'80 GS450 left hand control housing

[Leftie]

Re: Charging System

It's your choice, but what would you do if charging system failed on one of those rides one hour from home base? Once you have no charging output, you have less than an hour of ride. Are you new to this riding stuff?

I've been riding since 1972, actually. I'm in poor health, and never get more then 30 minutes away from home anymore. I know my limits, and the limits of the bike, and would probably spot a failing battery in time to stop and call for a friend with little jumper cables. ;-) What if I replaced the usual suspects in the charging system, and one of the new parts failed when I was 35 minutes from home? Having taken 360 mile trips on old bikes when I was young, I feel ok with taking a 25 mile ride with a full battery and a charging system that is always working when I leave.

Anyway, to get back to the switch cluster. Assuming it really does run under the tank, is there anything I should know about removing said tank on this bike? The "shop" manual I have is one of those worthless things that tells you how to R&R a part like this:

* Remove part.

* Inspect and clean or replace part.

* Reverse steps for removal to reinstall part.

[Leftie]

I checked the wiring route again this evening. The cluster is dangling off the handlebar, so it was pretty easy to pull on one end of the wiring cable while holding other sections. Unless the gods are playing with me, it does run into the bottom of the headlight housing. Maybe it runs back under the tank from there, but I suspect that the models with no headlight on-off switch may have a different harness. I'll probably be trying to R&R it this weekend, so I'll report back when I know.

[tom203]

"....is there anything I should know about removing said tank on this bike? "

tank removal is is easy,just disconnect fuel and vacuum line to petcock (and wiring to fuel sender if you have one). Remove mounting bolt(s) and pull tank back and off. Good time to inspect/clean wiring to ignition coils too.

[Leftie]

OK, I started to replace the switch unit today. As usual, there is a snag. The cable does indeed run into the headlight bucket, which has more connections in it than a singles bar on Friday night. However, this year/model/region version, with no headlight switch, doesn't use the big white 12 pin connector. It uses a nearly square blue plug connector with a few wires (forgot to count them), a similar white one with a few more, and single yellow wire with a bullet connector. It looks very similar to the one described early in this thread, but not exactly the same. I took several photos and will post them another time. Meanwhile, I have two obvious questions:

* Does anyone have the actual unit I need?

* Does anyone want to buy the one I can't easily use? It's in good shape apart from the cable insulation being open for about 8" (it looks like it may have been uncovered to look at the wire colors). I'll take $35 shipped.

[tom203]

Does this eBay unit look similar to the wiring on your unit? Does your old unit have a choke lever.?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1987-Suzuki-GS-450-L-Left-Handle-Bar-Control-Switch-/361077268463?fits=Make%3ASuzuki%7CModel%3AGS450L&hash=item5411e1dfef&vxp=mtr

[Leftie]

The message threading on this site is strange. It changes. Anyway, no choke level on my handlebars - it's on the carbs. The Ebay unit has the large white connector, and the wire colors don't completely match mine, so a simple splice wouldn't be at all simple. Has anyone tried one of those $9 Chinese units?

[Leftie]

Does this eBay unit look similar to the wiring on your unit? Does your old unit have a choke lever.?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1987-Suzuki-...e1dfef&vxp=mtr

No the blue connector is similar, but mine has no choke lever on it, and it has a second, white connector, plus a yellow wire with a bullet connector. Of course, some of this may have been done by a previous owner, but the routing into the light looks OEM. I'm probably, since all I need is a new horn button anyway, going to get a very small universal horn button and drill out the old button hole (the original fell apart), installing it in that space. Then I'll sell the unit I bought.

[Leftie]

In case anyone is wondering how this tale ended, I bought a mini stainless steel button, designed to mount easily in drilled holes, from Ebay, removed the remnants of the old horn button, cut the corner of the circuit board inside the switch off where the horn contacts were, and mounted the new switch in that space, using the original hole, a stainless steel washer, and a split washer on the inside, sealing the lock nut threads with super glue. I soldered the new switch wires to the old horn wires (green and black w/white stripe) inside the switch and, after swearing at how "fun" it is to reassemble these sliding switch assemblies, I now have a new button in the old housing. Easy as baking a pie from scratch...

[tom203]

Super glue sure is handy stuff! Good job, is that SS button insulated from the 12v positive?

[Leftie]

Super glue sure is handy stuff! Good job, is that SS button insulated from the 12v positive?

Yes, there are two separate insulated wires that exit the hollow mounting stud - no exposed contacts at all.