Smoking wires

[fastrip]

Greetings,
Well I started my 86 gs1150 for the first time an hour ago. Good thing the seat was not installed as in a short time there was smoke coming from the wires inside the large boot behind the battery. They appear to be all yellow wires in the bundle. One yellow wire had the connecter melted. It appears these connecters had been reworked before. The quality of the repair looks questionable.
Should I just rework the wires again matching colors? Or should I be looking for issues elsewhere?
It was last started November of last year. It ran the season without a bump.
I do have a Suzuki wiring diagram but it seems like I'm missing a page.
There has been a wire added from the + battery terminal to a green with blue tracer.

I would appreciate any help.
Fastrip

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Relax, you just need a bottle of this, available at your local O’Reiley’s.


Welcome to the wonderful world of vintage motorcycles and POs (previous owners) who like to fvk the next guy (you, in this case.)

You’re in the right place. But there are no simple answers to your problem, the possibilities are as vast as the POs brain was empty.

There are links in my signature that you’re going to need. Start with the top 10. Then visit BikeCliffs for service manual, wiring diagram, and a whole lot of other stuff you’ll need at some point. Do some research, then post questions you haven’t found answers for in the appropriate sub forum.

Go ahead a create a signature with, at least, your bike year and model. It’s in settings. Learn how to post pictures. We like pictures. I have a link for that, too.

So settle in, there’s a lot of smart cookies (I’m not one of them, I just know how to find info) on the forum who will help get you sorted, if you’re patient.

Big tip on using the site’s search function: In order to get any meaningful results, you must use advanced, and you must select Titles Only.

Welcome Aboard

[Maddevill]

If it's the 3 yellow wires, sounds like the plug between the stator and rectifier. They often build up a ton of resistance and start melting.

Mad

[tom203]

I blame mice!
sure wish I had that Lucas wiring harness restorer when I worked on foreign cars 50 years ago

[LAB3]

Follow those links in Rich's signature and ask questions from there. There's a good chance you can sort this out with some time and patience.

[Redman]

Yellow wires, three yellow wires would be from an aftermarket stator. If the connectors have any corrosion, that will be resistance, and current thru resistance is heat. Clean up the connections. Although the corrosion could be between the wire and the connector, requiring you to cut them off and crimp on new connectors... and that brings up an entire other conversation.

.

[Nessism]

It's the stator for sure, but the fix isn't as simple as just cleaning up the connections. Read read and read some more as Rich points out. When doing so you will come to learn how Suzuki botched the wiring scheme for the charging system on our GS's and the only proper fix it to bypass the factory harness entirely. Buying a SH775 R/R is also highly recommended. Continuing to use the stock shunt type R/R will put your charging system at risk regardless of what you do to the harness.

[LAB3]

It's the stator for sure, but the fix isn't as simple as just cleaning up the connections. Read read and read some more as Rich points out. When doing so you will come to learn how Suzuki botched the wiring scheme for the charging system on our GS's and the only proper fix it to bypass the factory harness entirely. Buying a SH775 R/R is also highly recommended. Continuing to use the stock shunt type R/R will put your charging system at risk regardless of what you do to the harness.

Here's what we KNOW. Someone has a bike that just had an electrical fire and it sounds like it has something to do with the stator wires, fair enough. We also KNOW that Suzuki's have charging system issues and how to best rectify them but we still haven't ruled out a bad connector or short yet. Don't know how many times I've seen people here willing to spend other peoples money to figure out a problem they don't have! "My bike doesn't have spark" then come the inevitable replies of "You need to replace it with a dyna ignition" Let's help people approach this methodically instead of coming off like a bunch of neurotic old ladies telling someone that a spot on their arm is cancerous. Work with what is KNOWN instead of what could be.

[Nessism]

Work with what is KNOWN instead of what could be.

What is KNOWN is that the Suzuki charging system wiring, which needlessly sends one leg of the stator power up to the hand control and then back down, tends to overheat. And when it does the entire wire harness up under the gas tank can melt down. This is fact, not supposition.

2nd thing that's KNOWN is that shunt R/R's fry stators in GS bikes.

Guys that are too cheap and/or lazy to fix their bike right can go on the merry way and roll the dice but countless GSR folks have seen the error of this way and take action before they get stranded somewhere. One towing bill will buy several SH775's so decide for yourself.