Quick starter interlock question ( '86 GS550)

[Guest]

I've been chasing wires for the past three hours cleaning up bad patch jobs on my '86 GS550ES I bought as a winter project. I think all that I need to figure out is my starter. When I bought the bike the guy turned it over using the starter button, but I can't seem to get the thing to work. It will turn over if I feed 12v into the yellow wire on the solenoid (leading up to the starter button). Looking at my wiring diagram, I've got a starter interlock listed on this yellow wire, but I don't have a description of what it is. Google tells me it's on the clutch, similar to the brake light switch, but I have nothing there.

Can someone confirm that the starter interlock is supposed to be on the clutch handle? I'm thinking the lever on my bike was replaced with one not equipped with this feature.

Thanks!

[JEEPRUSTY]

It is supposed to be on the underside of the clutch perch.
I have to pull my lever back and up in order to make contact.

Try that

You can always bypass the switch but I am not a fan of doing anything like that.

There should be wires coming out from beneath the perch. You can follow these and basically bypass the switch.

[Steve]

Yes, in stock form, the clutch needs to be pulled.

If you choose to bypass that "safety" feature, follow the wires from the clutch switch into the headlight bucket. (The wires are yellow with a green stripe.) Unplug the connectors, re-plug the connetors on the bike side into each other. It does not matter what you do with the connectors on the switch side. You now do not have to pull the clutch to use the electric starter.

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[ryguy425425]

Yes, in stock form, the clutch needs to be pulled.

If you choose to bypass that "safety" feature, follow the wires from the clutch switch into the headlight bucket. (The wires are yellow with a green stripe.) Unplug the connectors, re-plug the connetors on the bike side into each other. It does not matter what you do with the connectors on the switch side. You now do not have to pull the clutch to use the electric starter.

.

That actually helps me a lot! I've got no sign of any where to put wires anywhere around my clutch, and the lever is not the same colour as the front brake. I'd say it's definitely not stock. I've also been staring at the two extra wires sitting on top of my headlight wondering if the high beams were unhooked. Two birds with one stone!

I'll likely pick up a correct lever and hook the switch back up, but for now I'll just bypass it. Thanks again!

[ryguy425425]

The wires right at the headlight do appear to be headlight related (Same bullet connectors, but they are brown and black). Following the wire harness back from the starter switch I found that the two Y/G wires were already connected together. The starter engages when I jump 12v into where the interlock switch was bypassed, and I read no resistance between that point and where the starter switch connects to the main harness.

It must be either my killswitch (I'm assuming the bike won't crank when it's off/broken), or my power source from my fuse box (I've already had to cut back a few corroded wires to replace connections here). I'll post my result tomorrow afternoon in case anyone runs across the same problem.

[ryguy425425]

Just an update! I solved the problem. It turned out to be a very corroded fuse terminal for the ignition.