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'09 TW No Power.. Bad Ignition?

3K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  hannibal-8 
#1 ·
Hey guys, Rode by Tdub to work yesterday. I took the long way home and rode it how I normally would. After parking it, and taking the key out, I left it sit overnight. I went to fire it up the next morning and nothing happened.

First I thought, "Oh great, time for a battery" So I checked the battery and that was not the issue. (Put out a solid 11v) Still skeptical of the battery, I threw in another one that I knew was perfectly sound.. Nothing. After determining that the issue doesn't lie in the battery, I checked the main fuse.. Not that either.

The Neutral light does not light up when the key is turned to the "on" position, so I began to troubleshoot the ignition mechanism. With a meter I determined that I am getting Power to the ignition (through a red wire), but nothing happens when it's turned to "on". No other wires get hot, just the original red one that is always hot. In my curiosity, I took the ignition barrel apart. Nothing seemed to be corroded, broken, or loose, so I put that back together. After reassembling the ignition, there is no definitive "click" from the off position to the on position. It's just a sloppy, analog dial now. I'm tempted to just purchase a new one instead of put this one back together for it to not work properly.

I guess my real question here is, Should I continue to fiddle with this Ignition or should I just Purchase a new one?

also: Has anyone had this issue? Could it be anything other than the Ignition Mechanism?
 
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#3 ·
Just happened to me yesterday. Getting ready for summer I charged the battery and put in fresh gas. Key on, green neutral light on. Took a while but started. Ran for 5 minutes and turned off to check tire pressure. Started again for 2 seconds and stopped. No neutral light with key on. No starter. No Horn. No nuthin. Checked battery - 12.7 volts. Check fuse - good. Tight connections all around. Turned key to on - no start but then I kick - started (2000 last of kick starters). It started and neutral light on. Lights on. Turn signals -yes. Hit the kill switch to off and bike turns off. But no neutral light and I key is still on. Repeated. Kick start and everything works. I dis notice at low idle the headlight and turn signals have a minor dimming. Battery?? Regulator? CDI ? Starter relay? Or is this going to be a kickstart only TW?
 
#4 ·
Haniball-8, welcome to the cruise

Electrickery is a funny thing – sometimes it won’t make it across a connection unless it has a “bit of uumphh” behind it. Clean and check your connectors, including the fuse. If you have a multi-meter, confirm continuity across the wires, not just the components

Although your battery is showing 12.7 (which is good, in theory), check it again the next day before starting the bike. The various lights dimming at idle is pretty normal, as the charging bit doesn’t come into play until you rev the thing a bit, but I would expect a freshly charged battery to take up the slack

The CDI (fortunately) takes its supply directly from the magneto assembly, so at least that part is “all good”. So, either your battery is not up to scratch, or you have a “reluctant” connector that needs full (rather than passive battery) power to jump the voltage across – could go either way (or even both) ……
 
#5 ·
Thanks for the quick response. I think I will start with a new battery. The current battery is 2-3 years old and heck why not. I will clean up everything connection wise. It has been a great bike with just 2 thousand dirt road miles on it. It makes me appreciate having a kickstarter as a back-up. If I ever got a new tw200 i think I would either add a kickstarter or carry one of those small capacitor(?) jump start modules in the tool kit.
 
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