My blinkers weren't working, so I wanted to troubleshoot the turn signal relay, to access the turn signal relay I removed and unplugged the starter solenoid (lots of corrosion in the harness). After I reinstalled the starter solenoid and reconnected the harness (after cleaning all terminals male and female side) I turned on the ignition switch and...Nothing, no power at all. The odometer didn't light up, horn didnt work, start button didn't work. I checked the main fuse, good, checked all fuses in fuse box, all good. Jumped the starter solenoid and the bike started with the ignition in the ON position, turned the ignition off and it killed the motor. Consulted with a mechanic he said get a new starter solenoid. So I did, and still got nothing when I turned on the ignition. Any ideas on what could be causing total loss of power to the bike like this?
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Total power Loss 2001 Shadow Spirit VT750DC
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TJ Admin Staff memberModeratorMember who has the rights to delete posts, and ban members form forum if they violate the rules.@BikerBob if theres a lot of corrosion, you need to start tracing all the leads and checking for broken wires, and corrosion. sorrosion leads to resistance which creates fires. you probably broke something when you removed the starter relay. start at the battery andc work your way through each circuit.
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@TJ thanks for the reply, I suppose the big challenge now will be cramming enough content on YouTube university on how to trace down broken wires until I'm confident enough to crack into this. Bolt on/bolt off stuff is more my level expertise at the moment, but it would seem I have no choice but to make an attempt, mechanics in my area won't work on a 2001. I'll let ya know how it goes.
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TJ Admin Staff memberModeratorMember who has the rights to delete posts, and ban members form forum if they violate the rules.
@BikerBob you may have already done this but, you may want to look for a smaller privately owned shop. The big box shops wont touch bikes older than 3 years. Its stupid. good luck sir!
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@TJ The bike is back running and here's the full story!
I'm in Michigan and found a shop called Nicks Powersports. They told me as far as they know they're the only shop in the state willing to touch bikes over 10yrs old! They also think it's stupid, but love the free advertising and new customers from getting referrals from so many shops around here. They're great guys, they walked me through some troubleshooting over the phone and spent a good 45min with me on a few separate calls. Based on our initial convo Nick felt I had enough skill to tackle it myself and didn't have room to bring any more bikes in this season, so he consulted with me for FREE! Just like you did on here! People like you guys have restored my bike, and some of my faith in humanity along with it. Thank you for your time and for the advice. I hope you don't mind that I shouted out Nicks here as well.
In the end it turned out to be two problems at once (three of you count the Chinese solenoid), my original solenoid wasn't sending power through, AND the ignition was failing to send power.
I ordered a used OEM solenoid and put it on, turned the key and STILL nothing?! I had one last idea which Nick was surprised to be the solution. We disconnected the ignition harness, jumped the wires and BOOM, power ON! I believe the cause on the ignition failing was my rookie mistake of spraying too much white lithium grease in there when my key was sticking, I only found out later I was supposed to be using dry graphite lube, a few shots of db electrical cleaner in the key hole for about 10-15 seconds each, and I tried plugging the harness back in, it worked. Couldn't be happier, I spent all day ripping thanks to the wisdom, knowledge and generosity of good people.
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TJ Admin Staff memberModeratorMember who has the rights to delete posts, and ban members form forum if they violate the rules.
@BikerBob what a great share man! nice work on the diagnoistics! Absolutely ok to give nicks a shoutout! You're welcome to start a thread where people share their go to repair shops locally! that would be a great resource for riders!
You're very welcome for the help and i hope you enjoy the heck out of that bike!!!
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