Been on here a bit lately...
Bike started out with a really bad drain on the battery, so I replaced the stator, regulator/rectifier, and battery. No go. Next step was replacing the entire harness (used). I was under the impression the harness was off of a working bike, but it had issues of its own. with that, there was absoltely no power going to the bike, found out that was because the main fuse would pop every time I plugged in that main plug, or hooked up the battery. After replacing the rectifier again and the neutral safety switch, the fuse stopped blowing. Now the weird part:
The bike still has no power when I turn the key. BUT, wheter the key is in or not, when I push the starter button, it's like it completes a circuit, and all of the lights (besides the headlight) come on. As long as that button is held down, the solenoid can be jumped, and the bike will run, though there is no headlight, and it's not charging itself. I'm one step away from taking the hit and buying a brand new harness, this is that one step... any ideas?

*** IF IT HELPS*** Off of that main plug from the solenoid, theres 4 wires- yellow/red, green/red, red, and red/white. The yellow and green are good have power going through at all times. The red (ignition switch) and red/white (regulator) do not have power unless the bike is running

 

Having a wire harness off another bike and not knowing that bikes history can be troublesome. You may just bring those problems to your bike. Does this new harness have any breaks or splices in it ? Is it fully intact ?

 

As far as I (and a local shop) could find, there are no breaks in any wires. Suggestion from the shop was that a pin/wire may be in a different spot. The harness is off of a 1992 cbr600f2, mines a 1991. I dont see why there would be differences, but who knows...?

 

The wiring diagram for the 1991-94 F2's were identical. No pin changes between them. How are the connections to the Start Switch made ? Are they single wires that slip on similar to what you see on the Clutch Switch on the left Clip-On ?

According to the wiring diagram, the 30A main fuse supplies 12v to the Red wire and the Red/White wire all the time, whether the ignition switch is on or not. These are outputs or supply lines going to the rest of the bike. It sounds like you have the wires connected improperly.

The Green/Red wire goes to the Diode Pack and the Yellow/Red goes to the Start Switch. This (should be) is power coming from the Start Switch to the Start Relay Switch when starting the bike.

 

I can check connections again, but they should be right. Since the two wires should have power all the time, but dont, think it might be a bad solenoid?

 

Alright, so on a whim, i took that plug with the four wires and turned it around. This made it so the red and red/white were plugged into the spots that had power constantly, and the green and yellow were on the plugs that only had power while running. This made it so the starter button did not complete the circuit, and turning the key resulted in the proper behavior (and the headlight was back on). Pushing the starter button after this still did not start the bike, it just killed the headlight. I did also switch around the wires referred to (like the ones on the clutch side) and i didnt matter. I rode it, and it did fine. Didnt sputter under heavy acceleration as it did before, however, the battery still wasnt charging, and after shutting the bike off, it didn't have enough to crank again.

 

What plug with the 4 wires ? I wouldn't have thought that a plug would have been reversible. Most connectors with multiple wires are key'd so they only go together one way. Can you provide any photo's of the items you're describing ? Which wires are you saying that you switched around ?

Remember that we're not there to see what you're talking about. So, your words have to be our eyes. Try to be as specific as you can when describing something. It does sound though that we're making progress.

 

Theres a plug with 4 wires, the red, red/white, etc that plugs into the solenoid right by the main fuse. Of the four wires, 2 connectors have power constantly while the other 2 dont. As stated in a previous post on here, they should all have power all the time. Its just something I tried, also tried briefly taking some extra wire, running it straight from the positive terminal to the wires that had no power, which also worked. However, doing that created the same issue of the starter button completing the circuit. Ill try to get pictures at some point here

 

2 of the wires should have power because they're supposed to. The other 2 get power based on the operation of other components on the bike. It's generally not a good idea to connect a wire to from the + terminal on the battery and plug it into a connector. At least not unless you know exactly what you're doing. Plugging it into the wrong place could create a dead short of the battery and completely melt the wire you're holding onto.

It sounds like the wires are connected properly now, so what is the bike doing now ? What are your symptoms now ? What kind of shop couldn't tell that it was wired backwards ?

 

The bike is behaving properly when the key is turned (gauges, lights, etc come on). But, the starter button still does not start the bike, it just kills the headlight. Also, the charging system is still not working. I took it to an auto shop around the corner for my house. They were confident with wiring. Probably couldn't tell they were backwards for the same reason I couldn't: the plug was plugged in the correct direction. Not starting with the button is still throwing me though, thats why im wondering if the solenoid could be bad