Starting issue with 83 GS1100e

[Guest]

Hey Everyone,
I am now having an issue with my bike not starting with the start button. It doesn’t crank or anything, however it does push start no problem. A little background on this bike. When I got it back in august it had a bunch of electrical issues. Wires spliced everywhere. The brake lights stayed on, the dash had no back lights and the blinkers didn’t blink. So I went down the line and fixed all of that. I put a new wires harness in fixing all the electrical issues. Everything worked perfectly. Then I noticed the battery would die every five days or so. I found out my stator was fried. After changing the stator the bike would not start. I initially thought it was because I bought a cheap stator off eBay. So I bought a ricks stator and still no start. However it would start if I connected one of the stator wires to this hot red wire my brake switch was connected to. When I did this each time I pulled on the throttle the brake like would shine real bright and blow. I took it to a shop thinking I did all I could and they said I needed a new rectifier. So I got a new rectifier and still nothing. Not even when connected to the red wire. At this point they said I need a new starter solenoid. So I got that and it still would not start regularly. It did when connected to the red wire again. While testing if it worked properly I blew the bulb again. So I relaxed the bulb and put a new starter solenoid on it and now it won’t start either way. I’m fully at a loss here. It runs excellent and I’ve been push starting it just to go on my rides. Any information or even a direction to go would be greatly appreciated. I should also mentioned the battery was new when I got the bike. I am taking it in this weekend to see if I can’t get it swapped out with a new one just in case. I also feel like it’s possible I put the stator on backward so I’m going to take that out and make sure the screws are on the indented side.

 

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Sounds like you don't have much of anything in your charging/starting system wired exactly correctly. Have another real good look at your wiring diagram. If you don't have one (don't know how you would have replaced the harness without one), get one on BikeCliff's website, also a Factory Service manual if you don't have one already.

 

[Redman]

Hey Everyone,
I am now having an issue with my bike not starting with the start button. It doesn’t crank or anything, however it does push start no problem.

A little background on this bike. When I got it back in august it had a bunch of electrical issues. Wires spliced everywhere. The brake lights stayed on, the dash had no back lights and the blinkers didn’t blink. So I went down the line and fixed all of that. I put a new wires harness in fixing all the electrical issues. Everything worked perfectly.

Then I noticed the battery would die every five days or so. I found out my stator was fried. After changing the stator the bike would not start. I initially thought it was because I bought a cheap stator off eBay. So I bought a ricks stator and still no start.

However it would start if I connected one of the stator wires to this hot red wire my brake switch was connected to. When I did this each time I pulled on the throttle the brake like would shine real bright and blow. I took it to a shop thinking I did all I could and they said I needed a new rectifier. So I got a new rectifier and still nothing. Not even when connected to the red wire.

At this point they said I need a new starter solenoid. So I got that and it still would not start regularly. It did when connected to the red wire again.

While testing if it worked properly I blew the bulb again. So I relaxed the bulb and put a new starter solenoid on it and now it won’t start either way. I’m fully at a loss here.

It runs excellent and I’ve been push starting it just to go on my rides. Any information or even a direction to go would be greatly appreciated.

I should also mentioned the battery was new when I got the bike. I am taking it in this weekend to see if I can’t get it swapped out with a new one just in case.
I also feel like it’s possible I put the stator on backward so I’m going to take that out and make sure the screws are on the indented side.

Now, Let me reread again.

 

[Redman]

First: Hard to troubleshoot electrical problems with your eyballs. In your entire description you never mentiuoned a voltage reading. To check electrical problems you need a volt meter. Especailly if the charging system is suspect, you need to measure battery voltage.
To check battery and charging system: Do what is called the "quick Test" (described in detail other places), but basically, measure voltage at battery with key off, then key on, then with engine at idle, then with engine at mid rpm like 4500rpm. Report each here.

Second: Stator, three wires connect to the R/R. (Stock wiring one of the three goes up thru wiring/and connectors before gets to the R/R, but can be connected directly.)
Output of the stator is AC voltage as high as 70 voltsAC, you dont want that connected to anything else on your bike.

THird-Fourth-Fifth and other things . . . . Nevermind

Lets get through the first and the second thing first.

 

[Guest]

Thank you! I will check on those steps and see what?s what. I do have a multimeter so I will check exactly that this weekend and get back to you.

 

[Guest]

I have the diagram and I thought that may have been the case. Everything seems to be where it needs to be. The issue didn?t occur until I put in the new stator. After I changed the wiring harness everything ran fine. The bike started up no problem too. Only, it would die out due to the fried stator.

 

[Rich82GS750TZ]

From your initial post, I gather that your new stator had a leg wired to a brake light. Maybe I read it wrong. All three legs of the stator should be wired to the RR, and nothing else. Originally, on most GS’s, Suzuki had one leg going through a useless loop to the headlamp switch, then to the RR. AC Power from the stator needs to be rectified to DC and regulated to not overcharge by the RR before going to the red wire from the Harness.

 

[Guest]

Sorry about the confusion. It was connected directly to the rectifier and wouldn?t start. So I then connected it to the brake light switch and it did start. I know that?s not the proper way to do it. Should I try putting the old stator on? Maybe it?s an issue with new one?

 

[Rich82GS750TZ]

If the bike runs and you can get it to rev up to 5k RPM, you can test stator leg to leg and stator leg to ground. This test can only confirm if a stator is bad if it fails the test. It cannot confirm that the stator is necessarily good. All the specifics I know about this is contained in my linked thread My Charging system sorted in my signature and from the helpful contributors therein. If you believe that the stator is good you can do the quick test also linked below to further test your RR’s charging health. All of this testing should start with a known-good/new, fully charged battery.

 

[Guest]

If the bike runs and you can get it to rev up to 5k RPM, you can test stator leg to leg and stator leg to ground. This test can only confirm if a stator is bad if it fails the test. It cannot confirm that the stator is necessarily good. All the specifics I know about this is contained in my linked thread My Charging system sorted in my signature and from the helpful contributors therein. If you believe that the stator is good you can do the quick test also linked below to further test your RR?s charging health. All of this testing should start with a known-good/new, fully charged battery.

Thank you! I?m going to check this out this weekend no appreciate your response.

 

[Big T]

I'm guessing that your starter motor isn't turning, nor are you getting a "click" from the starter relay/ solenoid

The #1 solution for this problem is that the ground wire for the solenoid is not attached. Run a wire from the solenoid mounting bolt to the battery negative post and see if that solves your starter problem

 

[Guest]

Thank you for the input! Thanks to you I was able to figure out the problem. It was the ground to my rectifier. It wasn?t grounded well enough. As soon as I fixed it the bike started right up! Then when when I loved some wires it stopped. I was able to get it going again. I?m going to pull the harness and look for any shorts.

I'm guessing that your starter motor isn't turning, nor are you getting a "click" from the starter relay/ solenoid

The #1 solution for this problem is that the ground wire for the solenoid is not attached. Run a wire from the solenoid mounting bolt to the battery negative post and see if that solves your starter problem