Ignition issue

I helped my dad wire his trike, and he has a key switch on the dash and a run/off switch on the handle bar. I wired them in series so they both have to be on to start the trike.

The thing is, if you turn just the key to "off", the trike keeps running. If you turn just the handle bar switch to "off", it kills it as expected.

If you turn the key to "off", the engine wont start even with the handle bar switch to "run", so why would the engine keep running if you turn the key "off"?

Is the coil back-feeding somehow? It seems like the key being "off" would open the circuit just as well as the handle bar switch would...

Any help is appreciated.

Why not use the key to energize the starter circut and the on /off to shut off ignition instead of in series?

Well, the key is just a master switch that controls power to lighting, fuel pump, the coil etc. He prefers the starter and kill switch on the handle bar. I figured it would be a better fail safe if you could turn the key or the handle bar switch to off and kill the engine in an emergency. Everything works fine as it is, but we want the redundancy for killing the engine.

I thought maybe the key switch was not opening when turned to off, but if that were the case, the engine would start with it in the off position. That is why I suspect some sort of backfeeding.

why not wire the kill switch directly to the hot wire to the coil,. that way it has to shut off when the switch is thrown. should work.

It pretty much is like that. That's why I cannot figure out why the heck it keeps running when the key switch is turned off...

Here is how it is wired:

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v46/stockhatch/ignition-1.jpg[/IMG]

Look at the wiring on the starter solenoid - did you get the two small wires backwards (assuming your solenoid has two wires since some don't)? I won't comment on how to check the wiring there since a wrong touch could make the starter activate, or perhaps cause a dead short in a hot wire, but the running-on symptom could in some circumstances be attributable to wiring the two small wires opposite what they should be. Be careful in checking or refer to a book. :Computer:

I'll check it all out this weekend. Now that it is tagged it gets ridden quite a bit, so working on it is not as easy :D

When you get a chance, can you please provide a schematic of how it's wired showing the Ignition Switch, Kill Switch, Starter Button ?, Coil and Starter Relay ?

As Loner mentioned, it might be something with the Starter Relay wiring......might be by-passing the Ignition Switch but not the Kill Switch.

I will get it asap. This weekend maybe if dads schedule permits.