no juice in the fridge cos my '83 650l wont start!

[Anonymous]

probably a typical electric problem, stator, etc. but i figured id throw this on here while i read on...

my bike (83 gs650l) has been starting fine since i got it a month+ ago(now has 36K+ miles). i went for a short trip yesterday with a friend (hour 1/2) down the highway, no troubles. after we got to our location we took a trip to a nearby strip mall and upon leaving my bike didnt wanna start. i popped it and got back to the house we were going to. thought how strange it was my ignition didnt work, considering the battery should be fully charged.
well ended up riding into the city to have the bike stall on houston and essex, an exetremely busy intersection. and not wanting to start. unless it was primed and choked. And with the idle set high-2000rpm
driving home the lights are dimming and then getting brighter, horn sometimes works and not. the ignition still doesnt. and at one point while riding, in fourth, the engine was sputtering as i lost electricity and rpms.

what should i do? after charging the battery???
the RR was replaced right after i got it......

if i get no reply i will take it as a hint to read this site for more info

[SqDancerLynn1]

First check and make sure the battery cables are tight . I have found that if you tighten then with a phillis screwdriver you don't get them tight enough. So use a socket, don't over do it! Charge the battery then check the voltage of the battery should be 12.6 fully charged
then check it at 5K rpm should be around 14.5

[Anonymous]

wishing i was riding

ill try that out tomorrow...
thanks

[Anonymous]

still nervous tho

im still concerned that its more than just connections, although the first thing i plan on doing is checking and cleaning them all.
?????

[Dave_A]

Re: still nervous tho

im still concerned that its more than just connections, although the first thing i plan on doing is checking and cleaning them all.
?????

Could be a short...

That happened to me once, I found out the hard way when my harness caught fire (That smell, that ozone smell... Smells like trouble...)... Fortunately, nothing burned but wires (and I learned how to jerry-rig a minimalist wiring harness (RR/coils/battery/ignitor))... All because of a short in my ignition circuit...

Look for shorts... Very important...

[Anonymous]

ignitor unit

Just to throw in an idea, there could be a chance its your ignitor unit. Its rather difficult to establish for sure though. There are some checks you could do anyway (while you are at it) to check it out. In my case (a gs650 katana '84) it became more and more reluctant to start ...till eventually it wouldn't start. Considering we're all riding 'antiques' its worth bearing in mind that all the electrics are getting a bit old, and certainly bearing in mind suzukis electrical problems as is, old coils, old ignitor units, old HT leads etc add up to failure at one point.

[jimcor]

Might try cleaning the copper contacts in the fuse box, too. Take out the fuses and clean the metal ends also. Corrosion can cause some high resistance in the circuit. Check your frame ground connections (negative connections) for corrosion.