Instrument panel and signals dead

[elkon]

Hello folks,

Late last year my '80 GS850 was involved in an incident. The prior owner had done some wiring and used what he had laying around I believe. Long story short I had to jump the battery and was not paying attention. Instead of looking for the symbols on the battery I just went by color.

I blew one of the fuses on the left side of the bike. I replaced it and was able to correctly jump the bike and get it home. I decided I might want to get around to fixing everything so I trickle charged the battery all day and the bike fired up (a bit slow but its cold in PA for that bike).

I have a headlamp but no lights on the instrument panel and my signals do not work. Is there a fuse location other than the left side near battery (they are all good now (at least eyeballing them)) or does it sound as if I fired ?something?

Thanks,

Elk

[tkent02]

Those are the only fuses on the bike, but test them, sometimes they look fine but don't work.
I wouldn't think the little bulbs would care which way the battery was connected, so I don't think they would have all burned out. Maybe some connector got a little cooked?

[bonanzadave]

Go ahead and change all the fuses. Cheap insurance. Look at the turn sig bulbs too. Make sure the oil pressure connector is on the sender.

[Riklib]

I dont' know about the rest but I might help with the turn signals. I just fixed mine. it was the little tiny ground screw inside the lights. Take the cover off, next to the socket is a small ground screw, just tighten it a little. As far as the fuses go i had a temporary fix when my fuse box went bad.You can, "Temporarily" place another fuse in between the fuse holders.If everything starts to work as normal replace your fuse box.

[Bustedknuckles]

if you can, take the back cover off your gauge , pull out one of the little light bulbs and hook the light up directly to a power source... if it works than you know its not the bulbs or the wires attached to the bulbs... you did mention the PO did some of his own wiring. maybe a wire is loose or grounding out somewhere. if you can, pop the gas tank off and check out everything.

just like many GS'ers before me have said "you have to get methodical"

start checking things one by one making sure they work until you finally come across something that doesnt... and you'll figure it out.

and listen to bonanzadave just go ahead and replace all of your fuses, its cheap insurance and guaruntees that THATS not the problem...

also, im not sure exactly how your bike is wired but it may be some sort of loose "master ground wire" for the lights... or maybe like previous posters have stated a fried connection somewhere, hopefully not your fuse box...

hope some of this helps

[elkon]

Fuses replaced. I am still in the troubleshooting phase. I got full functionality and went on a test run. About 1 min in everything went out so i turned around. the lights came back by the time I returned. After more "fiddling" It seems there is a loose ish connection somewhere. I am going to take advantage of the weather this weekend to hopefully figure this out.

[terrylee]

Might want to clean your ignition switch. May not be problem, but I kept losing all electric and the bike would even die and then everything start working for no reason. l replaced the switch and no problems since. Even if it's not the problem it is a good idea to take it apart and clean on the contacts inside. terrylee

[elkon]

I tentatively have it solved. I think the bracket the fuse sits in was / is a bit loose. I was "jiggling" wires and was unable to replicate the issue. I moved the fuse and they went out. After pulling the fuse and squeezing the bracket to make a tighter fit it worked fine.