1986 Venture Royale, no power when ignition turned on

[Ashersleap]

To all,

I just picked up a new to me 1986 Venture Royale, with 50k on the clock.  I've gotten her home, and started to get her going.  Problem is, when the ingintion is turned on, I get no power to anything.  Here's what I've done:

1.  Got battery kicking again - Battery was pretty dry.  I'm going to replace it anyway, but the cells were dry to I topped them off with distilled water, and charged it over night.  Getting 12.5V across the battery, which should be enough to at least turn on some lights.

2.  Checked all fuses, and even check led the continuity across the fuses.  All good.

3.  Checked continuity on the proper wires from the main switch with the switch in ACC and ON, and am getting the expected continuity.

4.  Checked the connections to the main switch for corrosion and just making sure they're all connected.  All good.

I'm fairly stumped at this point.  It seems that so many of the wires go into the computer module after that, and now I'm thinking I might have a bad computer.  Does anyone have any thoughts?

The bike itself is in great shape, but it's sat for a while.  I'm going to bleed all the brakes, clutch, rebuild carbs, and clean the fuel tank.  She's never been down, except a tip over while parked that cracked some fairing plastics, but otherwise, it was well taken care of before being parked for about 7 years, with the occasional start.  Any help you all can give is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Pete

[luvmy40]

Did you check the Main Fuse? It's separate from the fuse block but still located at the battery. It's a screw mounted fusible link. On my '86, it's right up on top of the battery. On my '83 it was kind of buried beside the battery and hard to see. I had it blow on the '83 once at Freebird's MD get together when a bling light power feed got pinched in the steering stop. There should be a spare fuse in the connecting block. If not, there are similar fuses available at Auto Zone, Checker, etc. that fit with a little trimming. I think they are 30 amp, but I could be wrong on that.

[Ashersleap]

Yeah, I did check that one too.  No screw mount on mine, it's inside a rubber connector.  I also made sure that I made the connection properly, since it's a little uncertain.  Thank you for the thought though.  

[Marcarl]

On 7/18/2022 at 12:14 AM, Ashersleap said:

Yeah, I did check that one too.  No screw mount on mine, it's inside a rubber connector.  I also made sure that I made the connection properly, since it's a little uncertain.  Thank you for the thought though.  

Did you check power going into that fuse and coming back out?

Also, check battery voltage with the ignition turned on.

There are 2 red wires coming from the battery positive, follow the small on to find the main fuse.

[saddlebum]

On 7/18/2022 at 12:14 AM, Ashersleap said:

Yeah, I did check that one too.  No screw mount on mine, it's inside a rubber connector.  I also made sure that I made the connection properly, since it's a little uncertain.  Thank you for the thought though.  

There is still another fuse down the left side of the battery close to the starting relay. It's not like most fuses we are used to seeing. Its easier to see if you remove the left side radio and dash panel. The case is a black base with a clear cover which you remove from the base.and has 2 red 12 gauge wires connected to it with white connectors. The fuse itself is a thin blade mounted between 2 screws. In most cases in a little pocket to the side of the fuse within the same fuse holder you may find spare fuse blades which look like thin metal straps with a hole on each end.

Alternatively you could replace it with a maxi fuse and 10 guage pigtail as shown below.

Edited July 19, 2022 by saddlebum

[Pasta Burner]

3 hours ago, saddlebum said:

There is still another fuse down the left side of the battery close to the starting relay. It's not like most fuses we are used to seeing. Its easier to see if you remove the left side radio and dash panel. The case is a black base with a clear cover which you remove from the base.and has 2 red 12 gauge wires connected to it with white connectors. The fuse itself is a thin blade mounted between 2 screws. In most cases in a little pocket to the side of the fuse within the same fuse holder you may find spare fuse blades which look like thin metal straps with a hole on each end.

Alternatively you could replace it with a maxi fuse and 10 guage pigtail as shown below.

Thanks for this.  I’ve seen that fuse floating around in there but didn’t give it much thought.  I should inspect to make sure if it blows I can get back on the road

[Ashersleap]

Thanks for the info all, I'll dig around for that fuse and see if I can locate it.  I'll let you all know what the result is.

Pete

[skydoc_17]

Hey Pete,

Welcome to the Forum, and congrats on your "New To You" bike! Another issue I have seen is when the Starter Switch on the right side handlebar is shorted, or corroded. When you push the ignition switch, it turns off the lighting to give more cranking amps to the starter motor. If this switch is shorted, (contacts closed all the time) not only will the bike not start, but the lighting will be off as well. I suggest you open up this switch, clean the contacts, add a bit of contact grease, and close that switch back up. Another thing to check would be the Ground Cable that goes from the battery to the engine block. Remove the bolt at the engine block end of the cable, wire brush the cable end AND wire brush the mounting point where the bolt screws into the engine block. Corrosion and paint on the engine can reduce the conductivity of that cable. 

I hope this helps, and again, Welcome to the forum Pete!

Earl 

[Ashersleap]

To all,

 

Many thanks for all of your help and suggestions!  It did turn out to be the main fuse.  The blade was broken, but luckily there were two spares inside.  Once I replaced that, and the battery (I needed a new one anyway), all the lights came on, and they was able to crank it over.  I put the choke on, and even with the nasty old gas that was in the tank, it started up and ran.  

I haven't gone thrpugh the bike and changed all the fluids yet, so I didn't want to let it run too long...and it was also then that I noticed a ton of gas pouring out of the carbs.  No big deal there, I am going to rebuild the carbs anyway.  I'm excited though, because this brings me a lot closer than getting her back on the road.

Again, thanks for all the help, especially Pasta Burner.  More to come soon. 

Pete

[Pasta Burner]

18 hours ago, Ashersleap said:

To all,

 

Many thanks for all of your help and suggestions!  It did turn out to be the main fuse.  The blade was broken, but luckily there were two spares inside.  Once I replaced that, and the battery (I needed a new one anyway), all the lights came on, and they was able to crank it over.  I put the choke on, and even with the nasty old gas that was in the tank, it started up and ran.  

I haven't gone thrpugh the bike and changed all the fluids yet, so I didn't want to let it run too long...and it was also then that I noticed a ton of gas pouring out of the carbs.  No big deal there, I am going to rebuild the carbs anyway.  I'm excited though, because this brings me a lot closer than getting her back on the road.

Again, thanks for all the help, especially Pasta Burner.  More to come soon. 

Pete

I think you meant to thank saddlebum, but any praise is good I guess 😺

[Ashersleap]

You are correct, I read the wrong post before my thanks.  Thank you Saddlebum!

Pete

[saddlebum]

On 7/30/2022 at 7:16 PM, Ashersleap said:

You are correct, I read the wrong post before my thanks.  Thank you Saddlebum!

Pete

Your very welcome always feels good when your able to be of some assistance and improve someones day.

Good luck with the carbs. Chances are the needle seats are stuck open due to debris. Be careful how you remove the seats if you plan on reusing them because they are easily marked if you just try to use a straight punch. Some where I have a pic of how I remove them which I wiĺl post when I find it. One method I have used in the past is replace the needle with a few close fitting balls from a ball bearing and carefully placed a punch against the final ball and tap out the seat. Because the punch will be on an angle tap carefully.

Edited August 1, 2022 by saddlebum