A few problems

[Guest]

1983 suzuki GS450L D


Problem 1. No oil pressure lamp it just doesnt come on.

Problem 2. The neutral 1st and 2nd indicators only work
When cold

Problem 3. Bike was running good put it in the shop, 3 days later I went to start it and had no spark hadn't touched anything since I parked it there i just wiggled everything around everywhere had momentary spark for about 10 seconds then it disappeared. After cranking it and more wiggling it decide to come alive and ran for about 30 miles no issue.


Someones been in the engine at some point the screw on the cam adjuster is deformed on the flat blade part for the set screw. According to my manual you release the screw only 1/4th of a turn from tight then lock the lock nut.


Can I do any PM now and prevent engine death like on honda goldwings the timing belts are the first thing you want to change.


Thanks,
Mr.Katz

[tom203]

Have you stumbled across Basscliff's site for a wiring diagram?

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/

The oil sender grounds out with no pressure...and light should glow. The gear indicator behaves similarly for each position. The gear display supplies positive power to each lightbulb...which in turn gets grounded out at the indicator .
What were you wiggling to get it to run?
For safety ,check the camchain tensioner properly....sounds like someone has messed up, a very common problem. They might not have understood proper lockscrew/locknut setup.

[LAB3]

Intermittent electrical glitches are a pain to deal with. Your best course of action is to go through all the electrical connectors on your bike and clean them up, take the time to open up the headlight bucket! Even if something looks good through the plastic cover pull it apart anyhow.

While your at it, trace along the wiring and look for chafed wires that might be shorting out. Keep in mind that if you find a short of bad connector that doesn't nesessarily mean you found them all.

[Redman]

1. Oil Pressure Light
You can do some testing of the oil pressure light circuit by removing the connector (grn/yel wire) from the sensor. Ground it out (not put power to it) to simulate the switch closing on low oil pressure to turn on the light.

2. Gear Position Lights
Similar for the gear position lights. THe switch is low on the engine, behind-under the cover by gear shift (or at least it is on 4 cylinder engines). Is on rotary swtich for al lthe gears and for neutral. THe netural is on a separate wire and all the gear circuits are in the same harness-connector. Test the circuit by grounding out the wire (not put power to it).
See schematic for color codes.

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/

1 & 2: Maybe no one has ever changed bulbs as they have burnt out over the years.
If you have a lot of bulbs burn out recently, I would suspect problem charging system having high voltage. Chack battery voltage at 4000 rpm.

3. Intermittent Ignition
Wide range of possible causes.
3a. Easiest to deal with is spark plugs.
3b. Most often overlooked ignition problem is the spark plug caps. They pull-twist off the end of the wire, and can be checked with ohm meter. SHould be about 5K ohms (5000 ohms). THey go higher ohms (10k, 20k) with mileage and heat and then fail completely open (infinite).
Are about 4 - 5 bucks each. I dont know the NGK part numbers needed for the 2 cylinder engines. You can get them at any mocycle parts dealer, are not Suzuki parts.
Also look at end of wires after pull caps off. See if the strands are all there all the way to the end. Cut off about 1/4-3/8 to get to fresh strands if need.
Neither of 3a nor 3b is going to be effected by "wiggling things around".

[Redman]

PM: Most important PM that gets overlooked is checking valve clearance. THe valve clearnace can get reduced over the miles, and can get reduced to zero, and then after that valve doesn't fully close, and if exhaust valve bad enough it gets burnt and fails.

[MrKatz]

So after some more fiddling around the main issue I'm experiencing now is a very rhythmic tap knock at idle from what I'm thinking is the left side of the engine as soon as the revs are up at all its non existent but it's very tappy at idle I will attempt to upload a YouTube video of the noise but it sounds like a wrist pin knock I've taken the valve cover off and nothing is out of place the cam chain is correct tension and placement wise. It's much worse after warmed up.

[MrKatz]

I will check valve clearances according to manual

[John Park]

So after some more fiddling around the main issue I'm experiencing now is a very rhythmic tap knock at idle from what I'm thinking is the left side of the engine as soon as the revs are up at all its non existent but it's very tappy at idle I will attempt to upload a YouTube video of the noise but it sounds like a wrist pin knock I've taken the valve cover off and nothing is out of place the cam chain is correct tension and placement wise. It's much worse after warmed up.

Welcome to GS cam walk noise. On a Twin, it usually manifests itself when the bike is leaned over - side stand - but can happen anyway. It is irrelevant but annoying. If the noise goes TAP TAP Tap Tap tap tap tap ta ta......ta ta TapTAp TAP TAP TAP in a cyclical fashion it is definitely cam walk. If it is totally steady then it's probably something else. Try leaning the bike to different sides and if the noise changes it's cam walk.

What happens is that the cam lobes and bucket centres are offset in order to make the buckets rotate. This presents a continuously differing surface to avoid wear, but also induces a bit of lateral flick to the camshaft which can bounce off the bearing bosses. There's not much you can do to entirely stop it forever. Speeding up the idle a bit may get you above it; I think spec is 1100 rpm.

I got rid of mine when I went to GS500 replacement shims which look to be of a different metal and may be more precise, but that may not work for you.

If the noise is regular it could be a number of things. But it's hard to think of anything that would magically go away above idle.

[LAB3]

Mine makes that noise too, usually after changing the oil without also changing the filter. Life on the road often makes a filter hard to find, I've tried carrying one with me but they inevitably get crushed or wet. Usually both!