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78 gs550 starter solenoid wires smoking need help bad

  • Thread starter Thread starter bamzam35
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bamzam35

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I'm looking for some help with my 78 gs 550 bought the bike for my wife to learn to ride and me to play on and a project to see how far I can take it. The guy I got it from said it lost spark and couldn't get it running as he new nothing about bikes . I found out one coil was bad that is it as far as I can tell but I put power to the ignition the other nite everything seemed good till the red wire on the starter solenoid started popping fuses so thought maybe bad conections so I cleaned them up used a jumper wire and seemed ok till I turned the kill Switch to run then bam the wire started to smoke so I killed power right away caught it soon enough but now I'm lost and need help bad checked wire diagram and it all looks right but who knows found wire diagram on Google so please help please
 
the red wire on the starter solenoid started popping fuses
Click to expand...

Little confused by this, how can a wire pop fuses?

then bam the wire started to smoke so I killed power right away
Click to expand...

The starter solenoid has three wires going to it: a thin one which comes from the starter button, and two thick red ones. One comes straight from the battery and one goes straight to the starter. Which one is smoking? Have you messed with the starter or solenoid at all since you got the bike? It sounds like some part of the high-current side is getting grounded to the frame or engine.
 
Bad news is that you got the bike from someone that knew nothing about bikes. Good news is you came to the right place.
Welcome to the site, you can go to a members webpage "Bikecliff", he has just about all the things you'll want to read.
http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/
You'll be able to see your service manual and wire diagrams. The previous owner may have crossed some wires somewhere. Is this a stock bike? Someone cut up caf? attempt. Too many people think they can start cutting and eliminating wires they think they don't need. Any chance of photos?
 
Ok guy tried making a bobber but didn't get far and there is two red wires coming from solenoid one Yellow and geen wire and a black one to starter the small red wire with a fues link in it is the one smoking I'll get a pic soon
 
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It could be that the solenoid is bad (or it's the wrong kind of solenoid) and is grounding the battery to the frame somehow. Unusual, but not beyond the realm of possibility.
 
That was what I was thinking any ideas on testing the solenoid
 
Ok after looking the big wire coming from battery has the small wire that is smoking conector to it at the solenoid and it looks to be factory I traced it and it connects to the regulator rectifier and y's off tho the ignition switch then there is a green and yellow wire that looks like it is the wire to trip the solenoid the red wire just seems to power stuff could it be faulty key switch may need to use test light and test it
 
It's not the starter solenoid as it doesn't receive power until the starter button is pressed. Turning the ignition on and turning on the kill switch will not even provide power to the starter solenoid. If that wire is burning up and no fuses are blowing then you have something really screwed with the wiring. How about some pictures of the wiring around the fuse box, around the starter solenoid and the coils that you "fixed". My guess is it's related to the coil fix as that's were this all started.
 
I just looked at a diagram for an '881 550L. Here is a link.

https://www.google.com/search?q=gs5...forum%2Findex.php%3Ftopic%3D58185.0;1490;1170

It looks like in the link I have here a 4 wire solenoid. One is a ground. I haven't seen one like that. Most are grounded by the mount to the frame. The power comes through the ignition switch through the starter button, kill switch, and then the clutch switch before heading to the solenoid. That is normal. You should not have the solenoid hooked to the R/R at all as far as I know.

to test the solenoid, turn off the ignition. Remove the yellow and green wire. Jump a piece of the wire from the positive side of the battery to the connection where the yellow/green wire was. If the engine turns over, the solenoid is good. You can jump it from the red wire from the battery as well to see if that wire is good.
 
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I think the smaller wire he is referring to is the the wire that feeds the main fuse (likely the only fuse on that bike), which then goes on to feed the rest of the bike.

If the wire is smoking without blowing the fuse, check the fuse. Some well-meaning (but ignorant) 'previous owners' will put in a larger fuse because they kept blowing all the smaller ones.

After you verify that you have a properly-sized fuse (15 amp?), check the connections on your new coil to make sure they are not grounding out on the frame. If they are OK, unplug the voltage regulator, which is the next most likely culprit.

.
 
Ok so I bypassed the wire went strait to solenoid from switch and boom wire got hot think it is either the key switch or solenoid and I havent put new coils on yet
 
If you went from the red wire on the solenoid to the ignition switch and the wire got hot when you turned the switch on, then you have a short after the switch. Most likely not the switch it self. Like I said, it's not the solenoid that's the problem. Disconnect your igniter and the R/R and see if the wire still gets hot. Look for melted connectors between the switch and everything else. Does the wire get hot when the kill switch is off?
 
Ok so I bypassed the wire went strait to solenoid from switch and boom wire got hot think it is either the key switch or solenoid and I havent put new coils on yet
 
Looked up wire diagram it looks to be wired right but keeps blowing fuses and if you bypass the fuse wire gets hot and still can't post pic my computer is down so doing this through my phone
 
Ok the wire only gets hot when the kill switch is set to run the bulbs dim and wire gets hot
 
If the wire only gets hot when the kill switch is ON, your problem is in the ignition circuit. Disconnect the coils, try again. If it's better, try one coil then try again.

Just follow a systematic approach with each device, it won't take long to find the problem.

.
 
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