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I finally took her out but had to push her home.

  • Thread starter Thread starter wolfman
  • Start date Start date
W

wolfman

Guest
I bought my 83 850L 3 weeks ago working on things to be able to take it out. thought I was just waiting on the R/R, I got my new R/R and installed it yesterday . Finished up a couple of other things. Got it started let it warm up. then took it for a ride grinning from ear to ear, got a bout 1 1/2 miles down the road and it quit. and wouldn't even try to start battery was dead. I ended up pushing her home. I tested the stator thought it was fine, but maybe my battery is bad and screwed up my results. So I think I will just get a new stator and battery. Oh and a new started relay I had to jump the relay to get it to start.

.
 
Too bad!

Too bad!

That's too bad that you had such bad luck!! I think you'd be better off in the short run and in the long run if you figured out what's wrong rather than just replacing parts.

You don't want to replace good parts with good parts (or maybe bad parts if you buy them used). These bikes can be frustrating but with a little patience and advice, most things can get sorted out without spending an 'arm and a leg'. I hope you get it running soon!:-D
 
I would suggest troublshooting the problem instead of shotgunning your GS850 electrical components. The former method will find the root cause, the later method will waste money.

You didn't specify whether the new R/R was OEM or an Aftermarket unit such as Rick's, Electrosport etc. When installing the Aftermarket R & R make sure your ground wire is connected to your Battery ground and not merely the GS Electrical Panel. This may explain your symptom but more detail on your part may help. I would check that first and verify the battery is charging with a Digital Multimeter. If that's fruitless read up on the Stator Papers or visit Basscliff's websire which has the GS850 Service Manual in Pdf.

Hope that helps.
 
Put your money into a battery charger and a cheap multimeter, not new parts!

Charge up the battery and see if it holds a charge (12.72 volts for an indefinate period).
If it holds a charge, then take the seat off and put the multimeter leads on the battery poles. Check the voltage. Then start the bike. The voltage should be greater than when the bike wasn't running. If it is, the charging system is working. If not, use your new multimeter to follow the troubleshooting steps in the 'stator papers' on this site.
 
Indefinite??

Indefinite??

I'm sure you don't mean "indefinite"..., do you?

If you can get it to 12.6 and it holds close to that for a few days.....be happy with it and check out the rest of the possibilities.:)
 
Hope no weekend warrior posers on Hardly Ablesons saw you pushing your Jap bike. :-D

Follow the advice already given and keep the faith. That 850 of yours will give you dependable service once you sort these problems out...
 
Push???

Push???

Grandpa said:
Hope no weekend warrior posers on Hardly Ablesons saw you pushing your Jap bike. :-D

Follow the advice already given and keep the faith. That 850 of yours will give you dependable service once you sort these problems out...
Click to expand...

I can't stand the thought of having to push these things more than about 5 feet!8-[
 
It would help to know the type of r/r you installed and if you checked the output after you had it all hooked up.
If you go through the stator pages on this site and do the tests there, you will quickly find out if you actually need a new stator.
With a GS a digital multimeter is your friend.
Like stated above, charge up the battery and see if it holds a charge. Mine is due for replacement it gradually loses its charge down to 12.45V over a couple of days. It works fine if I top it up and go for a ride, but could leave me stranded if I don't replace it.
So check the stator pages for the test, do it, you can post the results here and someone will give you feedback as to whether your stator is good or not. And see if the battery needs replacing. Also check the output across the posts for the r/r with the bike running.
 
More info-LONG

More info-LONG

This is wolfman's wife. We have been working on this together. I knew nothing about bikes 3 weeks ago, now I can take it apart and troubleshoot! He has ridden and owned before and has wanted a bike again for years. He is so frustrated right now, he didn't explain himself very well.

When we got the bike, there was no turn signals, no brake light, no high beam, no horn, oil pressure light was always on, had to jump it at the starter relay to start the bike (start button wouldn't work), had a couple of oil leaks (at the shifter and oil filter), ran rich and were told it needed carb work. There is also some road rash and 1 side panel missing. The clear coat on the top of the tank is peeling. That was pretty much what we knew about the bike.

