Dash lighting and gear indicator issues

[daclown]

I have an 83 CB650 and when I turn on the ignition switch, I get no lights or gear indicator lights or head light and the bike will not start.The tail light does come on. I checked all the fuses and connections and they all seem to be good. I checked voltage at the fuses and only got .23 volts, should I have 12+ volts here? Also are there any other things to check? Is it possible that only part of the ignition switch is bad and how can I check this if it is?  Thanks for you time and input.

[happycommuter]

Did you check that dogbone metal 'fusible link' 30A main fuse under the right side cover?

[daclown]

30A main fuse is good.

[Brittles]

Does your horn work?
Turn signals?
You say the bike won't start. Does the engine turn over?

[daclown]

No Horn, turn signals etc. and the start button doesn't work, so I don't know if the engine will turn over. The problem has happened before, but with a little wiggling of wires all lights, start button and other functions would come back until now. I thought it was just a loose connection but I have checked all connections and they are all good as far as I can tell.

[Brittles]

The problem has happened before, but with a little wiggling of wires all lights, start button and other functions would come back until now.

Sounds like something is beyond wiggling.

I'd try disconnecting the ignition switch wiring coupler, clean, add dielectric grease, reinstall, and see what happens. This should be done on ALL connections as general maintainance on an old bike imo. Fuse boxes can cause problems as well. Wouldn't hurt to replace all the glass fuses with new ones after scuffing-up the metal contacts that they seat in.

[daclown]

Update: The previous owner must have had some electrical issues at one time, the ignition or at least the base contact had been replaced and the accessory wires plug had to be cut and spliced into the old plug. I opened the fuse panel to find the plug was melted to the web of contacts and must have created a poor connection. I got the plug free and cleaned it up, replaced the fuse panel and everything works fine.