Thanks Kurt. I have the Clymer manual so will be taking a look at that for sure. I thought it was pretty amazing that I could start the bike by grounding the negative. I know so little about bikes I took it as a stroke of good luck that I could get it to start! I will definitely do a thorough inspection of the wire harness as I mentioned the previous owners did some "original' wiring. Gonna be a lot of learning and fun as it's my first bike.
I appreciate the advice and suggestions a ton. David On Tuesday, August 12, 2014 6:00:05 AM UTC-7, Kurt Nolte wrote: > > Allen continues his run of beating me to the punch with great advice. > > Look online for a service manual, if you don't already have one, and > become familiar with the wiring diagram. If the bike is currently started > by grounding a wire that's not in any way normal, and is a flag signaling > that you should make sure the rest of the harness is up to spec. > > Most of the work is purely visual checking, opening connectors to make > sure the contacts are in good shape, checking wires for open spots and > cracking. It's possible you'll find several other problems before you even > know they are problems! > > The other important thing while you're doing this is to inspect and clean > your ground points. Engine to frame, frame to battery, cluster and lighting > grounds; grounding problems are a huge source of electrical frustration > with older bikes, might as well tackle the bull while you already have him > down. > > We're here when you need more help, just drop a line. Allen will probably > beat me to it, but that's the way it works. > > -Kurt > > On Aug 12, 2014 7:35 AM, "Allen Thomas" <[email protected] <javascript:>> > wrote: > > > > I think what they meant was check the wire harness for cut wires, mouse > chewing, dirty corroded connectors, etc. > > > > Allen Thomas > > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. > > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send > an email to [email protected] <javascript:>. > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > <javascript:>. > > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers. > > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
