bike dies with lights - help

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I prefer the four position style switch, since they allow you to start the bike with the taillight off.

As someone else suggested try hotwiring the lights to the battery with the bike running. If it stays running its probably a bad ignition swtch. If you connect the wires that connect to the lights position on the switch to the negative battery terminal after the bike is running, its a pretty conclusive test.
 
suspect the ignition switch, It is a Lucas product and now you know what the prince of darkness means.

You said the engine dies, does the head light and tail light come on?

can you use the flasher switch to test the head light?

If it was a dead short you would melt wires some where.

Dennis
 
Rohan said:
Have you tried the multimeter probing on the back of the switch, to see that power is actually being switched to the headlamp.
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I am away from home but when I get back I will test the switch as you suggest. I suspect it might be the switch, and that's a better place to start before going through all the wiring. Thanks.
 
If you opened the headlight shell to do any rewiring, you may have gotten a wire crossed when you stuffed the wires back in. I drilled my headlight shell to mount an ammeter and had to black tape my light switch terminals and the ammeter connections to keep other connections from making contact when I stuffed the whole mess back in. I also taped any connectors that had any metal showing to make sure the whole rats nest of connections wouldn't make contact with anything it wasn't suposed to. Prior to taping everything, I had an issue of a shorted wire somewhere inside the headlight shell.
 
Rohan said:
Unfortunately, failing this, you are going to have to go through ALL the wiring connectors until you find the problem.
If it doesn't blow the fuse when doing this (?), at least its not the result of a dead short - a wire into a wrong connector somewhere.
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Not sure how you could know there isn't a short. Is there a fuse? Don't know from what was said by OP. It sounds like it's going to ground to me. Likely a miss connected wire somewhere in the circuit.
 
Frank and Dennis. Good thoughts. I think you may be right that there is a wire grounding out or mis-wired in the headlight. Do you have a good diagram of the wiring in the headlight. I have a color version of the original diagram for the bike, but as you know it is difficult to read.
 
Thanks to everyone for all your advice. I was pretty active on this site a few years ago but have been into my k1300s the last few years. It's great to know that the spirit of Norton bikes is alive and well here. I will do more testing and find the problem when I get back to my garage in a few days. Once resolved I will let you know what it was. Hopefully that will be helpful to others.
 
Roberts850 said:
Good thoughts. I think you may be right that there is a wire grounding out or mis-wired in the headlight.
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If it was a short, then the fuse would (or at least should) blow? If it didn't (often due to the wrong amp rated fuse) then the wire feeding the short should show signs of burning or overheating.
Also, the connections for ignition, left and right handlebar switch clusters etc. all terminate at the rubber block multi-way connector beneath the fuel tank, so under normal circumstances there are no actual ignition circuit wires or connections inside the headlamp shell.
 
There are lots of ways the wiring could short without causing burning or sparks. Without knowing how the bike is wired (not assuming anything including that it is wired stock), it's hard to really make a statement that a fuse should blow (maybe there isn't one) or that wires would burn. Maybe somehow the light circuit got connected to the ignition and is just shutting it off like a kill switch. OP needs to look at it. Don't forget to check the switch itself for an intermittent when in the light position...maybe just losing connection as other's have suggested.
 
dennisgb said:
There are lots of ways the wiring could short without causing burning or sparks.
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By definition, that isn't then a short ?
And isn't what Lucas electrix are famous for !

We can stick to known good science here, or make it up ourselves..... !?
 
Rohan said:
dennisgb said:
There are lots of ways the wiring could short without causing burning or sparks.
Click to expand...

By definition, that isn't then a short ?
And isn't what Lucas electrix are famous for !

We can stick to known good science here, or make it up ourselves..... !?
Click to expand...

Yeah your right...as usual. I as other's will just allow you to answer all the questions since you have the most knowledge on this board.
 
You are usually pretty reliable.

