QuestionAll the sudden with a charged battery, I checked, I turn the key to on and
none of the lights come on. Normally I start it with the electric start but now it
won't even kick start because I'm sure I'm not even getting spark. Battery is
charged, where should I start my trouble shooting? Thanks.
Answer
Blade fuse holder on C
It sounds like your main fuse has failed. The location of the main fuse should be in your shop manual, but if it's like my '80s Honda streetbikes it will be a flat metal link fuse under a cover on the side of the starter solenoid.
The original fuses become brittle after years of vibration &, well, just plain years. Some of them still have the original spare fuse inside the door that covers the fuse, but it will probably be brittle too. As far as I know, the only place to get replacements is at a Honda dealer.
Many of us have replaced the fuse link with a modern blade type fuse in a fuse holder. Blade replacements can be obtained just about anywhere, and I can guarantee that even the oldest ones are a lot newer than the original one(s) that came with your bike.
Just get a heavy duty pigtail type blade fuse holder, put a couple of small ring type lugs on the wires, & attach it with the screws that held the original fuse. You will need to cut away the ends of the door that covered the original fuse in order to close it.
Now just plug the correct fuse (usually something like 30A) into the holder and you are ready to go.
If you don't have a shop manual you should get one - your bike is an antique and you will have a hard time finding a shop that will work on it. The sad fact is that a lot of the mechanics working now are too young to remember bikes this old and aren't interested in learning about them so that they can do a proper job since yours may be the only one they see this year. This means that you will have to do most of your own work, and working on a bike without a good shop manual is just not worth the headaches. (My bikes are from the same era - that's why I fix them myself.)
I recommend that you get two manuals - a Factory Shop Manual and a Haynes or Clymer. That way when you don't understand the explanation in one you will probably figure it out when you have read the other too. If you spend some time on Google you might even find a factory manual available for free download.
