GS450L They deleted the kill switch?

[GodSpeed750]

Hey guys - thanks in advance!

Recently got my hands on a 81 gs450L - previous owner fancied himself to be an electrician so now im spending these beautiful fall days in my garage cleaning up his mess instead of ripping around corners. I mean I love my truck...but yeah.

First things first.
Carb has been gone through disassembled and dipped.
O-rings have been replaced on both carb and intake boots
Air box has been cleaned up.
Battery has been replaced.
Got a new starter relay on there.
.
Regulator rectifier is the one that came on the bike.

The previous owner attempted to switch the location of the ignition button but didn't finish the job. There is NO kill switch on the bike. The current ignition button works properly but! When i hit the button the bike fires up and dies immediately when i let go of the button. Obviously its a momentary on/off button. Do i need to wire in a kill switch to maintain the circuit? It seems only logical that the reason the bike surges on and then shuts off when i release the button is that im completing and breaking the circuit with the button. I feel correct but would just appreciate some back up.

thanks again.
J

 

[Steve]

The original "kill" switch would supply power to the coils and to the starter. Apparently, your PO has connected the starter to the coils, as well. Not a good situation. If not an actual "kill" switch, you DO need to find a way to supply switchable power to the coils and ignitor.

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[GodSpeed750]

thanks for the quick reply.
Could you possibly go a little more in depth about the starter being connected to the coils? When i hit the ignition button the bike starts up but it feels more like a singular explosion rather than a regular start - does this have something to do with what you're talking about?

also
can i just wire a kill switch back into the loop?

 

[Brendan W]

The stock wiring would go..
Orange supply to kill switch is live with ign on.
Close kill switch and the supply splits in two. Orange/White permanent feed to coils and in parallel, Green/Yellow supply to starter solenoid through the start button.
It looks like you have supply, Orange, in at the lower terminal and then supply to coils and starter solenoid from the top terminal but only when the button is pressed.
The only thing that button should be doing is supply the G/Y to the solenoid. Coils need a permanent feed.
You could probably do this by putting both O and O/W wires together and leave the G/Y on the far side of the button and then see about a kill switch in the Orange supply.
http://zeus.mtsac.edu/~cliff/storage/gs/GSX400_GS450_wiring.pdf

 

[Steve]

I agree with Brendan's idea, let me see if I can put it into different words. :-k

If you think you can live without a kill switch and don't mind using that (rather inadequate) switch, verify that one of the the orange wires goes ON and OFF with the key. If it does, connect the two orange wires together, then have the yellow/green wire on the other side of the switch. When you turn the key ON, you will only have to push the button to engage the starter. The only way to turn the engine OFF will be to use the key.

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[Gorminrider]

heres a diagram of just the starter and ignition circuits for a 450 that may help. a bit blurry as it's been compressed and resized and I havent figured out how to get it up to full size here...

 

[GodSpeed750]

thank you so much! im going to try it out in the morning and i'll let you know the results!
thanks again so much brendan W. and you too steve!