But if we just start making up the science, where will that go.
Heck, a whole board of hobots....
 
dennisgb said:
Maybe somehow the light circuit got connected to the ignition and is just shutting it off like a kill switch.
Click to expand...

If the bike had electronic ignition, then it's possible (unfortunately the question I asked previously about the type of ignition still remains unanswered) however, with points ignition I cannot think of a situation where the lighting circuit could potentially shut down the ignition.
 
Rohan said:
You are usually pretty reliable.

But if we just start making up the science, where will that go.
Heck, a whole board of hobots....
Click to expand...

Problem is you and other's have been considering a dead short...but how does the kill switch work? Do wires burn when you push it? This is not about science, it's about an intermittent or an break into the ignition...why do you want to play science with it? Seems to be moving far off track and that does not help the OP isolate the problem. I was only trying to help him figure it out. These kinds of problems can cause you to pull your hair out and off track comments just send you further into a hole. Not helpful at all.
 
L.A.B. said:
dennisgb said:
Maybe somehow the light circuit got connected to the ignition and is just shutting it off like a kill switch.
Click to expand...

If the bike had electronic ignition, then it's possible (unfortunately the question I asked previously about the type of ignition still remains unanswered) however, with points ignition I cannot think of a situation where the lighting circuit could potentially shut down the ignition.
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Making an assumption L.A.B which I hate to do...sorry.
 
dennisgb said:
Problem is you and other's have been considering a dead short...but how does the kill switch work? Do wires burn when you push it?
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No. It cuts (or interrupts) power - and only while you push it. (I think. Been a while since explored that)

By the sound of it, the switch for the OP here doesn't switch any power when its in the lights+ign position.

Norton ign switches are infamous for going awol if they have a heavy bunch of keys attached to the key.
The dangling weight dragging on the key plays havoc with the switch's insides...

If exploring electronics is your thing, Jean over on the 'other bikes' section is exploring how regulators work.
More detail than most could ever need....
 
dennisgb said:
Problem is you and other's have been considering a dead short...
Click to expand...

If you re-read my response to the comment about the fault possibly being caused by a wire "grounding out" (a short) then what I actually said is that scenario would seem unlikely as there had been no mention of fuses blowing or wires burning.
 
L.A.B. said:
dennisgb said:
Problem is you and other's have been considering a dead short...
Click to expand...

If you re-read my response to the comment about the fault possibly being caused by a wire "grounding out" (a short) then what I actually said is that scenario would seem unlikely as there had been no mention of fuses blowing or wires burning.
Click to expand...

I read that. My comment was not directed at you and should not have been an encompassing statement...my bad. I too steered away from a dead short because there was no mention of anything that might indicate that. I miss stated "short" in my comments because it was taken literally, which was not my intent. I was thinking ignition short...or intermittent because of the lack of any smoke, sparks, blown fuses and from what I understood the bike still ran in the normal ignition position. I think you were on the right track and we all are leaning towards a faulty switch...which makes the most sense.
 
Ok. Back home and in the garage. Checked and had a 35 amp US fuse on the bike. I'm a bad boy. Exchanged it for a 20 amp fuse. Checked all wires and there does not appear to be any melted. Ran the bike in the ignition only position for about 10 minutes and the turn signals, horn, and brake lights worked fine. As soon as I turned key to ignition + headlight, bike dies immediately. So, I'm betting it's not a short and putting my money on the ignition switch.
 
Roberts850 said:
Ran the bike in the ignition only position for about 10 minutes and the turn signals, horn, and brake lights worked fine. As soon as I turned key to ignition + headlight, bike dies immediately. So, I'm betting it's not a short and putting my money on the ignition switch.
Click to expand...

As a test, I suggest you temporarily connect the ignition switch white wire to the spare spade terminal at '1' (brown/blue) or, fit a jumper wire between those two switch terminals?

If that immediately cures the problem then it certainly points to the switch being the cause.

bike dies with lights - help
 
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