no power need help

[mcathey]

I have a 1980 GS850L , i was riding yesterday looked down no lights still running pulled over figured blown fuse shut her down sure enough blown fuse replaced fuse (2nd from bottom) turn key nothing no lights nothing..put on new fully charged battery replaced ground from battery cleand fuse box, looked/cleaned all connections still nothing...found thread to test ignition switch jump orange and red wire still no lights...i have a volt meter not good at using plz help...thanks mike
PS never joined site but have been reading for years great site i have rebuild my carbs and checked electrical even have a r/r from dunage.

[BassCliff]

Greetings and Salutations!!

Hi Mr. mcathey,

I would start by trying to figure out which fused circuit is giving you the trouble. Pull all the fuses out except the main fuse. Are you getting 12v there? If so, put in the ignition fuse. Are you getting 12v there? To get a better idea see this tip: Simplify The Wiring Diagram. It could be the ignition switch itself has gone bad or a connection is loose.

Anyway, let me dump a TON if information on you and share some GS lovin'.

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[mcathey]

It was the fuse ignition fuse it was making a good connection fixed that fired right up with all the lights working....shut it off put all the wires back put the key in all the lights work hit the starter button nothing damn....rechecked all connetion all good tried to restart still nothing when i hit the starter button still have all my lights thou.....now what .......i tried a jumper on the starter solinoid (bad speller) and the starter cranked......so i am thinking either starter switch or solinoid
can anyone tell me how to test each
And thanks for the info

[tom203]

It was the fuse ignition fuse it was making a good connection fixed that fired right up with all the lights working....shut it off put all the wires back put the key in all the lights work hit the starter button nothing damn....rechecked all connetion all good tried to restart still nothing when i hit the starter button still have all my lights thou.....now what .......i tried a jumper on the starter solinoid (bad speller) and the starter cranked......so i am thinking either starter switch or solinoid
can anyone tell me how to test each
And thanks for the info

Do you still have a clutch safety switch ( no cranking unless you pull in clutch) ? Could be this or the kill switch which would explain a blown ignition fuse i.

[Redman]

.
..
.......i tried a jumper on the starter solinoid (bad speller) and the starter cranked......so i am thinking either starter switch or solinoid
can anyone tell me how to test each
And thanks for the info

When you jumpreed the starter solnoid, did you jumper betwween the two big terminals? If so, that bypasses everything and essentailly cponnects the starer motor to the battery, so that proves the starter is good.

Try jumpring the big termonal (one to/from battery) to the small termoinal. If the solenoid clicks, like it should when you hit the starter buitton, then you know the solenoid would click if the starter button was putting power to the solenoid .....

Also keep in mind that the starter cirucit is :
ignition fuse
to kill switch
to starter button
to clutch switch
to solenoid.
And solenod is "grounded" to the battery box, but battery box may not be well grounded so have a ground wire from wring harness, but sometimes that ground wire is damaged or not making good connection.

Sometimes that clutch swtihc wears out and falls apart, sometimes it just quits working and sometimes it falls apart and grounds out and blows fuse (the ignition fuse). Maybe that is what is going on with your bike.

If you suspect the clutch switch is not working, you can find its connector (in headlight shell), disconnect it, and jumper out where it unplugged from.
Or you can just try wioggling the clutch lever, and it may start working again, or it may blow fuse again.

.

[Big T]

When you say you cleaned the fuse panel, are you talking about the connectors?

Take the panel off, take the back off and see if the connections are good, or if they look overheated

Also, remove your ignition switch,, turn it over, take the bottom off (real easy) until you get to the contacts. Clean all the contacts and reassemble