Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Sudden no spark, died while riding. Ignitor substitutes/replacement?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Sudden no spark, died while riding. Ignitor substitutes/replacement?

    I recently brought a barn find gs450lx back from the dead, the entire wiring harness was chewed, corroded, and shoddily repaired Far past repair. So I decided to start from scratch. I thought it would be beneficial to build a new harness for the ignition complements first, coils, regulator ignitor etc. And then a separate one for accessories. (Which I haven't done yet)

    And so I did. Spent about a week wiring all the components it should need to run and after some cranking and yanking she fired up for the first time since 2015. And so I started puttering her around the neighborhood. Even goosed her on some straight and got her up to 65. And man She ran great, started with just a short flick of the switch with no choke and idled Smooth as butter. Now I've put about 60 miles on it

    But my car broke so I suddenly had to get to work on the bike. I hadn't yet put in the accessories harness so I decided to just jerry rig the brake light switch, and depend on hand signals. and luckily didn't work any shifts that would leave me riding in the dark. I just stole some hot from the fused connection coming from the battery and grounded to the frame. Brake switch worked and so I went to bed with plans to ride to work the next day for the first time

    I should also add that I changed plugs, I was told to try E3.31s. But I noticed that with those plugs I really had to mess with the throttle to fire it up. And it wouldn't idle till it warmed up. Anyway. I' go to start it the morning after doing all this the previous night, and the battery is dead. I had a warranty so I walk across the street to orielys and get another and get the bike started.

    I make it about 10 minutes down the road, and it dies on me. Pull over and I have zero spark and a blown fuse, I pull plugs and the E3s are naaaaasty which I've heard about is an issue they have. But I replace the fuse disconect the brake light switch, still no spark with the E3s, but even the maybe 1.5 miles I put on them had them more fouled than the ones they replaced.

    I get the bike trailered home then get a ride to work, i return home and decide to see if the spark just can't get though the nastiness of the E3s. And find that my brand new Battery has died, preventing me from testing if my old NGKs the bike ran great on will spark. Leading to to conclude that there is a parasitic draw. And the plugs are only a small part of the issue. My worry is I somehow fried the regulator, which is fairly cheap to replace, or God forbid the ignitor unit. Which I can't find for less than 200, used and not in the best shape.

    So does any body know where i can find info on how to test either, I was planning to replace the regulator anyways with a newer one just for reliability sake. But for the ignitor I would prefer to get a upgraded module instead,hopefully cheaper. As a NEW unit Is pretty high in the hundreds. are there units from other bikes that will fit? Will any unit with the same amount of wires work just the same? Is there a conversion I can do to use a newer more available parts? I work on cars and the same MSD kit will fit dozens of cars. So surely I don't HAVE to use the exact same nippondeso ignitor that a 1981 gs450lx came with from the factory came with. Right?? RIGHT??

    #2
    Better slow down…likely have multiple issues on these old critters.Start here with some reading.

    1A) (NEW) Trying to diagnose running problems on a bike with an unknown maintenance history. Common maintenance items like clean carbs, properly adjusted valves, no air leaks in the intake system (airbox, carb boots), a clean gas tank (no rust), and a properly functioning petcock are 100% mandatory for the bike to run properly.

    1981 gs650L

    "We are all born ignorant, but you have to work hard to stay stupid" Ben Franklin

    Comment


      #3
      You're going to have to narrow it down a bit...Good Shop Manual for 450 here lots of useful info including wire diagrams:
      GS450 Official Service Manual PDF
      also
      BikeCliff's Website

      Comment

      Working...
      X