'80 GS450 twin, electrical issues

[pete]

Ummm you do have the kill switch in the *run* position right?

I had to completely dismantle my ignition and right controls and clean the guts with contact cleaner to get good connections in there. Combined they were losing me about 2 volts.

I believe that clutch safety switch is wired in with all the wiring in the headlight bucket and consists of bullet connectors. If that's the case, I believe you can simply unplug them and plug the harness side of the connectors together to bypass the switch. Can't help much more than that as mine doesn't have one either...

[Trevor76]

Didn't get to work on the bike at all since my last post, had to catch up on sleep.
I'm at work now (on break) but thought I'd throw a few thoughts out there...

I will take the control housings off and make sure that all of the internals are clean.
The bars on my bike are black, presumably aftermarket. Should I sand the paint off where the controls mount to make sure that there is a good connection?

If the horn is not functional, could it interrupt the circuit?

Also, the aftermarket signals I mounted are the standard two-wire type. Two of the signals have one green wire and one sky blue, the other pair have green wires and orange. Dunno why they wouldn't just have the standard red/black, but I assumed the green were the negative. I will try to switch it around so that all of the green wires are routed to positive and see what happens...

Also I will just bypass that clutch safety switch as I always cover the clutch when i throw a leg over a bike anyhow...

Hopefully tomorrow I can get a bit of time before work to look things over and see if I have any luck.

[pete]

Didn't get to work on the bike at all since my last post, had to catch up on sleep.
I'm at work now (on break) but thought I'd throw a few thoughts out there...

I will take the control housings off and make sure that all of the internals are clean.
The bars on my bike are black, presumably aftermarket. Should I sand the paint off where the controls mount to make sure that there is a good connection?

Nup, the grounds are all done via the main harness, there is no ground provided by the controls themselves.

If the horn is not functional, could it interrupt the circuit?

Well, while it really depends on why it isn't functional, generally I would say no... if you're not sure just disconnect it.

Also, the aftermarket signals I mounted are the standard two-wire type. Two of the signals have one green wire and one sky blue, the other pair have green wires and orange. Dunno why they wouldn't just have the standard red/black, but I assumed the green were the negative. I will try to switch it around so that all of the green wires are routed to positive and see what happens...

If they're standard incandescent bulbs (not LED's), then it actually doesn't matter which is which as the bulbs don't have a specific polarity. Unless of course one wire is obviously grounded and therefore you need to make sure that doesn't get connected to positive.

Also I will just bypass that clutch safety switch as I always cover the clutch when i throw a leg over a bike anyhow...

Hopefully tomorrow I can get a bit of time before work to look things over and see if I have any luck.

Sounds like a plan on the clutch switch, I don't like idiot-proof switches as they tend to prove I'm an idiot...

[Trevor76]

Yeah, I didn't think it mattered which wire went to +/- for the signals, as touching either wire to the positive terminal will cause them to light. I'm really just trying to eliminate any possible causes...

So I'm kinda at a loss here.

I did invest in a better multimeter today, hopefully it will make diagnosis a little faster/easier. I guess the next step is to disconnect everything and double check continuity through the entire harness.

A little tedious maybe but shouldn't take too long and I'll chalk it up to a learning experience.

Also I will bo back through the "stator papers" and see if anything there helps.

[pete]

All I can say is before I put my harness back on the bike, I went through every single connector, sprayed with contact cleaner, and plugged/unplugged several times to make sure there were good connections.

I also cleaned the guts of all the controls and switches where possible.

There's gotta be some little thing we're missing somewhere

[OldVet66]

Green is universally accepted as ground (earth).

[Trevor76]

Yeah I put a little dielectric grease on everything too, cleaned the horn connections with a wire brush. Everything that I rewired or repaired I did with heatshrink connectors and then tested for continuity...

I wonder if I am missing a ground connection somewhere.

I should have some time this evening to work on it, wish me luck!

[pete]

Yeah I put a little dielectric grease on everything too, cleaned the horn connections with a wire brush. Everything that I rewired or repaired I did with heatshrink connectors and then tested for continuity...

I wonder if I am missing a ground connection somewhere.

I should have some time this evening to work on it, wish me luck!

Sounds like you did the right things there

Let's hope it is something like a missing ground... good luck!

[Trevor76]

Regarding ground wires, I just remembered that the stock rear signals had a wire with ring terminals at each end, with one end bolted to the signal stalk and the other end to the frame...

I didn't fit such a setup to the new signals, usually the signals just ground to the frame through the mounting hardware, right?....

I doubt this could be the issue, but I'll try anything at this point.

[pete]

Hmmm... I think the ring terminal goes around the thread of the signal stalk and then there's a bullet that goes into the harness.

If I remember correctly the ground for those is actually with the rear brake light switch...

