Can anyone tell me what this wire is??

[elv73]

As per the title im currently trying to rewire a 1996 xt600e that was previously stolen recovered and had no wiring loom when i bought it and have managed to make up one good loom from 2 old looms i sourced on ebay and now have pretty much everything connected up (I think!) except one wire! Its a black wire with a male bullet connector that runs from the loom along side the connector that goes to the starter relay and it seems to have nowhere to connect to??.

I have attached a pic with the wire circled in red.

Any help with this would be grately appreciated as ive spent the best part of a week trying to sort this out and am now stuck!!

[*Touring Ted*]

PM me your Email address and ill email you PDFs of the microfiches and the manuals.

I cant really see much from your photo. Its small and low res.

[elv73]

yeah sorry about the photo, it was taken on my phone as my wife had the camera in the car!

Ive sent you a PM with my email address. The loom im using is from a 2000 4PT model, (the bike is a '96 4PT which still used the 3TB engine) I have electrical diagrams for a 1995 3TB and i think the only difference between the two is the starter relay? but they dont appear to show a lone black wire (its actually black with silver 'flashes' on it?) anywhere??

Ive managed to open up the other old loom I was canibalising and found out that the wire is actually the earth wire that connects to the rear of the frame with a ring connector just next to the regulator/rectifier although I still have no idea where the end with the bullet connector is supposed to connect to?

[BlackDogZulu]

On the 1994 600 there is a black wire where you say, and it goes to the sidestand switch. Just a thought.

[elv73]

sidestand switch was my first thought but that is already connected so not that?! with it being connected to the frame at the other end it must be an eart for something but cant see what, will try to take a better picture in the morning and post it up to see if anyone recognises it

[elv73]

Thanks for the suggestions and help guys but ive now found out what the wire is!
After looking over the circuit diagrams again last night I noticed the solitary black wire that I must have missed when checking the diagram earlier (amazing what a couple of glasseds of wine can do!)

It appears that the wire is a secondary earth that goes directly to the battery and also has the front indicator earths spliced into it about halfway along the loom so just need to make up a connection to the battery and fix the snapped wire from the neutral switch that I also found last night and hopefully the XT thats been sitting in bits in my garage for almost a year might actually be running this weekend

[*Touring Ted*]

Originally Posted by elv73

hopefully the XT thats been sitting in bits in my garage for almost a year might actually be running this weekend

Gotta love that optimism

[elv73]

Ha ha, yeah ever the optomist!!

Wiring now all finished but the battery wont hold a charge so although it will turn over once or twice the battery then just dies, not really surprising though as the battery has been sat without a charge in a cold garage for the past year! Will order a new battery tonight

One thing i did notice is that I have no neutral light :confused1: does anyone know if this would be a faulty neutral switch (checked the bulb its ok) before i order one tonight or could there be any other reason reason?

[*Touring Ted*]

Check the nuetral light sender is connected. A little nipple connector by the gear changer shaft.

[elv73]

yep checked that as the blue neutral wire was snapped so have soldered in a new wire and all connections seem to be ok.

I have bypassed the clutch and sidestand switches so as a check i desoldered the wires for the clutch switch and the bike then wouldnt turn over which tells me that the bike thinks its in gear even when its not so wont start with the clutch 'out'.

Reading through some old posts it seems that this would indicate a faulty neutral switch so going to order one tonight and replace it, at least if that doesnt solve (really hope it does!)it its another possible cause eliminated.

[wolfzero]

Originally Posted by elv73

One thing i did notice is that I have no neutral light :confused1: does anyone know if this would be a faulty neutral switch (checked the bulb its ok) before i order one tonight or could there be any other reason reason?

remember the neutral light is negative switched so check the bulb has an ignition switched positive on one side then eliminate the neutral switch wiring by puting a good negative to the termination on the switch itself if it lights ok then its new switch time if not its continuity checking time on the wiring loom

[elv73]

Originally Posted by wolfzero

remember the neutral light is negative switched so check the bulb has an ignition switched positive on one side then eliminate the neutral switch wiring by puting a good negative to the termination on the switch itself if it lights ok then its new switch time if not its continuity checking time on the wiring loom

Thanks for that, didnt think about it being negative switched, will go and check that this morning. Fingers crossed that its just the switch!

