Lights, turn signals, gas gauge question 1981 GS750L

[markusarealuis]

Alright gentlemen and ladies,

Noobie here with 1981 GS750L. I am clipping along for my maiden voyage and everything is going great. She runs real smooth. She's nice and warm now running between 55-65 mph on the service road and then I notice a slight hiccup in fuel delivery (maybe). At the same time the fuel guage dives to empty and sits there. I get up to the next stop sign and put her in neutral and no neutral light. I put the blinker on and no blinker(s). I try both. She does seem to be running as smooth as before. I start thinking; I must have blown a fuse or something. Wrong; I get back to the house and all the lights begin working again and she doesn't seem to be sputtering anymore. Could this be a short somewhere? Or maybe not grounded good? Puzzling to me....any help would be greatly appreciated. BTW - my petcock has a slow leak and I have placed an order for a new one. I will also pull the breather box and change the air filter and check the seals around the intake.
Thanks,
Markus...

[JTGS850GL]

Since you have no history on this bike you may want to do some additional "preventive" maintinance. I would strongly encourage you to do a valve adjustment and a complete cleaning of the carbs. Trust me on this one... I just did a baseline on the valves of my new to me GS850 and found only 2 of the 8 valves within spec.

The electrical issues may very well be fuse related still but also may be connector related as well. Check each of the fuse connections to make sure they're clean and there's no melted conections in the fuse box. There are several connectors along the way and many of them are in the headlight bucket. I'd pull the headlight out and check that all the connectors inside are clean and tight.

[markusarealuis]

Since you have no history on this bike you may want to do some additional "preventive" maintinance. I would strongly encourage you to do a valve adjustment and a complete cleaning of the carbs. Trust me on this one... I just did a baseline on the valves of my new to me GS850 and found only 2 of the 8 valves within spec.

The electrical issues may very well be fuse related still but also may be connector related as well. Check each of the fuse connections to make sure they're clean and there's no melted conections in the fuse box. There are several connectors along the way and many of them are in the headlight bucket. I'd pull the headlight out and check that all the connectors inside are clean and tight.

Thank you for the comments. I do plan on doing a valve adjust and carb clean. I do not think this is the problem with the lights/guages not working. Your suggestions on the fuse connection very well could be the issue.

Also, I must confess I recently took the Vetter fairing off and replaced it with the stock parts. I am thinking I left something disconnected while fighting with the stock "rats nest" wiring. In addition, the headlight plug was not reusable. I connected the three wires directly to the headlight male ends. I wonder if this haphazard connection might be a source of the problem? Not sure how the headlight connection would affect the other guages though? I will check the fuse connections tonight and take her for another test spin - need to burn that full gas tank out before the petcock gets here. I will then take the carbs off when I do the petcock install.

Thanks,
mark

[JTGS850GL]

I just added the comments on the valves and carbs since you seemed to be working on some PM (aka the petcock) and didn't mention anything else.

Good luck with the electrical issue. Hope it turns out to be something easy. My guess is it's in the headlight bucket since that's where all the connections are and is common to all the items that aren't working. Don't leave out the possibility of a ground issue as well. Those can drive you nuts.

[markusarealuis]

I just added the comments on the valves and carbs since you seemed to be working on some PM (aka the petcock) and didn't mention anything else.

Good luck with the electrical issue. Hope it turns out to be something easy. My guess is it's in the headlight bucket since that's where all the connections are and is common to all the items that aren't working. Don't leave out the possibility of a ground issue as well. Those can drive you nuts.

JT,

You were right last night I took it for a spin and it did it again. I pulled the side cover off and the PO had wrapped each fuse in aluminum foil (very thick). I subsequently removed the foil and pulled each fuse and cleaned the connections. However, when I did this two of the brass clips were broken. I now need to either upgrade to a new blade type fuse box or source the stock replacement.

Anyways, thank you very very much for the help and I am sure I will be on here pestering you again soon. For sure when I do the valve adjustment.
Thanks,
Mark

[JTGS850GL]

You've got to love what POs will do and you end up inheriting it. Glad you were able to find the source of the problem. There are many very knowledgeable people on this board. I’m relatively new here as well.