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Trouble starting.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Isaiah Ford
  • Start date Start date
I

Isaiah Ford

Guest
Hey, I recently rebuilt my GS550 (1978) and I have some wiring/electronic questions.

1: Is the left side crankcase cover where the stator resides supposed to be full of oil?

2: I'll be posting pictures of wires and asking where they go.
 
Apparently they won't allow me to upload said photos... Which puts me in a great position...
 
13977837_10209261068498977_1674882376_o.jpg

Here's a photo. These wires were disconnected. Where do they go?
 
View attachment 46990

What are these? The silver box has two wires, one yellow and one black with a white stripe. This is the mystery wire. There is another one that comes down from a wire harness from the front of the bike which is also a mystery wire.
 

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This silver box has the black and white wire. And when it is secured where it is, with the lead to the starter, the starter turns over. The engine moves, but it won't start. The carbs are getting gas, there is a spark in the plugs. But it won't start...

Now if I put the other black and white wire (the one that comes down the frame from the front) onto where the others are the battery terminals spark.
 
14002598_10209261068298972_1944193703_o.jpg

Here is a better picture of the wires. What do they go to? Where do I need to put them?
 
A black wire with a white stripe is always a ground wire on a Suzuki.

In post #5, that is an aftermarket relay, you will have to trace the wires to see where they go.

In post #6, the silver thing appears to be your voltage regulator.

In post #7, the black and white wire should be connected to a ground, not a hot wire. Can't tell which wire that is on the solenoid. One of the large terminals is connected to the battery and is 'hot' all the time, the other is connected to the starter and is only 'hot' when you press the starter button. Neither one is a ground.

In post #8, your definition of "better view of the wires" differs considerably from mine. Really can't see ANYTHING there.

.
 
Isaiah Ford said:
View attachment 46992

This silver box has the black and white wire. And when it is secured where it is, with the lead to the starter, the starter turns over. The engine moves, but it won't start. The carbs are getting gas, there is a spark in the plugs. But it won't start...

Now if I put the other black and white wire (the one that comes down the frame from the front) onto where the others are the battery terminals spark.
Click to expand...

To skip past your wiring issues, your bike needs air ,fuel, spark to run. Your carbs are dirty. Read the VM carb cleaning guide. And, the Top 10 Newbie mistakes
 
Oh, and your stator cover is not really FILLED with oil but will have a bit of oil in it. If you put the bike on centerstand and take the cover off, you will get a few drips and drops but all the oil in the bike will remain in the crankcase for the most part. The silver thing IS a regulator... not sure what bike but the wires should join/tee with wires going to your rectifier... should be finned thing and out of these will be a red wire I suspect going to both your battery and fuse or fuse block. As has been stated, the black/white on a Suzuki is a ground. Don't ground to the battery box but use a frame, engine or neg battery terminal ground. If grounding to the frame, make sure that you are not trying to ground to paint.
 
The carbs were just rebuilt and ran fine about a month ago. Could it be the throttle cables? If there is to much slack on the cables at rest? Or am I totally misunderstanding how this works? I probably am. :/
 
Throttle cables should have a bit of slack, especially the opening cable because if it is too tight, it will tend to open the throttle where not intended. You should be able to put your finger below the bracket where the cable attaches to the assembly and deflect the cable about 3/8" or so. If there is no slack, loosen a bit.
 
Ok. What about hoses? Improper air flow to the carbs will mess with them I hear. Is it true that there is a vacuum line on the tank (on the the fuel pet cock) that needs to be attached to the carbs?
 
Isaiah Ford said:
Ok. What about hoses? Improper air flow to the carbs will mess with them I hear. Is it true that there is a vacuum line on the tank (on the the fuel pet cock) that needs to be attached to the carbs?
Click to expand...
Your bike should have a vacuum operated petcock- one end of tubing connects to a fitting on #3 carb (sitting on bike, #3 carb is third one from left) and other end connects to petcock.

so carbs were rebuilt recently... and bike ran ok then? How's the inside of your tank look?
 
Great, the tank is beautiful, inside and out... The carbs, I opened em up, look brand spanking new and perfectly clean. Is it possible that this entire problem is because I failed to connect the vacuum line hose thereby failing to properly regulate fuel pressure-flow?

And that's a long story. It had the carbs rebuilt, fuel pet cock lever rebuilt (along with forks and a crap ton else) I took it to the Twin Cities, then I headed from Central WI to South Carolina. It ran great until around Kentucky, it kept bucking and losing power. It had a flat in Washington NC, and I had the intake boots, plugs, points, changed. They said the carbs were fouled up bad, so they cleaned them too. It worked ok for a bit, all the way to South Charleston. Where it died and I UHAULed it back to WI.

I changed the plugs, and it worked for about 20 miles. Then it wouldn't idle properly or even start. I pulled out the plugs and they were grotesquely fouled and appeared to have burnt oil on them (I changed the oil and put in exactly 2.54 quarts before I changed the plugs.

So it sounded like a valve problem... So I took everything off down to the crank case and cleaned-replaced-checked it. Put it all back together like the Clymer manual said... And here I am...

I have an engine that spins freely (it isn't seized), plugs that fire off beautifully, carbs that look great, etc.

But I have oil leaking out of the crank case cover on the left side, and a bike that doesn't seem to be getting gas. The gas part is what I am really concerned about...
 
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