84 nighthawk won't start, dead silent

[dre]

i just changed the gear position switch today and i tried turning on my bike and nothing, no sound, nothing. lights are all fine though, headlight goes off when i press the starter button but i think that's normal. i put the battery on a tender jr. just to make sure it isn't the battery. i'll find out tomorrow morning. another weird thing is the indicator is blank in neutral, i switch to 1st and the indicator shows 4th!?!?!? i dunno. yes the kill switch is on, fuses look great... stumped, i dunno. any help would be awesome

[chromy]

i just changed the gear position switch today and i tried turning on my bike and nothing, no sound, nothing. lights are all fine though, headlight goes off when i press the starter button but i think that's normal. i put the battery on a tender jr. just to make sure it isn't the battery. i'll find out tomorrow morning. another weird thing is the indicator is blank in neutral, i switch to 1st and the indicator shows 4th!?!?!? i dunno. yes the kill switch is on, fuses look great... stumped, i dunno. any help would be awesome

Dre, I would do like you say...  Start with a fully charged and known good battery.  Local auto stores will load test them for free (fully charge it first).  I would also syart a new post in the electrical thread.  Good luck!

[ExTex]

Make sure  you are in neutral.  and pull in the clutch.  Try to start it.

The problem may not be associated with your work.

Most likely it is a start relay or starter problem.

But the engine may be locked up; put the bike is a high gear and try pushing the bike to make the engine turn over.
If it doesn't turn over, remove the sparkplugs and try again.  If it turns over, try the starter switch.

or
Try connecting around the start relay with a good conductor (large wire)

If that does nothing, then use a voltmeter or light bulb to insure that 12 volts is getting to the starter wire.

If so, then it may be a bad starter.


A bit of effort and you will be back to riding.

[Laminar]

http://www.nighthawk-forums.com/index.php/topic,7125.0