New to me GS450L!

[Guest]

Acquired this '82 GS450L a week ago! Runs great. Fires right up, but battery not holding a charge (and not charging while revving). A new battery and the stator papers await (as do new carb boots, o rings, cleaned contacts)...

I love the bike, but I can't stand the handlebars, and want to install something more reasonable (superbike or daytona?). I also want to install an ss braided line when I do the bar swap, but I'm wondering if the stock master cylinder will work on the new bars, given the angle. Anyone know if it will work, or can share any suggestions/input/hard-learned-lessons? Then I will need to sort out the cables...

In the meantime, I will be L-cruising around.

Brap,

Mr. Ules.

GS450L.jpg

[geol]

I have an 80 GS1000GL (L model) and changed bars to some that were less tall and didn't have the pullback of the OEM buckhorn bars and the m/c works fine. As far as what to do about the electrical issue... many times the previous owner will buy a new battery to get the bike sold so just hold off a bit. Here is what I would do... first fully charge your battery using a 1A trickle charger (over night):

1. using a multimeter on VDC scale in lowest scale (mine is 20VDC I think), start the bike and put the probes on the battery terminals. Pos to pos and neg to neg, of course. See what voltage you get at idle. Should be a bit more than 12.5VDC. Then rev engine to 4.5K rpm and check again. You should see 14.5VDC or so. If you see significantly less or more, the regulator/rectifier is likely shot. If you see the values needed to charge the bike, then check the battery FIRST.

2. to check your battery you can take it to an autoparts store OR buy a small hydrometer. Looks like an eyedropper and will come with a small hose. If your battery fluid is topped off it works great. Put the small hose in the cell and draw in some fluid. Small motorcycle batteries are prone to failure if they sit for awhile as the cells will get white stuff on them and will no longer hold a charge. When you draw in some fluid, there are four colored balls in the eyedropper part. If ANY do not float, the cell is bad or nearly bad and the battery should be tossed. OK, let's say your battery is peachy keen!

3. You have two or three legs coming off your stator (alternator). With the bike not running, undo the wires from the harness (usually going to the reg/rec) and take your multimeter and put it in Ohms scale. Touch the probes together and see what the meter does. The meter will read some fluctuating numbers... this is normal and it shows you have continuity... Now, if you have three wires coming off the stator, call them A, B and C. Put your probes on A & B ends and if you see continuity, that is the fluctuating numbers, the stator is toast as the insulation on the windings is shot and the wires are touching. Get a new stator. Repeat fo A & C and then B & C, etc. Continuity is BAD... if you get a solid ONE (1) on the meter, for all three leg combos, this is good as it means there is no shorts. OK... you stator checks out...

4. A stator produces a magnetic field which can disappear under certain circumstances or get weak. Causes are heating and banging with a hammer or just old age/heat. Start your bike with the three (or two as the case may be) leads undone and put the positive probe on the first lead and the other on ground (like your neg battery terminal) and the meter on AC. You should see maybe 30-40 VAC on each leg... on this number I am not sure as I am not a 450 guy. Look up the spec in your service manual but if you don't have one, consider less than 20 VAC a tired stator on any leg and much less, a dead stator not producing enough juice. Replace the stator and go back and re-check things from step one as there may be multiple contributing problems.

[mrules]

I'll go through that procedure to test the battery and charging system. PO had the r/r replaced a year ago (I have the service paperwork), but it looks to be an OEM / stock replacement, and from what I've read on the forum here, a bad stator will just fry a good r/r, and I should probably upgrade to a series r/r.

I won't bang on the stator with a hammer until I know for sure that it's toast.

I'll give the stock master cylinder a shot when I do the bar swap.

Thanks for the info.!

[John Park]

I have an 80 GS1000GL (L model) and changed bars to some that were less tall and didn't have the pullback of the OEM buckhorn bars and the m/c works fine. As far as what to do about the electrical issue... many times the previous owner will buy a new battery to get the bike sold so just hold off a bit. Here is what I would do... first fully charge your battery using a 1A trickle charger (over night):

1. using a multimeter on VDC scale in lowest scale (mine is 20VDC I think), start the bike and put the probes on the battery terminals. Pos to pos and neg to neg, of course. See what voltage you get at idle. Should be a bit more than 12.5VDC. Then rev engine to 4.5K rpm and check again. You should see 14.5VDC or so. If you see significantly less or more, the regulator/rectifier is likely shot. If you see the values needed to charge the bike, then check the battery FIRST.

2. to check your battery you can take it to an autoparts store OR buy a small hydrometer. Looks like an eyedropper and will come with a small hose. If your battery fluid is topped off it works great. Put the small hose in the cell and draw in some fluid. Small motorcycle batteries are prone to failure if they sit for awhile as the cells will get white stuff on them and will no longer hold a charge. When you draw in some fluid, there are four colored balls in the eyedropper part. If ANY do not float, the cell is bad or nearly bad and the battery should be tossed. OK, let's say your battery is peachy keen!

3. You have two or three legs coming off your stator (alternator). With the bike not running, undo the wires from the harness (usually going to the reg/rec) and take your multimeter and put it in Ohms scale. Touch the probes together and see what the meter does. The meter will read some fluctuating numbers... this is normal and it shows you have continuity... Now, if you have three wires coming off the stator, call them A, B and C. Put your probes on A & B ends and if you see continuity, that is the fluctuating numbers, the stator is toast as the insulation on the windings is shot and the wires are touching. Get a new stator. Repeat fo A & C and then B & C, etc. Continuity is BAD... if you get a solid ONE (1) on the meter, for all three leg combos, this is good as it means there is no shorts. OK... you stator checks out...

4. A stator produces a magnetic field which can disappear under certain circumstances or get weak. Causes are heating and banging with a hammer or just old age/heat. Start your bike with the three (or two as the case may be) leads undone and put the positive probe on the first lead and the other on ground (like your neg battery terminal) and the meter on AC. You should see maybe 30-40 VAC on each leg... on this number I am not sure as I am not a 450 guy. Look up the spec in your service manual but if you don't have one, consider less than 20 VAC a tired stator on any leg and much less, a dead stator not producing enough juice. Replace the stator and go back and re-check things from step one as there may be multiple contributing problems.

I think this post is, well, how can I put it politely? Just disregard the whole thing and delve into the stator and electrical info on this site.

[Gorminrider]

Hi,mrules! Nice example of a 450! I can't see your master cylinder to see if it's very different from any of mine or just how extreme you figure to go with handle bars...but I find they don't have to be perfectly level...as long as the fluid covers the mechanism when the bike is leaned while not being to a level past the cap when rifing upright seems ok to me.....but there's quite few pictures around the site just to start, here:

http://www.thegsresources.com/pg_srch.php

from the GS homepage and there are many threads on "L"s custom modifications ...personally, I wouldn't change your bike much...I'd look at "T's" and not so far as to go the cafe' route...

PS @ geol...if your meter is "fluctuating when leads are crossed" , Maybe it's time to either rebuild the leads, check the cleanliness of lead connections, or buy a new meter

[mrules]

Thanks Gorminrider! I'm going to go through the stator papers and make sure everything is sorted. As for the bars, I think I can go with something that keeps me upright, but doesn't have quite the rise and pullback of the stock bars. I'll check out the "T's." Definitely not looking at clubmans or clipons. I don't feel like I have proper control with the bars that are on there, and I can't even go WOT because of how they position my wrist.