GS550L Won't Crank + Misfire/Weak Spark

[ClarkBrinkley]

Hello all!

I'm Clark and I'm new. I just bought my first bike, a 1980 GS550L. I've had for maybe two months now. Repainted it, got some new bars and grips, and all cleaned up.

Rode it 20 miles last Sunday, came home, shut the key off and parked it in the drive way, walked around and opened the door to the garage, went to go start the bike again, and it wouldn't start. The cluster would come on and so would the headlight but when I push the start button it won't even crank.

I was hoping to get lucky and it would be a simple starter solenoid, but alas, I don't think it is.

I am able to jump the solenoid with a screwdriver (Jump the small yellow/green striped wire and the large red positive wire) and get the bike to start. But when I do that the bike only runs on two cylinders. One of the other two cylinders has spark but it may be hit and miss or weak, and the other has no spark at all.

The start kill switch control looks to be aftermarket but I opened it up and everything looked to be okay. When I check for power at the starter solenoid I have nothing at the ground (obviously), I have power at the larger red positive wire, and I have no power at the small yellow green striped wire. And I've also checked the fuses out.

So I ask you, GS Resources, What should I do now?

P.S. Don't know if this is of any help but two of my carbs were leaking gas at a pretty steady rate. I've since cleaned them with carb spray and got the floats unstuck so they've stopped leaking.

 

[tkent02]

So I ask you, GS Resources, What should I do now?

Start working on all of the neglected maintenance listed on Cliff's site, don't stop until you've done it all.

 

[ClarkBrinkley]

Start working on all of the neglected maintenance listed on Cliff's site, don't stop until you've done it all.

Cliff's site? I was thinking along the lines of getting it running again.

 

[tkent02]

That's what Cliff's site is all about.

 

[ClarkBrinkley]

That's what Cliff's site is all about.

What is this Cliff's site you speak of?

 

[JEEPRUSTY]

TKent is not seeing that you are new.
Or maybe Bascliff, a member on here has not sent you the MEGAWELCOME message with info that includes Cliff's site.

Ill go fetch it brb

 

[JEEPRUSTY]

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/images/GSR_Greeting.html

 

[cowboyup3371]

Seems Jeep's post dropped out the hyperlinks so here is the link to the main welcome. Go read through this site and really pay attention to what is recommended or your bike will not start running well very quickly.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=196338

 

[JEEPRUSTY]

Yeah something is wrong with my copy paste function.
ANyway new dude do not be disheartened. We know that you are filled with anxiety etc and are in need fo quick answers.

Sadly I cannot write technical instructiosn well and am a bit rusty anyway due to my bike running so fine. Alas fear not more and better folks should file in

 

[cowboyup3371]

A few things popped to mind when I went back to read this properly.

What's the voltage at your battery at rest right now? With the key on? When it is running, what's it doing at 5000 RPM? Seriously sounds like you have a weak battery to start with and possibly some charging issues.

Secondly, spraying carb cleaner doesn't do anything to really clean these carbs. On Basscliff's site are instructions for properly doing the job. DO NOT TAKE ANY SHORTCUTS and do the job properly the first time. Check your petcock and make sure it's not leaking. Cliff's site, like Tkent02 said, contains tons and tons of good information you need to get this bike running properly. Go read before doing anything else to your bike.

 

[ClarkBrinkley]

A few things popped to mind when I went back to read this properly.

What's the voltage at your battery at rest right now? With the key on? When it is running, what's it doing at 5000 RPM? Seriously sounds like you have a weak battery to start with and possibly some charging issues.

Secondly, spraying carb cleaner doesn't do anything to really clean these carbs. On Basscliff's site are instructions for properly doing the job. DO NOT TAKE ANY SHORTCUTS and do the job properly the first time. Check your petcock and make sure it's not leaking. Cliff's site, like Tkent02 said, contains tons and tons of good information you need to get this bike running properly. Go read before doing anything else to your bike.

I will most definitly post in the welcome section and check out Cliff's site. Thank you all for the resources.

Right this second the battery is dead from my trying to start it so much. But it was setting at 12v, and the battery is less than 6 months old so I feel pretty confident that it's not the culprit.

As for the carbs, I was spraying cleaner to get the floats to un-stick. I know it's not a permanent solution but it stopped my garage and house from smelling like a filling station for now.

 

[ClarkBrinkley]

So I've traced the green/yellow wire from the starter solenoid, back through the clutch safety switch, back to the kill switch. I am getting power to the orange and orange/white wires in the kill switch starter switch, but when I press the button to complete the circuit I still don't get power to the yellow green wire in the switch. Thus I'm thinking that I need a new starter/kill switch. Right? So I connected 12v to the yellow green wire in the switch and bridged the clutch safety switch, to see if I got power to the solenoid. And I didn't.

What do you guys think should be my next step?

 

[ClarkBrinkley]

I've traced down my problem. there was a broken wire going from the kill switch to the wiring harness. I was trying to trace the wire through the clutch safety switch, which apparently the PO had bypassed. When I figured that out, I found the problem quickly. As for the misfire, it's gone. I don't know whats up with that. Thank you all for the help, this thread is done!