sparking plug wire test device, believe me.

Clean up the corrosion at all connections, or if there is extra wire, cut off the old connectors, strip back some fresh wire, and crimp in new connectors. Invest in a good set of strippers, the ones that grab the wire and pull the insulator off for you. They're worth their weight in gold. Or copper.

[The_AirHawk]

To remove the corrosion from the wire-terminal ends, find a quantity of warm saline-solution and immerse entire motorcycle in it for two days.

Remove motorcycle and disconnect each and every terminal, and apply a silicon-based die-electric grease liberally to each terminal.

Re-connect each wire to its proper terminal.

Discard Motorcycle.