Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Rode my honda tonight for about 15 mins, parked it and was in a store for about 30 mins. Came out and didnt want to even give me a light. First I thought the battery had died but it was brand new, kick start didnt work, tried droping the clutch in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd but just didnt want to go. If anybody has any ideas let me know.

Blown fuse?

You need to find out why the power from the battery is not getting to the ignition system (or the lights). This assumes, of course, that there is power in the battery. Just because it's new doesn't guarantee that it's not the problem. If your charging system is malfunctioning, the bike's lights and ignition system could have drained the battery while you were riding.

A quick check with a voltmeter on the battery poles will tell you if there really is juice in the battery. It should read better than 12 volts. If it has discharged enough so that the lights don't light and the ignition doesn't fire, the reading will be much lower. If it's dead, it's time to start looking at the battery or the charging system. Do you have a shop manual for this bike?

If it turns out that the battery does have juice, then start looking at the connections between the battery and the rest of the electrical system (including fuses). Check for corrosion or broken wires. This is the most likely cause if the battery does have some power. It doesn't take much juice to get an old CB750 to kick start or push start. It sounds like you're getting no power at all.

Even if the battery is too low to kickstart, the oil light should still come on when you turn the key.
Check the fuses first for blown or shifted so the metal bits aren't making contact (eh, it happens, esp. when the wrong length fuses are in there). If it is a blown fuse, that's really more of a symptom than a problem.
Assuming the fuses are okay, look for broken wires. Check the black power wire on the key switch, battery connections, etc. and either trace the wires with a voltmeter or just shake different parts of the harness until the light flickers. The fact that the whole bike is dead would seem to indicate that it's something pretty close (circuit-wise) to the battery. Shouldn't be too tough to find.

i finished building a 76 cb750 a few months back. when i got it all finished and turned the key on for the first time i got nothing, no lights nothing. i tightened the ground wire that comes off the battery negative post. havent had a problem since. try and follow your ground wire from the battery and see if the connection on the other end is loose

thanks guys for the info, finally had a couple of hours to work on bike the other night. Here is a update, the battery is good, got the bike to turnover by touching a wrench to the selenoid. The plugs are not getting any spark. I still need to go over the wiring with a fine tooth comb. Hopefully i will know more after this weekend.

Got it up and going tonight, it was just a combination of bad wiring and being a 35 year old bike. THanks for the help. See you on the flip side.