We started working on it. We figured out the guts of the front stop switch are missing and figured out that the rear stop switch was adjusted so screwy that it took 300 lbs of pressure to activate it! Adjusted that and will order a new front switch - BRAKE LIGHT PROBLEM FIGURED OUT.

The turn signals didn't even have half of the wires connected and all the bulbs were bad. No wonder they weren't working. We completed the circuit and they still wouldn't work. They will work if we jump the left handle switch, so we know the switch is bad. The horn will also work if we jump it straight at the battery, as will the high beam. We know we need to replace the left handle switch - HORN, BLINKER, AND HIGH BEAM PROBLEM FIGURED OUT.

PO told us that the oil pressure light is always on. We pulled off the lead and the wire looks like crap. The insulation looks like rodents got to it. We will either replace it or order an after market one from RenoBruce. OIL PRESSURE LIGHT FIGURED OUT.

As we were working on the bike, running it, the wires from the stator to the R/R started smoking. They were HOT to the touch and melted the electrical tape that was around them. We went through the Stator Papers and the stator seemed to check out ok. We posted about it here and the general idea (which we agreed with) was that the R/R was bad, so we ordered one from Duaneage. It got here yesterday and we swapped it out. No more heat! :-D

We traced the started button wire and found that we had a break in the wire. We ran a new wire and the button now worked! The relay was not always working , so we knew it was on its way out. WILL REPLACE STARTER RELAY WHEN IT NO LONGER WORKS.

We checked out the airbox. The snorkel wasn't even attached! I got it all back on right and it looks like it actually seals pretty good. The air filter was way too oiled, so he washed that out last night and let it dry overnight.

We got her all put back together and she wouldn't fire up :cry: Start button was dead again. Pulled out the trusty multimeter. Circuit still good (continuity and voltage). Starter relay - DEAD

We could still jump it at the relay (at that time) so he started it up and took her for a ride. He said she was running great! She ran smooth, couldn't hardly feel the shifts or anything. Then he noticed he was loosing speed, but thought it was just him letting off the throttle. It would pick up if he gave it more throttle. He stopped at a stop sign, made the turn, and she died. He thought he just stalled it, but she wouldn't start again. Luckily he was only 1 1/2 miles from home, but that bike is a tank!

He got it home, and let her sit for a little bit (while he calmed down-lol). We figured it was time to hit the Stator papers again to see if the stator got fried when the R/R went out. We also questioned if the battery was good since the PO had it stored outside and the battery was dead when we went to look at the bike. We pulled her into the garage and put the voltmeter on it. The battery still had 10.5 volts. That was only a slight drop from where it was (around 11.5). :confused: He tried to jump the starter relay and it acted like the battery was dead. It was like the starter was trying, but not getting power. After a couple of tries, it wouldn't even try. He just went out and was able to start it by jumping it at the starter relay while it is hooked up to the charger. wth?
 
I forgot to add that all grounds have been cleaned and the R/R is grounded directly to the battery.
 
If the battery is good, it will have 12.6V or better after sitting overnight off the charger, If it shows 12.6 or better after sitting for a couple days it could be ok, otherwise replace it they are only about 40bucks. After you had the r/r hooked up, did you check the voltage it was putting out to the battery? My bike with a ricks puts 13.5 or so to the battery consistently(but I need a new battery anyway it is 4 years old and doesn't hold a charge well). did you solder the connections from the r/r to the wires from your bike? It sounds also like the wirig harnes from the bike is toast, and should be replaced.
 
Charging the battery right now. Did not check the output, but do know it resolved the burning wires problem. Will run through the Stator papers probably tomorrow. Did not solder the connections. I am switching most everything to blade connectors. Yeah, the wiring harness has some problems. Bought one from here, but doesn't totally match up even though it is off the same bike :confused: We'll just keep working on these gremlins.
 
Same bike AND same model? 850 harnesses changed a couple of times, and changed also between the different models (G, L, etc) For reference, i would suggest getting a manual. Most will have a wiring diagram in back for EVERY MODEL. This will help you in figuring out which model the one you bought came off of, and the differences in it and the one on your bike. You will likely be able to use that harness, you will just have to figure out where the differences are, and account for it.
 
