Neutral light stays on in all gears '73 SL70

gasketdave

gasketdave

New Member
Hi Group,

I'm working on a 1973 SL70 and the neutral light stays on all the time in any gear. could it be the switch in the left case near the front chain sprocket. I've never replaced on, does it just pull out or is there a trick to removing it. Thought I'd ask before making a mistake.

Thanks Dave
 
6

69ST

Well-Known Member
The neutral switch is removable, the moving contact is inside the cases, on the end of the shift drum. That said, I'd break out the continuity tester and check switch operation first, before considering anything else. The neutral light switch merely makes and breaks a ground connection, i.e. it's a switched ground; the (+) feed is separate & independent of the switch assembly. These things rarely fail. Seriously, I can count the number of failures I've seen, over the last 2 decades, on one hand...and have 5 fingers left for further counting.

You've probably got a short, to ground, on the switch lead, might even be misconnected to the wire harness. Unplug the neutral light switch, at the engine lead, connect your continuity tester, then shift the trans into & out of neutral. If you see continuity broken when shifted out of neutral, the switch assembly is working properly; breath a sigh of relief and look further downstream. OTOH, if you see continuity and that never changes, regardless of gear position, time to pull the switch and look for a short. If none is found, it'll be time to decide whether, or not, it's worth splitting the cases to replace the moving contact.
 
gasketdave

gasketdave

New Member
Thanks for the help. racerx you nailed it. The wires are crossed in the 4 wire connector coming from the engine, alternator. Neutral light works perfect now.
I'm getting close, pretty much gas tank decals and a little "debugging"
Dave
 

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gasketdave

gasketdave

New Member
Thanks,
I got this bike as a basket case. The positive being all the red parts were painted. I did everything else, as always a fun project

Dave
 
6

69ST

Well-Known Member
Having the body & paintwork done is a great help, even though the body & paintwork on this model is a cakewalk compared to a CT70 of the same era. I still see a LOT of skilled labor that's been well-executed. All of that brightwork...aluminum & chrome...labor-intensive stuff that's not easy to do right. I also wonder how many people understand the amount of resources & work go into restoring spoked, chrome-plated, wheels. Then there's the frame that had to be painted, fasteners, cables, zinc-plated parts, electrical stuff, bracketry, speedometer, misc hardware (levers, springs & the like) the seat and...last but certainly not least...that engine & attendant parts, that all look top-notch.

Headstart with the red parts notwithstanding, take a bow for doing what was still a lot of beautiful work on everything else...80-85% of the total project.
 
gasketdave

gasketdave

New Member
Thanks, very nice of you to say. I have restored a number of the small Honda's, reliving my youth I guess. Its a great hobby and I really enjoy doing the work. I started on this one over Labor day weekend and for the first time I did my best to track my time. It looks like I'm going to be at a conservative 80 hours.
racerx as you say there is so much stuff that requires attention and now I know just how time consuming it all is
It's all good, thanks for all your help on this site
 
cjpayne

cjpayne

Well-Known Member
Great lookin SL70.
I had an SL70 in my tween years. My brother beat the crap outta that thing before I even got it.lol.
 
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