just died and wont restart

[DestructaBOT]

Sorry to have to resort to using this forum twice in the same day for help... While riding my 96 katana 600 I turned a corner and the bike shut itself off and wont be turned back on. Theres no turning over or anything, its as though there were nothing happening by pressing the starter button. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
-Jason

[SUPA-FLY-KAT]

YOU PROBABLY OVERCHARGED THE BIKE , AND BLEW A FUSE. CHECK THE "MAIN" FUSE , ITS THE BIGGER FUSES, PROB. LOCATED NEAR THE CDI BOX.

[Teh_K]

My first idea is that the battery is dead, but I wouldn't think it would cause it to die while running. It could, however, explain why it won't turn over.

2nd idea is that some connection to/from the battery/fuse box broke or disconnected somehow.

Anything beyond this is too mechanical for me :P

[The CyberPoet]

Did you check the gas tank?

Possible reasons:
1. Low on fuel. Just happened to coincide with the turn.
2. The vacuum line from carb #4 to the petcock came off. This will starve the bike for fuel.
3. Blown fuse.
4. Bad wiring insulation; when going through the turn, a wire ground out, causing the bike to stall.
5. Bad connectivity at the CDI, coils or signal generator. Turning the corner loosened it. If you dropped the bike in the turn (or elsewhere), you may have also done damage to the signal generator or the wiring to it.
6. Sidestand safety switch disengaged.
7. Rust in the gas tank, carried into the carbs and subsequently clogged the carbs up in the turn.

Things to remember:
The bike quitting may have had nothing to do with the turn other than coincidental timing.
Always try the following - bike in Neutral, sidestand up, clutch in, fuel quantity known good, fuel selector switch in PRIME (temporarily), then hit the starter. If it doesn't start in this configuration, then report back with those details.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[Black_peter]

This happened to me..
Check this:
Wiggle the wires as they enter the key switch.
My ignition switch loosened up so the plate that holds the wires wasn't making contact with the
'jumpers" attached to the key part..
I added a piece of foam under the plate to increase the contact. The switch disassembles pretty easily
you can try to clean it up as well.

[DestructaBOT]

If it had something to do with the gas or the carbs wouldn't it still try to turn over. I'm getting nothing at all. No turning over, no clicking... just dead silence mixed with the sounds of me sobbing.

[Mojoe]

it has nothing to do with gas or carbs cuz you are right...it would still at least turn over. you have a short somewhere, or the main fuse is blown. Check that like Supa said. if it was coils, cdi or signal genorator, it would at least still turn over I do believe....just no fire. You can rule out the coils, wires leading to the coils, plug wires and plugs. don't waste your time checking those cuz if a coil went, it would not die right away.....it would still be runnin on 2 cylinders until it stalled....and it would still at least turn over.

[DestructaBOT]

Ok, so after much looking and prodding I found out that the ignition fuse was blown. After replacing it... and blowing it again, I'm stumped, (but that's not saying much because I know diddley-squat about motorcycles right now and don't have any money to pick up a manual until the 15th). Every time I put a new fuse in it blows as soon as I turn the ignition to "on". SUPA-FLY-KAT threw out the idea that I had over-charged my bike... what is that? The battery wasn't connected all the way when I got it, my friend had said that when his battery on his car wasn't tightened down all the way the altenator was over-charging the battery which in turn kept on blowing fuses. Any thoughts or things for me to check out? As always you have all been so helpful. -Jason

[Anonymous]

Are you running stock lighting? I don't think you can 'over-charge' your battery...I would suspect shorting somewhere near your 'on' switch as it happened when you were turning right aka more friction or wrenching on the right grip maybe cause something to happen inside the on switch.

[DestructaBOT]

I was actually turning left and as far as I can tell its stock lighting, (no integrators or fancy tack-on lights).

[The CyberPoet]

3. Blown fuse.
4. Bad wiring insulation; when going through the turn, a wire ground out, causing the bike to stall.

Ok, so after much looking and prodding I found out that the ignition fuse was blown. After replacing it... and blowing it again, I'm stumped, (but that's not saying much because I know diddley-squat about motorcycles right now and don't have any money to pick up a manual until the 15th). Every time I put a new fuse in it blows as soon as I turn the ignition to "on". SUPA-FLY-KAT threw out the idea that I had over-charged my bike... what is that? The battery wasn't connected all the way when I got it, my friend had said that when his battery on his car wasn't tightened down all the way the altenator was over-charging the battery which in turn kept on blowing fuses. Any thoughts or things for me to check out? As always you have all been so helpful. -Jason

See items #3 and #4 above. This is definitely the case.

An overcharged battery (applies only to motorcycles not using an maintenance free battery) is another way of saying "charged without paying attention to the battery's water levels -- which boiled off". But that isn't what's causing the fuel to fail. Somewhere between your wiring you've got a fault, and it'll be a bit hard to track down most of the time. This should help you (see items #1 & #4 on the page):
CyberPoet's "Motorcycle Electrical Diagnosis Page" at MotorcycleAnchor.com, offering permanent hearing protection for just $6!

Cheers
=-= the CyberPoet

[DestructaBOT]

Is there any way to narrow down where the short might be by which fuse keeps blowing? Because like I said before its the ignition fuse that keeps blowing. I'm not sure if thats how it works, though.

-Jason

[The CyberPoet]

Is there any way to narrow down where the short might be by which fuse keeps blowing? Because like I said before its the ignition fuse that keeps blowing. I'm not sure if thats how it works, though.

-Jason

Pull all your other fuses and then see if it does it. Add on fuse back in at a time and retest. Whenever it goes, it's that system's wiring that failed. My guess is (based on your symptoms and descriptions) that it's the primary wires to and from the key switch, probably somewhere around where it meets the frame beside the headstock, since that is an area that sees a lot of flexing over the lifetime of the bike.

Good Luck!
=-= The CyberPoet

[DestructaBOT]

So I've been pulling the bike apart and checking all the connections that I could... I found some wires that were electrical taped together and when i pulled this off I found one wire spliced into two. It is in a group of wires coming from the main wire cluster and going into the starter/kill switch button. Also, does anyone know where I can find a .pdf wiring scematic?

[DestructaBOT]

found out a little more about this splice... The single wire is coming from the main wire cluster and then the two ends are going to the choke/lights and the other one is going to the starter/kill