Brought home a 550E no spark

[thebleakness]

I bought an '83 550E yesterday for a really good deal with the knowledge that it doesn't run. After doing some testing I found that 1 and 4 have spark but 2 and 3 dont. I switched the leads from the coils and then I can get 2 and 3 to go. Coils seem in working order then.

After consulting the service manual, I checked the ignitor box and all of the combinations I try I get no resistance. The bike came with a box of parts, an extra ignitor box as well, this one reads the exact same.

From there I checked the signal generator leads, I get a resistance over 2 of the leads but the other combination does not work. I pulled the cover and one point will measure over the solder points but the other one wont.

So am I correct in thinking that this is the reason for only 1 coil working? Can I buy a new ignition pickup or does it come as a whole set? Could the ignitor box also be a problem?

Thanks for the help!

 

[blowerbike]

the 83-86 GS550's are igniter eaters and used igniter's are few and far between.
the trigger is sold by itself.(no interchange with other models).
i have never seen a bad trigger unless the bike had been down on it or someone has dicked with it.
(they are just magnets).
if your sure of the trigger being faulty find a used one on ebay maybe.

 

[thebleakness]

After talking with some other mechanics, all are fairly sure that it's that pickup on the pulsar that's causing these problems. I found a guy who runs a junkyard an hour south of me that has another GS that I can steal parts off of. Hopefully I'll be having this running soon enough.

 

[BassCliff]

Greetings and Salutations!!

Greetings and Salutations!!

Hi Mr. thebleakness,

Check the Electrical Odds and Ends section of my website for ignition troubleshooting tips for these GS bikes. The Dynatech electronic ignition is a popular upgrade.



Anyway, I just stopped by to welcome you to the forum in my own, special way.

If there's anything you'd like to know about the Suzuki GS model bikes, and most others actually, you've come to the right place. There's a lot of knowledge and experience here in the community. Come on in and let me say "HOoooowwwDY!"....

Here is your very own magical, mystical, mythical, mind-expanding "mega-welcome". Please take notice of the "Top 10 Common Issues", the Carb Rebuild Series, and the Stator Papers. Now let me roll out the welcome mat for you...

Please click here for your mega-welcome, chock full of tips, suggestions, links to vendors, and other information. Then feel free to visit my little BikeCliff website where I've been collecting the wisdom of this generous community. Don't forget, we like pictures! Not you, your bike!

Thanks for joining us. Keep us informed.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[blowerbike]

the 83-86 GS550 is one of the few models that dyna does not offer a dyna S for.
these ignition plates are really small in diameter compared to all the other 4 cylinder GS models.

 

[blowerbike]

also i will stick by my original statement for now about the trigger plates not being a common problem unless they have been damaged from an accident.
keep me posted.

 

[JEEPRUSTY]

check the resistance on the coils for the trigger coils.

Change your plug caps on 1 and 4 to 2 and 3

Plug caps being a variable is one of the best easiest and cheapest repairs known to man.

 

[thebleakness]

Well it's still not running. The guy was totally mistaken and had a 78 GS750 and even that was missing half the parts.

So if Dyna doesn't make an S for this bike, I'm stuck to looking for an original somewhere? Are the 83-86 550s the only generators that will work? Or will some other size fit as well?

I'll check the resistance in the coils here shortly. That's a good site BassCliff, lots of information. Thank you! :clap:

 

[blowerbike]

83-86 550 only.
if you could find a GS trigger from another electronic advance model(to barrow)83 up 700/750/1100 shaft/1150 you could plug it in to your harness and take your advancer lug...spin it between the magnets and if all your plugs fire...then your problem was the trigger plate.
this would be solely for testing purposes and would let you find the problem before spending any money.
maybe just maybe as i'm not buying the bad trigger plate at all.
follow me.
maybe the magnet/windings are the same and mount the same from model to model.
if so...
if they would bolt up on your small diameter plate then that would give you options anyways.

 

[thebleakness]

I'm confused to what your calling the "trigger". Are you talking about about the 2 little boxes that sit on the plate? Or the little piece of metal on top of the shaft with the tab that "triggers" as it goes by the boxes?

I'll try to explain better what I did. After pulling the generator cover I used my volt meter to measure the resistance over the 2 solder points on either box. The service manual says that they should be withing 250-500ohms of resistance. One of them comes up with 360ohm and the other wont read anything. This was leading me to think that it was broken. Sorry if I've been misleading in some of my wording.