Back to Grounds

Back to Grounds

Make sure that Stater Solenoid is also grounded. I replaced the OEM Rectifer & Regulator with a Rick's R & R and after the modification I found the Electrical Panel was "floating" and no longer gounded. During T/S I merely jumped a wire from the starter solenoid ground to chassis ground and that cured that self inflicted problem. Have a look . .

IMO, a tidy electrical panel with the coil relay mod.

EPanel.jpg
 
Just got to say hes a lucky man to have you helping out on all this stuff.

I mean I am glad my wife is cool with me getting an old bike and allowing me the time to tinker on it and wants to ride it now that its running, but some help getting it going is always good too.

She did take it for some circles in a parking lot but gonna wait two more weekends till after her safety class to try it again.

ot, sounds like you are working through the issues, wiring is never fun to work on... but as confusing as it looks the more you get into it the more you understand the systems and overall these bikes are pretty basic when it comes to electrical systems.
 
srsupertrap said:
Make sure that Stater Solenoid is also grounded. I replaced the OEM Rectifer & Regulator with a Rick's R & R and after the modification I found the Electrical Panel was "floating" and no longer gounded. During T/S I merely jumped a wire from the starter solenoid ground to chassis ground and that cured that self inflicted problem. Have a look . .

IMO, a tidy electrical panel with the coil relay mod.
Click to expand...

Wife here again :-D Just went and took another look after reading your post. Are the starter relay and fuse box supposed to be grounded using a wire or are they grounded by the way they are attached? The starter relay only has 3 wires - red to the battery, red to the fuse box, and yellow/green for the starter circuit. The fuse box is pretty much the same situation, just different wires, kwim?

My bad. Just had dh read what I posted and he reminded that the starter relay is grounded. It is a frame ground that we have cleaned. *blush*
 
Last edited:
Skateguy50 said:
Just got to say hes a lucky man to have you helping out on all this stuff.
Click to expand...

Thanks! :-D He told me I should get my own screen name since I spend as much if not more time on the forum than he does-lol

Skateguy50 said:
ot, sounds like you are working through the issues, wiring is never fun to work on... but as confusing as it looks the more you get into it the more you understand the systems and overall these bikes are pretty basic when it comes to electrical systems.
Click to expand...

Exactly. I had never even read a wiring diagram before we started. I had only "touched" one other bike and that was riding on the back with my husband for about 30 minutes. When we first started, it seemed so overwhelming, now it is just one thing at a time. We are just working through things, hopefully we will get rid of the gremlins that have plagued this bike. I think the reason some of the wires were disconnected when we bought the bike was b/c the po was trying to troubleshoot and just got frustrated. I am pretty patient when it comes to working on problems (I have 4 kids and a husband, I have to be-lol). I just walk away when I get frustrated and think it over. I come to the forum and read and read, then go back and figure it out.
 
I would consider taking a different approach to 'troubleshooting' at this point.

If my wiring were this screwed up, I would get the best wiring diagram I could find for my exact model, tear down the bike, unwrap/expose all the wires and trace every circuit in the diagram. It may look like a lot, but it really isn't that many wires. Make sure each wire goes where it's supposed to go and has voltage at its connection when it should. I honestly think this will save you time in the long run.

When you are done, you will be one of the GSR 'experts' and we'll be asking you questions.
 
Flyingace-
We have unwrapped the front half of the wiring harness and inspected each wire. There were some nicks in the insulation, but not bare wire. We went ahead and wrapped the nicks with electrical tape. On everything that we have tested, we have continuity and voltage (other than the starter button to the starter relay, we repaired that). We have the Clymer manual and I have spent so many hours with it, I literally dream about it at night. :oops:

Big T-
Unfortunately he doesn't have the manual for our bike. Thanks though. We used some of his stuff until our manual arrived :-D

Charged the battery overnight. It now has 13.2 volts. We are leaving to go out of town for a couple of days, so we will check it when we get home and see if it is holding. Then we will run through the Stator papers just to double check everything. A couple of the new connectors on the Stator end were loose (bad crimps) and so that could have added to the charging problem. We are still going to need to replace the starter relay, but we already knew that was going out. I think the po fried it by jumping it all the time instead of fixing the start button circuit. We are having a heck of a time finding the left handle switch. There is only one junkyard here, and they were less than helpful. We're going to check some places while we are in UT. Hopefully we will find the parts we need \\:D/
 
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