Electrical Mystery

[sefu]

I've never seen this happen but here goes.
Bike is a 78 GS1000E, that has been sitting for about2 years. Thus PO burned up the battery and didn't mess with it again. But he must have run into another problem. Got the bike started and with a lot of gasping and missing it finally started to run smooth. When it happened.

I turned off the key and the bike kept running. Turned off the key and the bike kept running. Hit the kill switch and it went off. Turned the key off. Turn the key back on and hit the starter button and nothing happens. Nothing no lights, horn starter button nothing. Turn the key off again. Is the selinoid stuck, jump the selinoid, engine cranks. Turn on the key it fires up again. Turn it off with the key and off she goes. Ok, turn the key back on get a neutral light, Hit the starter button, she starts, get a puff of smoke from the fuse box area. main fuse is ok, but the connector is hot and melted the plastic and the solder so the wire jumps out the hole on the connector. Jump the maid fuse wires together, get lights and starter button works. Turn off the key and everything seems fine. Now I gotta reconstruct a new fuse box (wanna use the new blade type fuses) and I'm still wondering where this came from. BTW it's been sitting in not the best of conditions. damp, wet, leaky warehouse.

[Eli69]

try spraying contact cleaner and/or pb blaster into the key hole. ya probably should go through all the electrical connections and clean them. good luck, 1000e's are the best.

[themess]

For three weeks one summer, I had a job repairing pinball machines. At first I tried to be different, reading circuit diagrams to figure out exactly where the flaw lay in each machine.

It was a waste of time. When we changed out machines from bars, they were filthy. If an electrical connection still worked, it was usually close to failing. If a rubber bumper wasn't bad, it was close to bad. All that made sense was changing everything.

Your bike has been stored in conditions in which electroyltic corrosion could affect most, or all of the electrical connections. Bugs have been crawling through it. Dust has blown it. You need to take apart and clean everything in the electrical system. Just my opinion.

Post a message in the GS Owners forum to introduce yourself. Within a day or so, BassCliff will reply with his 'mega-welcome' that has all sorts of advice on bringing back to life GSes like yours.

[Steve]

Yep, sounds like a set of bad connections in the ignition switch assembly. Those years of storage in damp conditions sure did not help it.

There are several GSers in the Cincinnati area and I am close enough to Cincinnati, if you need help, holler, one of us is likely to hear. 8-[

.

[BassCliff]

Hey howdy hey!

Hi Mr. sefu,

I'm so glad to see another GS go to a good home. Please follow the suggestions here and clean every electrical connection in the entire wiring harness from head light bucket to tail light. Then run a dedicated ground wire from the regulator/rectifier to the negative terminal of the battery. Do not use a chassis ground for your r/r. This will take care of a major number of charging issues. An now, as foretold, here is the world's most dangerous mega-welcome! \\/

(Drum roll please....)

Let it be known that on this day you are cordially and formally welcomed to the GSR Forum as a Junior Member in good standing with all the rights and privileges thereof. Further let it be known that your good standing can be improved with pictures (not you, your bike)!

Perhaps you've already seen these, but I like to remind all the new members. In addition to the carb rebuild series, I recommend visiting the In The Garage section via the GSR Homepage and check out the Stator Papers. There's also a lot of great information in the Old Q&A section. I have some documentation on my little BikeCliff website to help get you familiar with doing routine maintenance tasks (note that it is 850G-specific but many tasks are common to all GS bikes). Other "user contributed" informational sites include those of Mr. bwringer, Mr. tfb and Mr. robertbarr.

And here are some edited quotes from one of our dear beloved gurus, Mr. bwringer, with ideas on basic needs (depending on initial condition), parts, and accessories.