But it does seem as if there is a Dyna S for this bike (unless of course they're wrong) http://www.oldbikebarn.com/Dyna-S-D...TvfshkcGFC2Lc!1272503566?sc=12&category=73812 . There's another shop in Phoenix that has lots of used parts, I'll try calling them on Tuesday before I shell out $160 on a new one.

I checked the coils, both are within service manual specs.

 

[blowerbike]

the spinning part on the crank is just a piece of steel(advancer).
triggers as in the plate with the pick ups.
bike barn is 100% wrong.
your plate is really small in diameter compared to all the other 4cyl. GS models.

 

[thebleakness]

Thanks for the help. Looks like I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for one to show up.

EDIT: Might as well put a picture of it up.

 

[blowerbike]

pull your ignition cover and take a picture(close up) of your (signal generator).
what i mentioned before is that the pick ups may be the same from a few other models even though the plates are of a different size.
this way if they are the same you could get a pair from say...a 700/750/1150.
i have several of those (signal generators) on hand.

 

[thebleakness]

Here ya go. The left one is the one in question.

 

[blowerbike]

i'm converting a electronic advance 1100 L model to an earlier mechanical advance as we speak.
this bike has no sparkles on #1&2...3&4 runs and the pipes are normal.
i just was looking at 700/750/1150 signal generators and they look nothing like yours.
your pick ups are way different..maybe this is where your problem is especially sense you checked the ohms and found one dead.
maybe you'll get a response from your add here.
good luck.

just to let anyone know thats reading this...
the igniter for the 82 1100L i'm working on is $608.00 plus tax
it is a metal box with 2 pig tails and is not the same as an 84 1100GK model..

 

[thebleakness]

Wow! I'm really hoping that isn't part of the problem. I'll test out the extra ignitor I have, maybe help someone else out on the board if I can determine that works as well.

I found a guy out of state from me on craigslist parting out an '83 550E. I'm really hoping he still has the generator on it. As long as one of the pick ups works I'll take it and see if I can solder it in.

I did some researching myself on the microfiches and it does appear that the 83-86 550s are the only one with this style. There are a few other displacements that are similar but don't look like they'll work.

 

[thebleakness]

A quick update on the bike... JEEPRUSTY sent me a pickup in the mail from a bike of his so I soldered it back on the leads from the old one and.... I have spark! All four plugs spark but the bike still doesn't run. It doesn't even seem like it's trying to fire, I'm guessing some sort of fuel issue right now. I'll have to check that out tomorrow.

I noticed that with a full charged battery it only cranks over normally for maybe 20 rotations or so and then starts to lack power to turn over anymore. Is this normal for such an engine or just a sign of a bad battery?

 

[tom203]

From there I checked the signal generator leads, I get a resistance over 2 of the leads but the other combination does not work. I pulled the cover and one point will measure over the solder points but the other one wont.

Can we back up to this first post? What did the manual say the leads from signal generator should test at- resistance wise? Like Mr. Blowerbike, I doubt this would fail unless it was whacked- it's just a pair of mini coils. However, I can see bad connections causing problems here. Maybe when you soldered your replacement in, you fixed a poor connection. Hopefully, you didn't offset timing 180 degrees by switching wires.

 

[JEEPRUSTY]

A quick update on the bike... JEEPRUSTY sent me a pickup in the mail from a bike of his so I soldered it back on the leads from the old one and.... I have spark! All four plugs spark but the bike still doesn't run. It doesn't even seem like it's trying to fire, I'm guessing some sort of fuel issue right now. I'll have to check that out tomorrow.

I noticed that with a full charged battery it only cranks over normally for maybe 20 rotations or so and then starts to lack power to turn over anymore. Is this normal for such an engine or just a sign of a bad battery?

Your battery needs a charge most likely.

I have no doubt that you would have followed the correct wiring when soldering the part in.

I have been looking for interchange on this bike and found one ebay listing for a gs500 points cover with one pulsar coil snipped off so this has been done before.

Thank you for opening up a wider range of known possible donors for this part.

 

[thebleakness]

Can we back up to this first post? What did the manual say the leads from signal generator should test at- resistance wise? Like Mr. Blowerbike, I doubt this would fail unless it was whacked- it's just a pair of mini coils. However, I can see bad connections causing problems here. Maybe when you soldered your replacement in, you fixed a poor connection. Hopefully, you didn't offset timing 180 degrees by switching wires.

I have no idea how it went bad, I just know that it did. The service manual has the resistance values of 250-500ohm. Measured right over the 2 solder spots on either pickup I got 360 on one (the good one obviously), the other I couldn't get a reading on at all.

As for switching the wires, I spent alot of time looking at the color coded wires before doing any soldering of my own. I didn't want to mess that up lol.