80 GS1100E all dash warning lites are on

[woodman]

On my 80 GS1100E all my dash warning lights are on, bike starts & runs fine, headlite , tail light & brakelite works but no turn signals. Anyone have an idea where to look first ? High beam light works but no neutral light. Bike had set 9 years, got it running & alls been working fine for 3 months until the other day. Engine is charging by voltmeter, battery is new

[hikermikem]

I would start be disconnecting, cleaning & then reconnecting all the electrical plugs/bullet connectors in the headlight bucket to see if that fixes the issue.

Of course, cleaning ALL the electrical connections is recomended. Apply dielectric grease to the connections after you clean them to prevent corrosion.

[Joe Nardy]

On my 80 GS1100E all my dash warning lights are on, bike starts & runs fine, headlite , tail light & brakelite works but no turn signals. Anyone have an idea where to look first ? High beam light works but no neutral light. Bike had set 9 years, got it running & alls been working fine for 3 months until the other day. Engine is charging by voltmeter, battery is new

OOH! OOH! I think I know this one!

I went through this a couple years ago on my '83 1100E. I think your '80 has a similar dashboard and black box control. If I remember correctly all the dash lights turn on with the key. When the engine is started, all the lights for functioning systems (headlight, taillight, battery, turn signals, oil pressure, etc.) SHOULD go out.

The question is "What tells the black box the engine is running?"

It took some time for me to figure this out but it is the oil pressure switch that tells the black box the engine is running and turns the lights off. The pressure switch is behind the cylinders, looks a bit like a spark plug without the ceramic. Don't confuse it with the oil TEMP sensor (if your bike has one). Simply unplugging the sensor should cause the lights to turn off. In my case I removed and cleaned the oil pressure switch and haven't had a problem since.

Thanks,
Joe

[woodman]

Ill try everything suggested, thanks for the help. Will advise what happens

[woodman]

I tried everything suggested, cleaning all the connections in the headlight and coating them with No-Ox. Connection at oil sender seems ok. Still no gas gauge, turnsignals, emergency flashers & all the dash warning lights are on. Gas gauge wires are hooked up. Bike starts & is perfectly rideable with headlight, tail light & brake light. Could it be something in the ignition switch ? I checked the turn signal switch & everything appears OK. I could try swapping the oil sender switch off my other bike I guess, just thought of it now. Sure could use some help guys ! Everything was working fine then this all started

[hikermikem]

There's a wiring diagram for that bike on Bassclif site.

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/images/GS1100wiringdia_.jpg

Make sure all your grounds are clean & tight.

Battery to frame
Frame to engine
Electical panel to frame/battery.

I had an issue once with my 1100 that turned out to be a bad connection between one of those funky little fuse holders in the headlight bucket. Strange little fuses, like 2A jobbies.

Good luck.

[woodman]

Will do, I checked that 2 amp fuse in the headlight bucket & it was good

[crazypaint]

had that prob with mine lol. had a buddie come over with his electircal knowledge and had to go thro everywire behind that headlight. u will find some open wires that were rubbed raw and maybe some wires that just stick out in the middle of no where that are suppost to be pluged in lol it sucked but thats what id recomend. i tried to half ass it and had to do it again lol. o ya if u do this get a case of beer and start before 5 so u got plenty of day light

[hikermikem]

It took some time for me to figure this out but it is the oil pressure switch that tells the black box the engine is running and turns the lights off. The pressure switch is behind the cylinders, looks a bit like a spark plug without the ceramic. Don't confuse it with the oil TEMP sensor (if your bike has one). Simply unplugging the sensor should cause the lights to turn off. In my case I removed and cleaned the oil pressure switch and haven't had a problem since.

Thanks,
Joe

I didn't see in your earlier post that you actually tested this component. As Joe says, unplugging the wire going to the oil pressure switch should make the lights go out... did it??

[woodman]

Well, I fixed it ! Now Ill see if I can explain it. I pulled the wire off the oil pressure switch, lights stayed on which led me to look at the turn signal fuse as my next step because I had already cleaned all the connections in the headlight bucket. I checked it & it showed bad, I ohmed it & it showed good. I then pulled the end off the fuse & it was broken {not burnt} but making contact some of the time. I replaced the fuse & everything is back to normal. Apprently all the power goes thru that fuse. I then ran new grounds from the regulator to negative side of battery, from there to the frame & from there to the engine. I dont understand everything I know about it but it all works so Ill call it good. Thanks for all the advise, it was a big help. Ill be the first to admit wiring isnt one of my strong points.

[hikermikem]

nice work... wiring on these old bikes can be a challenge, to say the least

Ironic that both of us with essentially the same bike had lighting issues, and both times it was fuse related... just goes to show you.

Excellent work to shore up the grounds.

[woodman]

When the lights didnt go out when I pulled the oil pressure wire off it made me think that maybe it had no power to it so then I started checking fuses, especially when I thought back and realsied that at first the problem was intermittent. The grounding was something Ive been going to do from reading Pos Players posts. I happened to be there so I figured Id do it while I had the chance. One wasnt really related to the other at least in my mind. Anyway I learned a few things on the way. Ive been working on Z1s & KZs for 37 years and this bike is my first Suzuki so Im kind of starting over in the learning curve