runs great, stall when letting go of starter button???

[lbebusiness]

Please help, I just bought a 1998 600 katana yesterday. not running. I fixed everything I saw that was wrong (he had let mud collect in the spark plug socket area!!) and got the bike to run under odd conditions:

When i start the bike it runs fine (no gas tank on I use starter fluid and it actually runs on it like gas for minutes at a time(as long as I hold the starter button) but the catch is I have to hold the starter button to keep it running. As soon as I let go I might get 2-3 more sparks but thats it.

The guy cut wires and was attempting I believe to fix the lights, I have taken most of his light wiring out, and removed all light bulbs, and the two fuses for the headlights to eliminate the light wiring mess as the problem



There are blown fuses everywhere (for the lights)
There was a blown 15amp fuse for the starter relay (should be 30, i replaced) that he just wrapped wire around to keep it from blowing (idiot)

The clutch switch is weird so he wrapped wire around the contacts. I just took apart the switch and manually moved the switch to the on postion

The bike is in neutral, side kick down. clutch switch on, kill switch is on (like so the bike runs, on)

also the starter button was lost and replaced with another push type, and of course he getto wired that as well. I have checked the wiring and it was done right.

I've been running continuity checks all over this thing, I unconnected the alternator, the battery (running of 2/40/200 amp starter) (I start the bike on 40 amp and works fine, have gone up to 200 to see if it would stay on when letting go of switch) took off all lights.

help?!?!

[kevin2502000]

It sounds like you are on the right track. Seems as if once you let go of the starter button it is grounding out the ignition. If it is that hacked up I would find another good wire harness and replace.

[airforceranger49]

when you say your running off starter fluid, what do you mean? are you spraying starter fluid straight into the airbox? have you tried running it on fuel at all? starter fluid is cool to start it with, but really isnt consistent enough to keep the a/f mixture right to keep it running.... also, be careful on how long you run that starter for... if you run it more then around 20 seconds, you run the possibility of burning it up

[kevin2502000]

Oooh missed that part about not having on a proper fuel source. Start there and then proceed to the wire harness.

[lbebusiness]

to let everyone know I spray the starer fluid into the gas intake (where it would get it from the tank) and if I hold the starter button down it WILL stay on as long as I keep feeding the spray into the line. (I understand the issue with burning out the starter clutch will try not to do it anymore)

It has to be a short, but I dont seem to find it. only the lights were spliced up.

I just bought a gallon of gas for the thing but the lines are cold and hard to press over the little ports.

Really the harness isnt "hacked" up. Just the part with the lights near the back. I disabled EVERY light but the dash. Promise.

Help?

So basically the bike works. But only while holding the starter button.
I have a service manual but its a haynes. It has diagrams for all the colored wires and where they go, and from what I can tell everything is fine.

Oh, I have a white cable that comes off my gas tank... its cut... where does it go? I dont see where it could go, maybe thats where the grounding is (some other spliced wires)?

[kevin2502000]

Please help, I just bought a 1998 600 katana yesterday. not running. I fixed everything I saw that was wrong (he had let mud collect in the spark plug socket area!!) and got the bike to run under odd conditions:

When i start the bike it runs fine (no gas tank on I use starter fluid and it actually runs on it like gas for minutes at a time(as long as I hold the starter button) but the catch is I have to hold the starter button to keep it running. As soon as I let go I might get 2-3 more sparks but thats it.

The guy cut wires and was attempting I believe to fix the lights, I have taken most of his light wiring out, and removed all light bulbs, and the two fuses for the headlights to eliminate the light wiring mess as the problem



There are blown fuses everywhere (for the lights)
There was a blown 15amp fuse for the starter relay (should be 30, i replaced) that he just wrapped wire around to keep it from blowing (idiot)

The clutch switch is weird so he wrapped wire around the contacts. I just took apart the switch and manually moved the switch to the on postion

The bike is in neutral, side kick down. clutch switch on, kill switch is on (like so the bike runs, on)

also the starter button was lost and replaced with another push type, and of course he getto wired that as well. I have checked the wiring and it was done right.

I've been running continuity checks all over this thing, I unconnected the alternator, the battery (running of 2/40/200 amp starter) (I start the bike on 40 amp and works fine, have gone up to 200 to see if it would stay on when letting go of switch) took off all lights.

help?!?!

Pay ALOT of attention to that, it sounds as though that is the source of your problem.

[airforceranger49]

to let everyone know I spray the starer fluid into the gas intake (where it would get it from the tank) and if I hold the starter button down it WILL stay on as long as I keep feeding the spray into the line. (I understand the issue with burning out the starter clutch will try not to do it anymore)

It has to be a short, but I dont seem to find it. only the lights were spliced up.

I just bought a gallon of gas for the thing but the lines are cold and hard to press over the little ports.

Really the harness isnt "hacked" up. Just the part with the lights near the back. I disabled EVERY light but the dash. Promise.

Help?

So basically the bike works. But only while holding the starter button.
I have a service manual but its a haynes. It has diagrams for all the colored wires and where they go, and from what I can tell everything is fine.

Oh, I have a white cable that comes off my gas tank... its cut... where does it go? I dont see where it could go, maybe thats where the grounding is (some other spliced wires)?

how cold is there? try running it with full choke on actual fuel... there only thing in the wiring harness that would cause it to not run, is the fuel shut off solenoid... but if that were wired wrong, then it wouldn't even start with the starter going... all your other safety circuits (clutch switch, nuetral switch) keep the starter from engaging, so if those were wired wrong, it wouldnt start.... i really think not running fuel is the problem bro

[lbebusiness]

And I just got it running on regular brand new fresh gas. Same problem. and my choke is loose, im not able to do anything with it but move the choke by the engine by hand. it only moves like 1/4 inch.

about the clutch switch, the bike is in neutral and all I did was move a selector on the inside of the handle, the handle moves this selector from and on to off motion. All I did was take the loose handle off (wasnt moving the switch all the way) and clicked it over to on.

When I turn on the shut off switch my rpm gauge goes up to 7k rpm and stays there!!!!! When I start the bike the rpm gauge works fine. When I let go of the starter button the rpm gauge goes down with the engine speed, when the engine stops moving it bounces up to 7 rpm and bounces around a bit for about 10 seconds!!!

And tried running it playing with the choke, nothing keeps it alive, all it does is rev up the rpms.

[kevin2502000]

Definitely a short then with the tach doing that. CHeck the engine kill switch again.

[airforceranger49]

it most likely is your kill switch then... check that

[lbebusiness]

I've checked it again... the black and orange wire isnt messed with at all. the orange and white is split by what looks like a STOCK splitter. The service manual shows the starter and the kill switch sharing the orange and white.... there is a connector in the back though, it loops two wires back into it self, but it had to be done stock as well. there is no way someone did that. and I think that the engine speed sensor (the tach wire to be exact, is looped into the orange) stock...

I dont know... im going to take off the engine sensors. see if it stays on.

the rpm gauged stayed on!!! wthell

now i got something to cry about ;P
lol

[kevin2502000]

The tach should run off the cdi box I believe, therefore shouldn't move until there is power to the plugs through the cdi.

[lbebusiness]

Cdi? what is the full name?

[kevin2502000]

capacitor discharge ignition aka, brain box, ignition module

[lbebusiness]

how much you wanna bet the ()*&^)(*& solenoid is bad!! (or just stuck)

Im going to either A: unstuck said solenoid, or B: run jumper wires out, so when the bike starts by starter I then "manually" connect the solenoid and see if that fixes said problem. If thats it then I can replace the cdi...

wait.. depends on how much it costs. I dont mind being the brains of my own bike!!!