Nothing electrical works except horn

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mellis95 · #1 Unread post by **mellis95** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 7:47 am

2000 Yamaha V-Star 1100.....

I was a few miles from home last weekend after a 175 mile ride and I looked down and noticed that none of my electrical was working... digital odometer, speedometer, turn signals, headlamp, tail lights.... Nothing. The only thing that was working was the horn, and of course the engine was still running fine and getting spark, etc. I decided not to shut it off, for fear of not being able to start it again, so I continued home and was right, I couldn't get it restarted...

So... I finally had time to go tear into it this morning and can not find anything. When I got out there today I turned the key on and headlamp and odometer came on. Turn signals worked, etc. However, once I tried to turn it over I got a sparky sound coming from under the seat and then everything quit working again. I went through every electrical connector and fuse that I could find and none of them were blown or disconnnected. I searched for burned wires and found none, tested resitance on the Stator and tested the resistance on the pickup coil. All of this was withing range. The voltage on the battery was down to 10.10 volts, but I imagine that is just because of me messing with it for so long trying different things to get it to start without the alternator recharging it..

Any thoughts as to where I should go from here? I don't feel like it would be the starter, because it involves the rest of the electrical system... I don't think it would be the alternator because I could continue to ride after everything died, so it must have been charging the battery, right? If it was the ignition coil, it would only affect the starting and running of the engine, right?

Thank you in advance for the help.

Matt Ellis

Gadjet · #2 Unread post by **Gadjet** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 11:45 am

Bad ground connection perhaps?

#3 Unread post by **Sev** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 12:31 pm

Have you got a multimeter laying around?

If you heard a sparking, I agree with Gadjet, sounds like a loose ground.

mellis95 · #4 Unread post by **mellis95** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 1:13 pm

I tested for resistance between the battery terminal and the ground cable that comes off of the battery and read 0 on my multimeter. Is this a sufficient test of the ground? Or are there further tests that I can perform for that?

Thank you

Gadjet · #5 Unread post by **Gadjet** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 6:11 pm

you should have a couple of ground wires - there may be one connected to the top of the engine somewhere, usually around the top of the transmission, near the starter. Check to make sure that they are all clean and tight.