Bike Died Mid-Ride

[Guest]

I acquired an 81' gs850 a little under a month ago and spent a few weeks cleaning and getting it road worthy. The owner had previous let it sit unridden for about a year. I got her started, let it warm up for a few minutes. and then headed out around the block to ride it for the first time. After about a few minutes, she bike just turned off and had no power. I assumed the battery was low and it just needed to be charged, no problem. The next day, I got my battery checked at an autozone for a second opinion, but it turned out it was 100% okay. The battery was holding a full charge and had full cranking apms.

When I put the battery back in, the bike stopped working. When the key's at the on position, the instrument panel doesn't come on. Some times, it does, it's a 50/50 chance. When it does come on, I try to start it, but there is no cranking noise. Only a single "clack" from the solenoid. I checked the wiring, and that's where my nightmare began..

I talked to the owner later that day, and he failed to mention that he let an idiot fix his bike. I should have noticed this before, but the wiring is some of the worst work I've ever seen. Instead of butt-end or bullet connectors, it was just spliced wires held together with duct tape (yup, duct tape, not electrical tape). A tons of wires don't match the clymer's diagram and existed in places they weren't supposed to. To make things an even bigger CF, a lot of the wired leading from the harness was clearly after market wiring and didn't match colors.

The original owner said he rode the bike home after he let that wack-job rewire it, and it worked fine which didn't raise any concerns. Therefore, he never checked the cruddy wiring job I'm dealing with now.

If the bike previously worked like a charm for the past owner, what could have possibly happened for my bike to get like this? I've done nothing but replace fluids, swap out handle bars, clean the carbs, and taken off a fairing.

Thank you for your patience and help.

[tom203]

Let's just say the PO has dumped the problems on you. Always best to give a bike a good lookover before buying- you would have noticed the crude wiring and been left to wonder.
Electrical system probably has the potential of multiple shorts and mix and match wiring colors are time consuming to sort out. Consider getting a complete harness off ebay.
Put your location in your signature (upper left of this box User Cp) - maybe there's a member here to give you hands on support.

I doubt the bike "worked like a charm for the previous owner"

[Qhergt]

Check the main fuse?

[koolaid_kid]

Personally, I agree with Tom. Spend weeks going over the harness, replacing connectors, tracing wires, etc. Or just replace the thing and start fresh. I would choose option two.

[robertbarr]

Brace yourself for an ugly sight, and remove the headlight. See what kind of variety of nightmares await you there.

[matt1100]

Not sure what the cylmer manual diagram looks like, the diagrams on Cliff's site are good. I know there is a colored one someone made for my bike. If you want a reliable machine you will have to go through it thoroughly as suggested, a wire at a time. At a minimum, I would redo every connection, I strip em', twist em' around each other, solder the joint, and heat shrink em', its a pain to get beck into later but I guarantee they dont vibrate loose. Good Luck

[Killer2600]

If the bike previously worked like a charm for the past owner, what could have possibly happened for my bike to get like this? I've done nothing but replace fluids, swap out handle bars, clean the carbs, and taken off a fairing.

Thank you for your patience and help.

You touched it, therefore you broke it...You buy, you break

Well you could just take it to the hack that hacked up the wires, he would best understand his work and maybe fix it with some more duct tape (didn't you know duct tape fixes EVERYTHING).

You could also spend loads of time and redo the wiring all your own after which the next owner that takes a look at the wiring will likely themself call a hack job if it is anything but OEM exact from 30+ years ago.

Or you could do what I'd do and find and fix the problem, wiring doesn't have to be pretty to work and I've fixed lots of pretty wiring that didn't work. Admit I will I do like fixing organized wiring over a rats nest of generic same color and unlabeled wiring.

[posplayr]

I would get a new harness and make the recommended upgrades

[hoburger]

Thank you for all of the advice, everyone. I redid most of the shoddy wiring, and organized the wiring under the headlight. Upon closer examination, I found that the main fuse actually had indeed blown. It was small, but it was blown. I replaced it today, but there was still no power. I'm in the current process of checking my wiring from the fuse box to my key, because that's where the problem seems to lie. Any tips or ideas, shoot them my way.

[chuck hahn]

Take the baqck cap off the ignition switch and see if the red wire has come unsoldered or its loose...my 77 750 had the red wire come off just as I was pulling into work one day.

A resoldering job fixed the problem.

[Steve]

I'm in the current process of checking my wiring from the fuse box to my key, because that's where the problem seems to lie. Any tips or ideas, shoot them my way.

Under the tank, near the steering stem, is a four-pin connector. The wires in the connector are red, orange, gray and brown. Check the red and orange wires in particular. The red wire comes from the MAIN fuse and goes to the ignition switch. The orange wire goes from the ignition switch back to the fuse box to power the other three fuses.

You can check the whole system without removing the tank by checking for power at the three non-MAIN fuses: LIGHTS, SIGNALS and IGNITION. If you have power on them, then the four-pin connector is probably OK. If you have power at the MAIN fuse but not the others, check the connector and possibly the switch itself.

.

[850 Combat]

You might advertize for a 80 to 81 GS 850G or GS1000G wiring harness and replace it. I did that with my '81 GS1000G. Got a very usable '80 harness cheap, with a couple switch pods and ignitors thrown in. Piece of cake. Using an '80 harness, Ihad to add another wire for the running lights on my 1981, but that was it.

[nejeff]

Thank you for all of the advice, everyone. I redid most of the shoddy wiring, and organized the wiring under the headlight. Upon closer examination, I found that the main fuse actually had indeed blown. It was small, but it was blown. I replaced it today, but there was still no power. I'm in the current process of checking my wiring from the fuse box to my key, because that's where the problem seems to lie. Any tips or ideas, shoot them my way.

If you need a main wiring harness contact me. I have one off an 80' 850L and it is in pretty good shape.

[Steve]

If you need a main wiring harness contact me. I have one off an 80' 850L and it is in pretty good shape.

The L harness is only a little different than the G harness. I think the main difference is in the length of the leads to the rear lights. The G has all the connectors under the tail piece, the L has connectors closer to the battery and much longer leads to the lights.

Still, it would be much easier, and cleaner, to adapt just a few wires than what seems to be there now, according to your description.

.