81 gs850 untangling the rats nest

[Guest]

Hello all, I'm working on an 81 gs850 that I picked up last weekend that has had the wiring cut, spliced, duct taped, etc.. Some wires pulled out of connectors and such.
That being said, I'm not really sure what wires go where.. So I'll start with what I think is the stator wires?? 3 wires. One goes to a white with red stripe, the other goes to a red wire, which wire goes where is beyond me, any suggestions anyone?

[Gorminrider]

Rattytatty, you'd better go here right away!

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/

over on the right of the page are wiring diagrams.
but YES:you've got the stator output in your hand
but NO: none of these connect to a RED wire. The red wire is always DC12Volt + and always direct connection from your battery's + terminal ...that red wire looks to be disconnected from a) the key or b) the regulator rectifier c) the fuse box

[Steve]

Do yourself a favor. Take a trip to our library. We also call it "BassCliff's Website". At the top center is a link to 'download a 1980 850 wiring diagram', but there is a better one in the right colum below that.

Yes, that diagram is for an '80 850, but there were no changes to the wiring from '80 to '81. In fact, the only change for '82/'83 was the addition of a side stand light switch, so it's still good for that, too. To go even farther, except for the '80-'83 750s and 1100s that have the mini-computer with all the warning lights, that diagram will work for just about all the GSes. Suzuki was pretty good about keeping the same color wire for the same function on the bike.

To answer your specific question (and go half a step farther) this is one area that we highly suggest ignoring the stock wiring diagram. The three stator wires should be connected directly to the three R/R input wires. If you look at the diagram, the white/green wire goes left, to a connector, does a u-turn and comes back as a white/red wire, then goes to the R/R. We suggest bypassing that loop and connecting the white/gree wire from the stator directly to the white/red wire from the R/R.

.

[Rattytatty]

Thanks a bunch gorminrider and Steve.. Much appreciated.. Will have a look once it's finished downloading to my phone. I live in the mountains so service is spotty..

[Brendan W]

Looking the second picture and the five wires on the right centre
The red wire is the main supply to the bike. It connects to the positive output of the regulator/rectifier. It heads off up to the harness to a tee that goes forward to the ignition switch and back to the battery positive.
The green with the yellow tracer goes to the oil pressure switch.
The yellow with green tracer is the starter relay feed.
The white/green and white/red are part of a loop that is redundant, It was used to dump excess stator output and has resulted in a lot of burnt wiring.
The three black wires on the left are the stator outputs and connect directly to the rectifier/regulator inputs in any order you like.
The connections are a disaster and every man jack of them needs replacing with perhaps the exception of the oil pressure and relay feed as they don't carry much current and you could get a way with a clean up of those bullets depending on what they look like inside.
Spade terminals are preferred to bullets.

[Rattytatty]

Ever had a time where the more you look at it the more you want to kill it with fire? That how I feel about the wiring on this thing.. Heck, I'm gonna be stripping it all down anyways why not just completely rewire the darned thing wiring to suite my needs.. Never rewired a vehicle in my life so why not learn a few things right?!

[Brendan W]

Yes I know that feeling. It means it's time to down tools and do some thinking.
You can rewire from scratch.
The harness probably looks worse than it is. Untidiness and a few or maybe more than a few massacred connections make the whole thing look bad.
Have a look in the 'library' linked in the above threads for ideas about harness restoration.
Once you get it off the bike and clean you might be surprised to find that getting it back is less work than you thought.