No power to the ignition switch.

[Roy Sharp]

My GL1200 has no power to the ignition switch.

A little background. I’ve owned the bike, a 1984 Aspencade with 215000 on it, for a year and a half. It had suffered from a lack of maintenance before I bought it. It was very dirty, and the aluminum & chrome was pitted, dull and rusty. It had been fitted with a number of LED lights and some inventive wiring to some accessories. Most of the lights didn’t work, nor did the accessories. But it has been reasonably trouble free. I’ve run it about 10,000 Km and all I had to replace were the plugs and the battery. But it was using coolant and smoking a fair bit, so I decided to do the heads. All new valve seats and new exhaust valves, and reground intake valves. While it was down, I removed all the LED’s and most of the accessories. I took off the fairing to clean the frame and inside the fairing. When everything was back together, I had no power to the ignition switch. Trying this and that, I found that if I ran a wire from the + battery terminal to the + terminal at the front of the fuse box, everything lit up. The bike wouldn’t crank over, but with a boost, it will fire and run. It seems to run perfect for long periods, but eventually, it pops the 15 amp accessory fuse. I have chased wiring all over this thing and can't find a loose wire or a bad ground. I’m not saying there isn’t one or the other, but I can’t find it. I have checked all the fuses I can find, and they are all fine. I’ve never been good with electrics, so this is really baffling me. On the upside, the motor runs smooth and sweet, and that’s what I started out to do. Anyone have any ideas?

[wingandaprayer]

Hi Roy - you know I really am going to write a book "Classic Gold Wing Electrics For Dummies, From the Point of View of The Dummie..." after all I had to ask twice how to make the two connections to the alternator when I did my conversion...

Just trying to cheer you up...

Someone with real knowledge will respond I'm sure...

[bs175dths]

My GL1200 has no power to the ignition switch.

A little background. I’ve owned the bike, a 1984 Aspencade with 215000 on it, for a year and a half. It had suffered from a lack of maintenance before I bought it. It was very dirty, and the aluminum & chrome was pitted, dull and rusty. It had been fitted with a number of LED lights and some inventive wiring to some accessories. Most of the lights didn’t work, nor did the accessories. But it has been reasonably trouble free. I’ve run it about 10,000 Km and all I had to replace were the plugs and the battery. But it was using coolant and smoking a fair bit, so I decided to do the heads. All new valve seats and new exhaust valves, and reground intake valves. While it was down, I removed all the LED’s and most of the accessories. I took off the fairing to clean the frame and inside the fairing. When everything was back together, I had no power to the ignition switch. Trying this and that, I found that if I ran a wire from the + battery terminal to the + terminal at the front of the fuse box, everything lit up. The bike wouldn’t crank over, but with a boost, it will fire and run. It seems to run perfect for long periods, but eventually, it pops the 15 amp accessory fuse. I have chased wiring all over this thing and can't find a loose wire or a bad ground. I’m not saying there isn’t one or the other, but I can’t find it. I have checked all the fuses I can find, and they are all fine. I’ve never been good with electrics, so this is really baffling me. On the upside, the motor runs smooth and sweet, and that’s what I started out to do. Anyone have any ideas?

There are several things to consider:
your battery must be fully charged and in good working condition or you will be chasing your tail trying to troubleshoot. You should measure 12.5V at the battery, if any less, put the battery on a trickle charge and get it as close to 12.5V as possible. Once there, get a hydrometer and measure the specific gravity of the fluid in each cell. Each cell should be in the 75-100% area. Any less than that is an indication your battery is getting tired. Replace it!
I don't have a schematic for the 84 Aspencade, but the Standard and the Interstate Accessory fuse is showing 10A. An 85 Aspencade schematic is showing 5A fuse for the Accessory circuit, so you may want to look into that.

