84 Big Red doesn't know when it is in neutral

[4 wheels?]

Hey guys. Joined a few days ago. I bought a 84 Big Red last Sunday. Got it running right with a new plug and some cleaning. I put in a new battery and the electric start works. I just put the battery in today. After riding over to a friends house(less than 1 mile on the trail) it didn't know it was in neutral when it clearly was. Ditto for reverse. Somehow I got it to work(dunno how though) and drove her home. In the driveway it didn't know neutral but it did know reverse which caused it to know neutral after I put it back to neutral. I am letting it sit know to cool off a bit to see if that will do anything. I home it isn't anything to serious, I have some nice used plastics coming in sometime this week for it. Thanks for any help.

[Twilight]

Guessing the clutch? What do you mean by "didnt know", please tell us more.

[peco250sx]

if you mean the light wont go on it could be its burnt out or its worn out wiring

[4 wheels?]

if you mean the light wont go on it could be its burnt out or its worn out wiring

Both of the lights worked after I let it cool down.

By didn't know I meant that neutral and reverse lights by the keyswitch. I could rev it in neutral and the neutral light wouldn't come on. When it cooled down some it dod come back on when I checked it. This means because it doesn't know it is in neutral, I can't use electric start.

[atctim]

Check you battery terminal connections - check your ground - check all you connections.

[cybrman]

Definitely sounds like a wiring issue. Check the terminals on the bottom of the clutch cover, they tend to get mud and dirt in them.

[4 wheels?]

I was looking at the wires in the headlight and keyswitch. Looked good but pushed all of them in nice and snug. Seems like that did something. Will post back if it continues.

[firehart]

Welcome to the best group on the Internet!

[4 wheels?]

I made sure all front wires are snugged in the headlight/keyswitch. It still continues. I checked battery and other connections. Seemed fine but I will go through again. Where are the clutch cover terminals? I looked but didn't see anything that might them.

[Dirtcrasher]

There are terminals somewhere on that machine that when you shift to either neutral or reverse, they complete a circuit to ground and allow the light to come on.

If you find and clean terminals and that works - you got lucky.

It's better if you grab the book and a multimeter and understand how it all works - then it won't be a mystery to ya :D

Those 2 bulbs PROBABLY (guessing here) are hot all the time, meaning 12V is always present from one lead to the battery ground - easy check. The other wire does not complete a circuit to ground or have continuity until in the motor something slides and allows those switches to make a ground.

Make any sense to you??

[4 wheels?]

I have found the terminals and cleaned them. Didn't help but I did find out why it isn't working right. There was a loose wire coming from the fuse near the battery. Works fine. Must be the bumps on the trails loosen it when I went over them.


Those 2 bulbs PROBABLY (guessing here) are hot all the time, meaning 12V is always present from one lead to the battery ground - easy check. The other wire does not complete a circuit to ground or have continuity until in the motor something slides and allows those switches to make a ground.

Make any sense to you??
Yeah I understand that. Thanks for the help and everyone else who had anything to say.