How to hot wire a 78 GS 1000?

[MAC10]

I am in the middle of diagnosing a non cranking 78 GS100 after a stator replacement. Stator was grounding on the corner of the starter through worn, now burned wires.

All the contacts look good in the starter button, and the motor. Bike won't crank. One suggestion is to try a hot wire by bridging a screwdriver across the starter solenoid positive and negative. I have done this many times on older trucks, but never on a bike. Advice is welcome.

[Agemax]

as easy as you say,bridge the 2 posts out on the solenoid. make sure the bike is in neutral.
oh and its not pos. and neg. one is a pos. feed from the battery, the other is a pos. feed to the starter motor

[Guest]

If I remember right you can also cross a couple of the wires coming from the ignition right at the connector is the easiest, the red and green ones I think but don't quote me on the colours

[koolaid_kid]

as easy as you say,bridge the 2 posts out on the solenoid. make sure the bike is in neutral.
oh and its not pos. and neg. one is a pos. feed from the battery, the other is a pos. feed to the starter motor

This is correct. All you are doing is bypassing the solenoid, and it can be done with the key OFF or ON. OFF proves the function of the starter motor, ON attempts to start the engine.

[MAC10]

Bridging the solenoid posts with key off, the starter motor doesn't move. Nothing with key on either. Does that indicate a bad starter?

I have a spare ready to go.

[Agemax]

take the cable off the solenoid post that comes from the battery and touch it on the other post with the cable that goes to the starter. that gives you a direct 12v feed to the starter. if it dont spin now, the starter is faulty.
make sure the battery is fully charged and grounded properly to the engine

[Steve]

Bridging the solenoid posts with key off, the starter motor doesn't move. Nothing with key on either. Does that indicate a bad starter?

No, it merely proves the starter is not working.

Why it's not working is still to be determined.

Could be a bad connection from the wire to the starter.
Could be a bad connection from the starter to the engine case (ground).
And finally, yeah, it could be a bad starter.

.

[chuck hahn]

Tap on the starter with a hammer and see what happens..it may just be stuck. Secondly, recheck that the connector gear under the cover isnt jammed and stopping the starter from cranking.