• Required reading for all forum users!!!

    Welcome!
    Register to access the full functionality of the GSResources forum. Until you register and activate your account you will not have full forum access, nor will you be able to post or reply to messages.

    A note to new registrants...
    All new forum registrations must be activated via email before you have full access to the forum.

    A Special Note about Email accounts!
    DO NOT SIGN UP USING hotmail, outlook, gmx, sbcglobal, att, bellsouth or email.com. They delete our forum signup emails.

    A note to old forum members...
    I receive numerous requests from people who can no longer log in because their accounts were deleted. As mentioned in the forum FAQ, user accounts are deleted if you haven't logged in for the past 6 months. If you can't log in, then create a new forum account. If you don't get an error message, then check your email account for an activation message. If you get a message stating that the email address is already in use, then your account still exists so follow the instructions in the forum FAQ for resetting your password.

    Have you forgotten your password or have a new email address? Then read the forum FAQ for details on how to reset it.

    Any email requests for "can't log in anymore" problems or "lost my password" problems will be deleted. Read the forum FAQ and follow the instructions there - that's what we have one for...

  • Returning Visitors

    If you are a returning visitor who never received your confirmation email, then odds are your email provider is blockinig emails from our server. The only thing that can be done to get around this is you will have to try creating another forum account using an email address from another domain.

    If you are a returning visitor to the forum and can't log in using your old forum name and password but used to be able to then chances are your account is deleted. Purges of the databases are done regularly. You will have to create a new forum account and you should be all set.

GS550e died and won't start again.

  • Thread starter Thread starter c0okiez
  • Start date Start date
i have a wiring diagram. yes. and a voltmeter.
how do i go about checking the voltage at the fuses and to the switch if everything is pretty much "sealed"? (im a noob w/ electrical but im trying to learn)
 
detached the ignition from the bike and pulled off the bottom protective cover. here's how it looks:
Orange,Red,Brown,Grey. all connections look clean/good and checked the voltemeter to each post (on DC current). All posts [with IGN on] appear to be getting a little over 12V. Solenoid [with IGN on] has over 12DCV.
 
Now go to the fuse block and make sure you have power at both sides of each fuse.
With the key on.
 
so, am i supposed to pull the fuse and check with the "red" pronge and ground the "black" onto the frame?
 
Leave the fuses in, just pull the cover. If there's voltage on one side of the fuse and not the other then the fuse is probably blown. They've been known to do that despite visual inspection to the contrary...

Make sure what you're touching on the frame is a good ground. Paint no workee so well as a conductor. A bolt on the engine block would be a better choice, or right to the battery (-) terminal.

One would suspect that the big in terminal on the solenoid would have 12V, as that line comes straight from the battery. The little incoming wire would be where you'd want to see some voltage when pushing that start button. That feed goes through the ignition circuit. If both of those have 12V when pushing the start button but the large output terminal does not then you have a solenoid issue. With no clicking and with the lights out too, it's probably not a solenoid issue.
 
i pulled the fuse cover off and checked each side of them using the meter. all sides tested at 12DCV or a little more; both with just the ignition on, and with the start button pushed down. im beginning to think there is something screwy with the start button/kill switch; but honestly i have no idea at this point. If the fusebox tested good, battery's good, solenoids good, ignition switch appears good. hmm...
 
OK, we're good up to the fuse box outlet. Lights and ignition (maybe) are out - it won't crank, anyway. Have you checked for voltage at the orange wires on the coils? Pulled the tank yet? I'm wondering if a harness came loose under there.
 
tank has been off. and the bike only will crank if i jump the starter solenoid. the start button does nothing, it wont click the solenoid or anything. im just so stumped on this whole thing ha.
 
When I get the chance tonight I'll look over the wiring diagram and see if I can find something common (besides the ignition switch) to those two circuits. Voltage at coils or no? You can unplug one and check the connector for the orange wire on the wiring harness. Trying to figure out if your whole ignition circuit is out or just the starter feed.
 
While the tank is off turn on the key and see if you are getting power at the coils with the orange/white wire.
 
It's pretty obvious but I didn't see you mention it: have you checked the connector from the right hand controls to the main harness, under the tank?
 
OK, let's try to narrow this down a bit more. Is ANYTHING working? Sounded like maybe your tach/speedo lights were going?

That unused brown wire in the headlamp bucket - getting voltage there? That should be tee'd with the supply for your tail light. Those are the only two ends out of the brown wire from the ignition switch.
 
it appears as if the tach/speedo lights are working. however, regarding the right hand controls to the main harness, i can't find out where it hooks up under the tank, it's all shrink-wrapped or taped up. I guess i can peel away at the tape and maybe see what's going on. But other than the "dummy" lights working, nothing else does. I do believe the horn and the start switch are on the same circuit (from what i recall, but im not sure). But it all just doesnt make sense why it won't start (only cranks if i jump the solenoid).
I didn't get a chance to check power to the coils. It just seems as if the whole right hand control doesn't work at all. Ill have to fiddle around with it tomorrow. This bike's giving me a headache.
 
update. with the ignition switch turned on, there is a full 12v going to each coil. and there is 12v going to the power button ORANGE wire, however there is 0v going to the yellow/green wire on the start button. I looked at the wiring diagram and it shows that the Y/G appears to go from the button to the "starter interlock system". maybe that's my problem? but honestly i have no idea what that is, or where that's located.
 
You won't see 12V on the G/Y wire until the button is pressed. The button lets the voltage through, so to speak.

The starter interlock is your clutch switch. Many of us have already bypassed the clutch switch. If you follow the leads from the slider switch on the underside of the clutch lever into the headlight bucket, you can unplug those leads and connect the two wires from the harness into each other.

Next stop from there is the starter solenoid.
 
well i'm guessing it has something to do with that "next" stop. i have bypassed the clutch safety switch already (crimped the wires together) and boom. still nothing. sooooo. from some point after that bypass to the starter solenoid is my problem. narrows it down a little, just gotta cut open the harness tape/shrink and peek around?
 
however, that still doesn't explain why it died while moving, that appears to just be a starting circuit. i'm no wiring expert, but i wonder if it's an issue with my kill-switch, which would explain everything that happened possibly. is there a way to check to kill-switch or at least bypass it momentarily? if i just spliced together the two orange wires from the kill, would it act as if the bike is always in "RUN" or act as if it's "OFF"?
 
Yeah, I thought about that dying while driving thing too. That and the kill switch would not explain the headlight being out, either.

Have you tested the control lead for the starter solenoid at the solenoid itself for +12V (when pushing the start button, of course)?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top