Bad Starter Solenoid?

[posplayr]

Alright, i've got some good news and some very annoying news. Good news is that I found the problem. It was a combination of grounding the solenoid and the old solenoid being bad. The bike will now fire up. All components are working except the stator. I'm not sure how to wire the stator because it and the rectifier have been replaced and the wire colors do not match. How can I go about figuring this out?

Now the annoying news. After all of the wiring harness repair, the initial problem that sparked the repair remains... The bike is not firing on cylinders 1 and 4. I ohmed the coils before breaking the bike down and they are good.

Is the signal generator/points the problem? Where should I go from here?

At least my wiring looks top notch now..

Look at GS Charging Health in my signature for recommended grounding between R/R battery, frame and harness. It did not come from the factory this way but it will help charging voltage to configure the grounds this way.

As is true about the positive side of the R/R not going directly to the battery, the same is true of the negative.

[yoshisakan]

Thanks for the stator advice, sounds easy enough. Ill just make sure no light can get into the wiring. Dont want the electrons getting confused.

As far as my firing problem, the bike intermittently will fire on all 4. I think that makes the ignitor the culprit rather than the points. What do you all think?

And by intermittently, I mean one in 10 starts it might fire on all 4.

[posplayr]

Which do you have ignitor or points?

[yoshisakan]

I have a signal generator (which i thought was called points) and what I thought was an ignitor, but the manual calls a transistor unit. The bike is a 1980 gs1100 16v, if that helps.

pg11-1

http://www.mtsac.edu/~cliff/storage/gs/80-83_GS1100T-LT-EX-1000SZ-EZ-SD-ED-ESD.pdf

Does this sound like a problem that a new Dyna S Ignition would solve? There is a store about 100mi away with one in stock. I could pick it up saturday and be on the road this weekend.

[Steve]

I have a signal generator (which i thought was called points) and what I thought was an ignitor, but the manual calls a transistor unit. The bike is a 1980 gs1100 16v, if that helps.

The signal generator(s) replace the points, sort of. They sit where the points used to, and send a signal to the ignitor, which is just a box of transistors that actually do the switching of electric current that the points used to do.

In a nutshell, the combination of signal generator and ignitor replaces the points of the older bikes.

Also, don't be confused by the term "ignitor". That box does not "ignite" anything. It's just some transistors that either allow or block current flow through the coils. Note that it is also NOT a "CDI", which was becoming popular in cars of the time.

.

[posplayr]

I have a signal generator (which i thought was called points) and what I thought was an ignitor, but the manual calls a transistor unit. The bike is a 1980 gs1100 16v, if that helps.

pg11-1

http://www.mtsac.edu/~cliff/storage/gs/80-83_GS1100T-LT-EX-1000SZ-EZ-SD-ED-ESD.pdf

Does this sound like a problem that a new Dyna S Ignition would solve? There is a store about 100mi away with one in stock. I could pick it up saturday and be on the road this weekend.

you have two options:

I think that older bike has an Ignitor in a metal can and it is not potted. You can try and take a soldering iron with solder and reflow the solder joints on the back. You take off the can to access the back of the board. Do this with the connector unplugged and off the bike.

On these older electronics, it is the solder joints that can break due to stress of vibration and fleure of the PCB. You juts go over each through hole solder jopint and reflow it. Takes about 15 minutes and put it pack in.

Other wise go get the Dyna S. But I would also do a Coil relay Mod as that seems to really help the bigger bikes especially the 1100's.

[yoshisakan]

Damn, I wish I knew whether that would fix it for sure or not. I may just replace it and the coils anyway.. Theres no guarantee reflowing the solder is going to fix it.

[posplayr]

Damn, I wish I knew whether that would fix it for sure or not. I may just replace it and the coils anyway.. Theres no guarantee reflowing the solder is going to fix it.

60-70% of the time that will fix older units like you have.

[yoshisakan]

60-70% of the time that will fix older units like you have.

Okay, is this the solder on the component inside that little black box? Or is it behind the signal generator. I will give it my best attempt. I am rather adept with a soldering iron and would prefer not having to drive 4 hours today and spending $320 in the process.

[posplayr]

Okay, is this the solder on the component inside that little black box? Or is it behind the signal generator. I will give it my best attempt. I am rather adept with a soldering iron and would prefer not having to drive 4 hours today and spending $320 in the process.

solder on the solder side. With a decent/clear iron you should just have to touch each pad.

[yoshisakan]

solder on the solder side. With a decent/clear iron you should just have to touch each pad.

This is the device that the signal generator wiring connects to, right?

[yoshisakan]

update: I took apart the black box and resoldered the connections. Reconnected to bike, no effect. I then took off the signal generator, sprayed the mechanical advance with wd40 and wiped everything down. Put bike together and all cylinders fired. It worked for a few starts, then i tried to take it for a test ride and it was firing on 2 again.

Is there anyway to repair a signal generator? I don't want to buy a dyna because I am going to be installing a bandit 1200 motor over the winter. I'd just like to get my bike on the road for another month.

[yoshisakan]

Hey all, I wanted to provide an update. All systems are now working! The dyna s ignition was installed and the bike idles and runs like it never has before. I learned a ton in the process about the bikes wiring. If you run into any problems, shoot me a pm and ill be glad to help.

many thanks.

[posplayr]

Hey all, I wanted to provide an update. All systems are now working! The dyna s ignition was installed and the bike idles and runs like it never has before. I learned a ton in the process about the bikes wiring. If you run into any problems, shoot me a pm and ill be glad to help.

many thanks.

Congratulation, nothing more satisfying than fixing it yourself.