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'80 GS450L Starting problems + Other Q's

  • Thread starter Thread starter marek
  • Start date Start date
M

marek

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Finally have some more time to work on my bike, here is my original thread with pics: http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?p=391075#post391075

Has not ran for 5 years, as far as I know there was nothing major wrong with it when it was parked but it was parked outside for some time.

Few questions:

1. Bought a new battery and all the electrics work (lights/horn/turn signals etc) but when trying to start nothing happens. No "clack" sound from the starter solenoid as the repair manual describes. Replaced the fuse in the starter system.

How would I go about diagnosing what the problem is? I do have a multimeter but I am not very experienced in dealing with electrical systems. I also do have a spare starter motor in case that is the problem.

2. What tires would you recommend? I am not looking for a touring tire, will mostly be doing short city riding.

3. I read "The Stator Papers" article and was wondering if I should go ahead and purchase the Electrex rectifier now and just replace the old one? Have not started up the bike yet obviously so I don't know if there is a problem with the charging system yet but by reading the article it seems like using the stock one will become a problem anyways (if it is not already).

Thanks!
 
I wish I had the time to tinker with your bike - it's relaxing for me. I've restored two non-running GS450 bikes that had been sitting for long periods (mine and a friend's) so I've encountered almost all the typical issues.

Regarding engine not turning over: Your starter motor may be really dirty inside, preventing full electrical contact: been-there, done-that.
Independent of that, you should just try to rotate the engine via the crankshaft (see valve adjustment section in the manual for how to do that) with a wrench to verify that the engine is not siezed.

If the bike has been sitting for some time you're going to have many tasks to perform before the bike runs properly.
Here's some advice I gave to somemone:
You will almost certainly need to do a thorough carb cleaning. The fact that it started up is deceptive. It will not produce smooth, full power till you get those carbs spotless. Your air filter element, air box and all boots that connect to the carbs will have to be checked (any air leaks and all bets are off - see my other posts about this). Your regulator/rectifier and stator should be checked (as described in the garage section of this site). It is also likely that you'll have some loose and/or dirty electrical connections.
Some of the cables may need lubrication and adjustment. Of course, you will need a new battery.
Here's some more:
Before tearing the carbs down again, verify all the easy stuff first:
1. Put in brand new plugs - I can't tell you how much time I've wasted just to finally realize that my plugs were so wet and fouled that the bike had no chance of starting. This is especially common after doing carb related stuff.
2. Verify your air filter element and box and boots are all set up properly and that there are NO air leaks.
3. Using those new plugs, check that each one is sparking. If the bike is properly carbureted, even a faily weak spark should ignite the fuel/air mixture.
4. Verify that your petcock is letting fuel through to all carbs.
If all of the above checks out OK and you still can't get her started, then it's time to tear into those carbs again. Make sure your floats aren't leaking (there should be no liquid sloshing around inside of them) - I once overlooked that very important test and spent many hours fiddling with other things till I remebered to check if my floats were leaking. Sure enough, one of them was leaking like a sieve.

I would NOT replace any gaskets if the leaks are relatively minor. If they are minor just seal them up with high-temp silicone - worked like a charm on my friend's GS450.

The 1980 GS450 is CDI ignition so there's no timing adjustment necessary.

Of course the gas tank must be drained.
Soaking the carbs in gas is useless, you must disassemble the carbs and clean them meticulously (especially if they've been sitting for two years).

If you've never done any of the above stuff then it will take you a while to learn it all and to acquire the right tools - anywhere between 25 and 60 hours of work - I'm trying to be realistic here based on my own experience. The second time I did a "restore" (on my friend's GS450) it went much, much faster. A Clymer manual is a must.
If you're in no rush and you enjoy wrenching an hour or two a night then I'd say go for it. If not, you could take it to shop and pay an arm-and-a-leg for them to do half-baked job that you'll have to "finish up" - once again, I'm speaking from personal experience I had with a Honda many years ago.
 
Another note regarding engine not turning over: You can bybass the starter solenoid altogether just to see if the starter motor itself is working. If bypassing causes the starter motor to work, then you know the solenoid is bad and/or dirty inside.
Also, you're definitely going to have to become thoroughly familiar with how to measure current (amps), resistance (ohms) and voltage with a multimeter to track down electrical issues.
 
Just to add to add to what nabrams said, The easiest way to bypass the starter solenoid is to jumper across the two contact nuts on the top (with the starter switch in run). If the starter motor turns over, you should test the solenoid. I tested mine by removing it from my bike and hooking it up directly to my battery with jumpers. Maybe not the easiest way (or safest), but it was quick. A few other things to think about: your clutch safety switch may be defective, and you probably have a few corroded connectors on your wiring harness. I'm going through the same thing on my bike.

Check out this thread:
http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=88271
 
Well I figured out what the problem was: User error...sort of.

I wasn't depressing the clutch lever all the way when trying to start but only because it takes A LOT of force to pull it all the way in...going to have to figure out why later but the bike started fine.

Carbs were already cleaned by me last week but it is going to need a lot of tuning obviously.

The tach responds VERY slowly also.

Calling it a night and probably going to tinker around some more on sunday.
 
Upon further investigation it only runs on 1 cylinder. Compression is good in both and they're both getting a spark but the right cylinder does not fire.

I did clean the carbs myself and it was the first set of carbs that I've cleaned so is it possible that I screwed it up somehow? How would I check if the cylinder is getting fuel?
 
you should also try the kill switch,make sure there is no corrosion in it,thats what happened to my gs400 and it either would not start after a while or it would only run on one cylinder,also check the coils(swap them around to see if one is bad and also check the continuity).The best way to chec how it is firing is to put a drop of oil in each cylinder and when the oil burns you will see a bit of white smoke coming out of the exhaust evntualy this wheres away after 5 mins.

Good luck,Jo
 
Kill switch is clean and swapping the coils gave me the same result...right cylinder does not fire.
 
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