[elv73]

Checked the switch as advised and thankfully looks like its definatly a knackered switch , switched live to the bulb is fine and once the switch was earthed the neutral light lit up on the dash so looks like a cheap fix and just need a new switch.

Also glad to say that i managed to get a fresh battery on this morning and with fingers crossed pulled out the choke and prodded the starter button and guess what...........it fired up first time!!

To say im chuffed would be a massive understatement. A couple of weeks ago I was going to sell the bike as a non runner as I thought it would be too much of job to sort out the wiring get it going again.

I bought the bike for the paltry sum £250 as a non runner last year (due to the fact that it had no wiring loom) as a project for the time my ZX7R was off the road over winter without really giving much thought to the amount of work required and although ive bought various bits for it in that time ive only just got round to really working on it in the last couple of weeks.

Its tatty cosmetically, the silencer has no baffles and I still need to source a replacement frame as the existing one has had the numbers removed by the insurance company as it was a stolen recovered and was damaged in the process so cant be put back on the road (been looking on ebay for the past year but still havent managed to find one!) but really happy now that I know it runs ok so will strip it all down now and clean and refurb everything and hopefully will be able to source a frame and get it registered to go back on the road again. Actually now thinking of making it a supermoto but no idea what wheels / forks etc I would need or how hard it is to do the conversion so off to trawl the forum for information!!

Thanks again for the help guys and thanks very much for the manuals Ed

Cheers
Lee

[*Touring Ted*]

So whats it cost you in total to get it running ???

What more to get it through at MOT ?

Or shouldnt I ask !!!!!!!!!!

[elv73]

So far to get it running has cost as follows (pretty much everything sourced from ebay):

Replacement air box and air filter as old one was damaged - £30

Wiring loom x2, both were bought with a degree of damage such as connectors missing / corroded wires etc so had to strip them both back and make one good loom from the pair - £60 total for both looms plus approx an extra £10 for heatshrink/solder/tape etc

Carb inlet rubbers £20

handle bar controls (kill switch, indicators, lights etc) - £25

Starter relay - £27

Oil, filter & spark plug - £33


In the end i managed to charge the battery ok. Charged it overnight in the house instead of the cold garage and it seems to be holding a charge ok so didnt need a new battery.

So, in total to get the bike to a stage where it now runs has cost a total of £205, plus the £250 purchase price brings it to a total of £455 so far.

However...its still a long way off being ready for an MOT yet, not least of all as it needs a new frame and I havent been able to source a frame with a V5 yet.

It also needs lights,(going to go for aftermarket parts rather than original Yam bits),indicators, new chain and sprockets, a silencer and the brake calipers completely overhauled so still a fair bit of work (and money!) to go yet but as i took a gamble in buying a non runner im really pleased now that ive at least got it to a stage where it runs so i know that the mechanicals are all fine and ive got the rest of the winter to hopefully source a frame and get the rest of the bits i need to get it roadworthy for sometime in the new year.

When I first bought the bike I had a budget in mind of £800 inc purchase price to get the bike roadworthy. Im not overly bothered about the cosmetics and am just going to paint the tank and plastics myself (satin black) so hopefully if I can eventually source a frame for a decent price then i should be able to come in somewhere around that mark. For the exhaust i'm considering just buying a cheap silencer from another bike and some flexi pipe and making up some brackets to make it fit (saw it done on another thread on here).

Im not after a show winning bike (although i do want it to look half decent), just a fun hack that i can sometimes do a bit of trail riding on as well as use during the winter while my ZX7R is tucked up in the garage and that if it gets dropped,scratched or dinged im not going to be too bothered about.

I know I could have probably bought a road worthy bike that didnt need much work for not much more than the finished cost of this one (or could I?) but I work offshore and do 4 weeks on and 4 weeks off and wanted a project that would give me something to do during the winter months when im not away at work and as the wife has a horse I have plenty of time to myself to tinker about with the bike during the day whilst she is at the stables.

So far ive really enjoyed getting stuck in and actually getting the bike to this stage so just have to hope that I can manage to source a frame now!!