I just bought an 87 1000f the other day. It started the day I bought it, Ive had it a couple days and havent taken much apart that I havent put back together. I repainted the exhaust system and put it back on today. I went to go start it and I got nothing. Two lights on the dash, the water temp needle goes sky high, but the engine wont turn over. Shouldnt I at least hear a clicking like when you turn a car key? Where should I start looking to diagnose the issue?

 

Play with the kill switch, make sure your in neutral (have a green light) when trying to start it, bike wont start in gear with side stand down

 

I don't think 87-88 doesn't have side stand switch...

 

Kill switch is a good start, mine is very temperamental. Flick it on and off a few times, while trying to start inbetween.

 

Is it a problem that I dont have a kill switch, just two spliced wires? I just ordered a new wiring harness, and I put the battery on charge. I did have the neutral light on, and if I flipped the brights switch and held the clutch in I would see a light on the dash indicating the brights were on, but the actual headlight wasnt on. If I still dont get anything, my fuse box looks a little crudy so I might replace that. After that, Im stumped. Thanks for the help anyway!

 

water temp needle goes sky high:is a direct short to earth.
sounds like the wiring is shot/all the connections need pulling and cleaning or renewing.
is the battery earth clean and secure?.
has the ignition switch been "modified" with a screwdriver?.
sounds like the bike was owned by an electrics wizard,lol.

 

yeah the more and more i look at it and try to figure out whats wrong the more and more i start to think whoever had it before me used it as a "miscellaneous nuts and bolts" bike. There are things missing everywhere. To name a few, theres only one bolt holding the radiator on, no bolts holding the gas tank on, there are a couple bolts missing from different covers on the engine, i found a total of four header nuts, stuff like that. Im starting to wonder if i should continue to try to make it a reliable bike, or to part it out.