Which side is power feed on the fuse box?

[JTGS850GL]

I'm going to take a look at a new prospective purchase. The bike is a 1982 GS1100GK. The owner has lost the keys and says the bike wont start without it. I'm planning on taking a fresh battery with me and jumping out the fuse box with a wire to feed the ignition side wires from the main. Basically inserting the fuse with a wire in the socket from the main and then inserting the other end of the wire into one of the fuse sockets to feed the ignition. Just would like to know which side power is feed into the fuse so I can place the jumper from the fused side of the Main and feed the none fused side of the other circuits.

Basically achieving this:





I can take my meter with me and identify it easy enough, but would like to go there already knowing what side to feed the jumper into. Don't want to alarm the current owner too much.:;

[Steve]

Can't help you with that, I have converted all my fuse boxes to Eastern Beaver boxes.

But, like you said, it's easy enough to find out. Actually, for a quick test, it really won't matter much whether you connect to the hot or fused side, as long as you connect.

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[posplayr]

I'm assuming this is a mini-fuse box and you plan to insert some male spaces into the fuse box?

If you must then take an inline fuse holder and crimp two spaces on it. You can then alternatively power either SIGNAL,IGN or HEADLAMP but not all together. You would need multiple spades to jumper then all but leave fuse in place. Personally If it was my bike I would not want you futzing with teh fusebox that way. Too much could go wrong and it is the owner that would be me out and not you the prospective buyer.

If you can get to the plug for the ignition switch i would probably jumper that or BEST yet just bring a spare ignition lock and just substitute it at the plug.

Hard to argue with that.

[Steve]

You really think someone is going to let him remove the fairing and anything else necessary to get to the ignition lock for a temporary substitution just to see if he can crank the bike to see if he wants to buy it?

Find where there are red and orange wires near the fusebox, that connector is what goes to the ignition key (switch). On the fusebox side of that connector, jumper the red wire to the orange wire, everything should light up, just as if the key were turned ON.

Or you can use a small wire with alligator clips between the MAIN fuse and any of the upper three fuses and do the same thing.

It's not anything permanent, it's just to see if the bike works. Maybe take along an extra 10 amp fuse or two, just in case you blow one, you can replace it right away.

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[posplayr]

You really think someone is going to let him remove the fairing and anything else necessary to get to the ignition lock for a temporary substitution just to see if he can crank the bike to see if he wants to buy it?

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You may not realize it, but I have never owed a GK, so my caveat may be preemptively necessary

[tkent02]

Hmmm, if it won't run it's a parts bike, if it's not priced as a parts bike forget it.

If it is priced as a parts bike who cares if it runs?
It's probably fine once thirty years worth of neglected maintenance is done, if it is fine ride it and enjoy your bargain bike. If it isn't any good part it out.
If I was selling a bike in that condition I certainly wouldn't let anyone mess around with any wiring like that.

What you don't want to do is get it running for him so he can sell it for a lot more.

[Steve]

You may not realize it, but I have never owed a GK, so my caveat may be preemptively necessary

You would still have to pull the headlight bucket or the fuel tank.

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[posplayr]

You would still have to pull the headlight bucket or the fuel tank.

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I know that is a terrible and impossible but at least you have some kind of guarantee you are to going to short the guys bike out.

If the guy doesn't have a key, what is the OP planning to do for an ignition?

[Steve]

All the key does is connect the main fuse to the other fuses.

Can be done at the ignition switch or with a jumper wire in the fuse box.

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[JTGS850GL]

All the key does is connect the main fuse to the other fuses.

Can be done at the ignition switch or with a jumper wire in the fuse box.

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Yep, all I wanted to know was which side feeds the main and which side feeds the switched fuses. If the schematics are correct then all the switched fuses are tied together at one side. That's the side I need to jump to from the main. I guess I'll just take the DVM with me and do a quick check to see which side the switched fuses are ganged together. Which side of the main I use probably isn't as important since the switched fuses will blow first anyway. The fuse box on the GK should be the same as other big 4's of the same year. Probably a good idea to take a couple 10amp spaded fuses with me. My plan was to simply have a pre-made jumper fuse that I can simply plug into the main and one of the switched fuse holders to bypass the ignition switch.

As for the price of the bike; it's listed as $550 OBO. Probably in the parts bike range. Supposedly has 17K miles and hasn't been started since March of 2014 after a "complete tuneup". They lost the keys some time after that. Bike does come with a title in the currently owner's name. Just wanted a quick way to crank it over and make sure the engine isn't locked up.

I really don't think the current owner will complain a whole lot since I'll agree to hand over the asking price if I "smoke" his bike. Not likely in this case.

Thanks for the help and suggestions.

[Steve]

Just wanted a quick way to crank it over and make sure the engine isn't locked up.

If that's all you want to do, a set of jumper cables and a screwdriver will do the trick.

Connect the cables to a good battery (use the one in your car, as long as the car is NOT running), use the screwdriver to bridge the two large posts on the starter solenoid. The bike will not fire, but you can make sure the crank moves.

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