[Trevor76]

One of my rear signals had a ring on each end which I thought was strange.
The wiring diagram shows each signal being grounded to the frame and I wanted to clarify that this was accomplished by the metal stalk?

Anyhow I had some success last night. I just took the starter solenoid out of the equation and ran the fused line directly to the battery positive. Turned the key and sure enough I've got a headlight, brake light, signals and dummy lights.

The signals would not blink, however. They would simply stay lit. I've heard of this happening with LED lights but these are the standard dual filament type.
I tried two different relays, same result.

Also no lights behind the speedo and tach gauges.

No horn either.

I'll see if any of these issues are rectified when I start the bike and have the engine running, I have to pick up a new length of heavy gauge wire to make a battery positive cable -that one I had pictured earlier was too thick and won't allow me to fit the battery in its cage.

I think now that maybe I misunderstood the entire time what I was supposed to do with that fused wire -I thought that it tied in at the solenoid, not the battery itself.
So I had a lead running from battery positive to solenoid, and this fused wire running from solenoid to main harness, so that there were two ring terminals on the solenoid's post.
Maybe that IS what you guys were telling me to do, but for whatever reason I wasn't getting a good connection there

Actually I just looked at the schematic and that's EXACTLY how they've got it going on in the original setup so I really don't understand why it's not working for me...

http://www.bikebandit.com/1980-suzuk...6029#sch265782

(sorry for the link, can't get the schematic to copy/paste)

If you look at that drawing you'll see that part#8 is what I'm trying to replicate.

Also, I have part#7 accounted for -obviously it is the negative battery cable with a ground wire branching off of it -but what is #10? Yet another ground wire? Where does that one ground to?

[apopleptic]

10 is listed as ground wire body/earth

8 should be going to the starter relay and the fuse
Alpha Sports shows the discontinued items and is easier to link to.
Expensive to buy from though

[Trevor76]

Cool, thanks. I think maybe Bikebandit have somehow made it more difficult to link, I used to do it all the time when I was rebuilding the Honda.
And the fact that they don't list discontinued items is a drag as well, so I think I'll just replace them with Alphasports in my bookmarks.

So...basically there are a total of three wires coming off of the battery negative, one going to the starter motor and two of them to ground...do both of those grounds go to the same point?

Currently I have the ground wire from the negative lead, as well as the ground wire from the harness, bolted into the frame above and to the left of the battery. There is a hole in the frame there that appears to be for that exact purpose.

The way that this drawing shows the two ground wires coming off of the battery together leads me to believe that they are meant to bolt in at the same location, so I'll rig up another length of wire and do the same...

My question is, WHY? Why are there two ground wires travelling from the battery negative to a common ground point? Is it because the one tied into the battery negative is being used to ground the starter motor?

[apopleptic]

Cool, thanks. I think maybe Bikebandit have somehow made it more difficult to link, I used to do it all the time when I was rebuilding the Honda.
And the fact that they don't list discontinued items is a drag as well, so I think I'll just replace them with Alphasports in my bookmarks.

So...basically there are a total of three wires coming off of the battery negative, one going to the starter motor and two of them to ground...do both of those grounds go to the same point?

Currently I have the ground wire from the negative lead, as well as the ground wire from the harness, bolted into the frame above and to the left of the battery. There is a hole in the frame there that appears to be for that exact purpose.

The way that this drawing shows the two ground wires coming off of the battery together leads me to believe that they are meant to bolt in at the same location, so I'll rig up another length of wire and do the same...

My question is, WHY? Why are there two ground wires traveling from the battery negative to a common ground point? Is it because the one tied into the battery negative is being used to ground the starter motor?

I wouldn't replace, just add a new bookmark, and looking now at my wiring harness I can tell that the PO has made at least one modification to it, probably more. However it was working properly when I started taking the bike apart and I have taken alot of pictures along the way in hopes of making this useful to others. Still taking some even

That being said what I have off the negative terminal is one wire going to the bottom of the engine for ground. and one going into the wiring harness near the rear brake switch which is also connected to the same ground screw on the electrical plate as the igniter ground. in the harness I've traced it back as far as being the common ground for the turn signals.
there is also a connection on the frame next to the negative terminal on the battery that is connected to the other side of the bike to the electrical plate lower left mounting screw.
On the positive I have one connection going from the + terminal to the starter relay and the fuse and that is all. the other end of the starter relays is to the starter motor.
No negative connection to the starter relay.
My rear turn signals have one wire and then a terminal connector around the bolt on the stem that is connected to the wiring harness ground.
Let me know if you want any pictures of that or anything else.
Thanks!

[Trevor76]

Thank you, I'm going to make a new positive cable tonight and see where that gets me.

Maybe I can fire the bike up and see what lights up and what won't.