Embarrassing, but we all need to start somewhere: How do I start my GS750?

[chuck hahn]

Another tip...the bike is air cooled, so if you want to run it for more than a few minutes you need to have a few house fans on high blowing air from the front of the engine. Set one on each side of the forks on highest speed so it doesnt over heat.

[BassCliff]

Hi,

An old, neglected bike with an unknown service history requires lots of maintenance. You received your "mega-welcome" in this thread. Have you gone through the maintenance lists and ensured all tasks were completed properly?


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[G.S.Joe]

Nope. I'm East Coast and get up at 5AM. After no luck jumping from a car battery I said good night. But I do appreciate the help and this will be the next try.

Did you get as far as shorting across the selinoid posts yet??

[G.S.Joe]

I've done a bit, but there's no way I'm touching anything with relating to the intake/carb/engine without knowing how to start the bike. After my first bit of maintenance I don't want to have to guess whether I did it wrong or if I just don't know how to start my bike.

Hi,

An old, neglected bike with an unknown service history requires lots of maintenance. You received your "mega-welcome" in this thread. Have you gone through the maintenance lists and ensured all tasks were completed properly?


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[hjfisk]

Where in western Mass are you located? I'm not far away .I Might be able to help you.

[850 Combat]

First, put a battery in it. Dont charge the battery with more than 2 amps. It should be full choke, no throttle. I have personally blown two motorcycle solenoids by starting a bike by jumping it with a car. I don't understand why that happened, but I do know that it did. It the neutral light is on, it should have the ignition on.

[G.S.Joe]

Where in western Mass are you located? I'm not far away .I Might be able to help you.

I'm in Chester. Best I can describe it is about 1/2 way between Pittsfield and Springfield.

[G.S.Joe]

First, put a battery in it. Dont charge the battery with more than 2 amps. It should be full choke, no throttle. I have personally blown two motorcycle solenoids by starting a bike by jumping it with a car. I don't understand why that happened, but I do know that it did. It the neutral light is on, it should have the ignition on.

The old battery is so low that my charger won't recognize it. I'm going to be doing the cafe thing so I don't want to buy a new battery and all the 35 year-old goodies that go along with the electric start unless I need to. If I can start it by kicking, great. If not...

[G.S.Joe]

So I've got quite the wet garage right now and have no intention of jumping it from a car battery in these conditions. I did however generally inspect a but more and found the right-most plug wire to fit poorly over the spark plug. Looks like the female connector is missing the pin that hold contact, so that needs to be replaced. What is the likelyhood of one non-firing cylinder preventing the bike from not starting? Also, for ****s I grounded the spark wire to the engine and kicked. I do have spark!

[BassCliff]

Hi,

If there is not enough voltage at the coils due to a dead battery, the spark plugs will not have a strong enough spark to ignite whatever air/fuel mixture that might sneak into the cylinders through gummy carbs and too-tight valves.

One of the maintenance items suggests to replace the spark plug caps.

It will be easy to start once all of the maintenance has been performed.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[chuck hahn]

It will start on 3..but yes sometime rather begrudgingly.
The wet garage floor is no problem. Just hook up the cables and short the two posts across on the starter selinoid..it should fire up.

The missing end that grips the plug just screws in to the cap. What cylinder is it missing on? I will PM you my number and I can tell you some fixes. I would be more than happy to chat.

You wont get electricuted or anything.