***********Quoted from Mr. bwringer************
Carburetor maintenance:

Replace the intake boot o-rings, and possibly the intake boots. Here's the procedure:

http://bwringer.com/gs/intakeorings.html

Here's an overview of what happens with this particular problem:

http://cycleorings.com/intake.html

You'll also want to examine the boots between the carbs and the airbox. There's a good chance these are OK, but check them over.
And finally, if things still aren't exactly right, you'll want to order a set of o-rings for BS carbs from the GS owner's best friend, Robert Barr:
http://cycleorings.com
Once you receive these rare rings of delight, then you'll want to thoroughly clean and rebuild your carburetors. Here are step-by-step instructions that make this simple:

http://thegsresources.com/gs_carbrebuild.htm

***********************************
Every GS850 has (or had) a set of well-known issues that MUST be addressed before you have a solid baseline for further troubleshooting. It's a vintage bike, and it's quite common (as in, every single GS850 I have had contact with) that there are multiple problems that have crept up and slowly gotten worse over the years. It's not like a newer vehicle, where there's generally one problem at a time.

These common issues are:

1. Intake O-rings (install NEW OEM or Viton only - common nitrile O-rings will quickly deteriorate from heat)
2. Intake Boots (install NEW -- these cannot be repaired)
3. Valve clearances (more important than most people think)
4. Carb/airbox boots
5. Airbox sealing
6. Air filter sealing
7. Petcock (install a NEW one)
8. On '79 models, install new points or Dyna electronic ignition (or at least verify that the old points are working correctly)
9. On all models, it's fairly common to have problems with the spark plug caps. These are $3 or $4 each, and often worth replacing if you're keeping the stock coils/wires.
10. Stock exhaust with NO leaks or holes -- good seals at the head and at the junctions underneath.
***************************************
OEM Parts/Online Fiches:

I would definitely double and triple the recommendations to use Cycle Recycle II and Z1 Enterprises as much as possible. These guys are priceless resources. Z1 tends to have slightly better prices, CRC2 has a wider range of goodies available. If you're near Indy and can bring in an old part to match, CRC2 has a vast inventory of used parts.
http://denniskirk.com - Put in your bike model and see what they have.
http://oldbikebarn.com - seems to be slowly regaining a decent reputation, but it's still caveat emptor. They don't have anything you can't get elsewhere at a better price anyway.
http://www.babbittsonline.com/ - Decent parts prices. Spendy shipping. Don't give you part numbers at all. Useful cross-reference if you obtain a part number elsewhere. Efficient service.
http://bikebandit.com - Fastest. Middlin' prices. Uses their own parts numbering system to obfuscate price comparisons -- can be very confusing for large orders. Cheapest shipping, so total cost usually isn't too bad.
http://flatoutmotorcycles.com - Slow. Cheapest parts prices, crazy shipping costs. Don't expect progress updates or much communication. Real Suzuki part numbers.
http://alpha-sports.com - Exorbitant parts prices. Different type of fiche interface that's quite useful at times, especially with superceded part numbers. Real parts numbers. Shipping cost and speed unknown due to insane, unholy pricing.

Stainless Bolts, Viton o-rings, metric taps, dies, assorted hard-to-find supplies and materials, etc:

http://mcmaster.com - Fast, cheap shipping, good prices. No order minimum, but many items like bolts come in packs of 25 or 50. Excellent resource.
http://motorcycleseatcovers.com - Great quality, perfect fit (on original seat foam), and available for pretty much every bike ever made. Avoid the textured vinyl -- it's perforated.
http://newenough.com - You DO have riding gear, don't you? Great clearances, always outstanding prices and impeccable service.
***************End Quote**********************
Here are some extra links:

GSR Forum member Mr. duaneage has great used upgraded Honda regulator/rectifiers for our bikes. Send him a PM.
New electrical parts:
http://stores.ebay.com/RMSTATOR or http://www.rmstator.com/

http://www.ricksmotorsportelectrics.com/index.php

http://www.electrosport.com/

The Rice Paddy (salvage/used)
http://www.ricepaddymotorcycles.com
Ron Ayers Motorsports
http://www.ronayers.com
MR Cycles
http://www.mrcycles.com
If all else fails, try this:
http://www.used-motorcycle-parts.org/
Lots of good info/pictures here:
http://www.suzukicycles.org
http://www.cyclechaos.com/wiki/Motorcycle_Wiki

Thanks for joining us. Keep us informed of your progress. There's lots of good folk with good experience here.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
(The unofficial GSR greeter)