These bikes originally came with a 'dog bone' shaped fuse integrated into the starter solenoid which at this and other sites, it is recommended the dog bone be changed to a blade style fuse. See if your solenoid has this dog bone. If it does, search this site for the solution. If your solenoid does not have the dog bone, look for the fuse. I have seen where owners have replaced the dog bone with a piece of wire!
According to the schematic, power from the battery goes through the aformentioned 30A dog bone to a red/white wire, to the ignition switch. Check that wire for continuity.

Use caution when using a jumper wire to get things to work. This should only be done as a matter of fact finding and NOT as a solution or permanent fix.

Given the state of the bike when you originally brought her home is an indication of sloppy and careless maintenance. The electrical should be closely inspected and repaired accordingly.

-Ride On

[neoracer]

really sounds like thedogbone fuse has blown,the solenoid connector isn't hooked up or the gnition switch has gone bad or disconnected

a bad ground cable can also cause problems

[Roy Sharp]

Thanks, guys, for your input. I have checked the battery voltage, and it is good. I will try to find a hygrometer to check the S/G. The dogbone is visually OK, and checks out with the meter. I might try to R & R it to make sure it isn't corroded on the ends. I'll also recheck the schematic on the fuse size, but the legend on the cover states 15 A. I will try to follow that red & white wire to verify its OK. The jumper wire is stop gap so I can check things out. It is by no means being considered as a permanent fix. Yet. Thanks again. This thing really has me baffled. And it runs so nice now that I just want to get on it and ride forever. I will post any progress that I may have.
Ride safe everyone. (Wish I could)

[bs175dths]

Thanks, guys, for your input. I have checked the battery voltage, and it is good. I will try to find a hygrometer to check the S/G. The dogbone is visually OK, and checks out with the meter. I might try to R & R it to make sure it isn't corroded on the ends. I'll also recheck the schematic on the fuse size, but the legend on the cover states 15 A. I will try to follow that red & white wire to verify its OK. The jumper wire is stop gap so I can check things out. It is by no means being considered as a permanent fix. Yet. Thanks again. This thing really has me baffled. And it runs so nice now that I just want to get on it and ride forever. I will post any progress that I may have.
Ride safe everyone. (Wish I could)

When I R/R my dog bone, it looked good. I even had a spare. When I put the screw driver to the screw and turned, the dogbone LITERALLY BECAME DUST!! The only solid parts were the eyelets for the screw, under the screw head. I couldn't find enough of the dogbone on the ground to preserve!
It is good you are going to check the specific gravity because that tells the real condition of your battery.
It is good to hear the jumper IS for testing only. So many folks will consider themselves done, ride, then get stranded somewhere, blaming the designers and not the 'fix'.
Fuse wise - we have all heard the horor stories about replacing a fuse with a larger one because the smaller one keeps blowing. Paper clips, foil, even a .22 has been used to replace a fuse. And my understanding is, the .22 became so hot, it did explode, and the lead was found in the passengers leg.
We just want to be safe out there.

Good Luck.

[Roy Sharp]

Well, the problem has had a favourable solution.

Wingandaprayer. Thanks for the cheer up. And you were right. Someone with real knowledge did respond. A few, actually.

Bs175dths. Thanks for your input. The battery tested good several ways, but I didn’t have a hydrometer, so I never got to check that. But the battery has been replaced. After the circuit fault was repaired, what we did was swap it out with Sir Tricky’s & the bike cranked right over. I now have a new Odyssey. I did recheck the fuse spec, and you were right, it was 10A. That’s been rectified. The dogbone is fine, but I am going to do the conversion.

Thanks Neoracer. We checked those wires and connections.

So in the end it was the patient and methodical working through the connections by our Goldwing Guru, Sir Tricky. His mastery with the schematic and his experience prevailed. The fault was a broken connector in the circuit mentioned by Neoracer. We were able to salvage a used connector from Sir Tricky’s vast stockpile of spare parts and the problem is solved. Many many thanks to Sir Tricky. I am in your debt.

Thanks everyone who responded! www.gl1200goldwings.com ROCKS!