New bike/biker - battery?

[Biker-Noob]

Hi there everyone. This is my first post here and I'm not really sure how to word my question....so I'll just say what's been happening.

I bought a 1981 GS1000GL. Then got my license and most of the gear. Had to charge the battery to get the bike to start. He had charged it before I came to take a look at it as well as before delivery a week later. I took it for a ride and it was super fun and working good. Came up to a stop (I believe in 1st gear by the time of the stop) and then the engine just dies...this was about 30 minutes into the ride.

Cannot restart.....nothing from the starter at all...no clicking.....nothing. So I assume it is the regulator/rectifier. I started going through the wires with a multimeter following a clymer and the stator pages for reference....everything seemed to check out. So I performed the ground enhancement (taking the ground from the rectifier housing and running that directly to the negative terminal.

Now....I did not replace the battery when I bought the bike 2 months ago. He said it's been sitting for a long while.....he charged it and it ran......I charged it and it ran......but it appears it does hold some form of charge.

Now yesterday I took the bike out after charging (multimeter shows 12.46 on the battery). Rode for like 20 minutes and noticed the rpm's lowering on stops/idle towards the end of the ride. Made it home and in 1st.....it died. I was able to immediately restart though using the starter. When I went to check the voltage.....I believe it was very near 12v (wife remembers 12.19)

Is this a battery issue? Should I get a new one? What kind? Can I have it tested professionally? I bought a harbor freight tester and it said middle of the road for the battery health. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks everyone.

[bonanzadave]

Where R U ? I'm down in Lakeville. You bought a 40 year old bike with little maintenance history.

Read this.......https://www.thegsresources.com/_foru...wbie-Mistakes=

There is also a treasure trove of info at Bikecliff (forum member) https://gsarchive.bwringer.com/

I just got my battery at fleetfarm. $40-140 depending on what you want. Think about the tire history and if they are 5 years or older get a new set.

If it was running and then quit look at the fuel switch (petcock) make sure both hoses, supply and vacuum hoses are secure. You're fuel tank/gas cap may not be venting. Look at the cap vent.

Welcome, see ya on the roads.......

[phydeauxmutt]

You do quite likely need a new battery, but you also need to find out why it's not being charged. A fully-charged battery should read 12.6 volts for a wet-cell battery or 12.8 for an AGM battery. Measure the voltage across the battery terminals when the bike is running, it should be pretty close to 14 volts.

[Biker-Noob]

Thanks to both of you. I did start going through the stator pages. They were a bit confusing for the Stator at first. The Stator Pages 3 was what I used the most for the rectifier checks. I am getting some voltage charging.....but nowhere near the 13.3 - 15V at 5000 RPM. I don't believe I'm getting anywhere near that. It states that I should have 12.3-13.2V at idle (1500 RPM). I don't think my idle is 1500. I have my choke pulled out for starting, but then I close it all the way in after about 5-10 seconds and I think my idle is much lower.....like 700's? I'll have to double check. Is that something that could cause engine stopping too......a low idle? I need to just start somewhere and work through it. There a lot of possible factors here as I knew getting into this bike....not anyone but me and the lovely people here will help me is what I've heard since people (shops) don't want to touch older bikes. Thanks again...and any help is welcomed.

[Gorminrider]

You can't trust the bike's old tachometer too far as to accuracy. Just set your idle to please yourself on a well -running bike. And don't worry about charging at idle unless you spend a lot of time at stoplights- just rev the bike up to what looks like 3-5000 and test VDC across your battery terminals. You should ideally see 14.2 to 14.8 .( 13.8 can actually be perfectly ok but needs a looksee to be sure why.)

nowhere near the 13.3 - 15V at 5000 RPM

That suggests the stator is bad BUT only if the wiring is not the issue. Check connections, wiring, and be sure the regulator has a good ground.

PLUS Do check the water in your battery if it's a normal old wet-cell- people forget. 14.8 and just a warm bike in summer will lose water eventually.

A very simple (but not great) way to check battery condition is to charge it, let it sit 24 hours and check its resting voltage. 12.25 is about half-good but you're going to need a new battery soon even if it does start your bike for now. Meanwhile, you have to check the water level more often as long as you do keep it going.

[Biker-Noob]

I'll have to read more on the water in the battery too. I thought the little red twistys were where the acid went in. I guess I didn't know there was water too. Thanks for the info. I did ground my regulator to the negative terminal as was suggested by someone else. When I charge it up for a few minutes......I get it up to about 12.5 or 12.6. but after the short ride it's closer to 12.

[rphillips]

OOhhh, you mean you haven't checked the water in the batt. Acid level & water level is the same, other than the acid goes in at the first fill, & after that just keep it topped up distilled with water. keep all the cells above the low mark, each red twisty is for it's own cell. Not good for any cell to be below the low mark... Good luck. ,

[Biker-Noob]

Alright....... So the levels look good. They are all between the low and high end. I did take off the the gas cap and looked inside. I did notice small amounts of rust...... Which I knew about. But, when I removed the tank and moved it around...... It sure sounded like more than gas rolling around. Tell me if I'm wrong...... But bad gas and rust flakes are probably not the best for the bike. The gas (which I never actually saw until I rolled it around) was cloudy rust colored. There is a fuel filter on between the tank and carbs though.....so that's better than nothing....right.

I assume this needs to be addressed. I found a product called Kreem that seems to coat the tank once the rust has been removed. I may go that route but will do more research.

Hopefully.......the tank and battery are the only major issues I find. Hopefully this won't be too hard to figure out how to drain and complete. I'll be buying a new in line fuel filter as well.

Now I just need to figure out how to drain the tank, remove the fuel level indicator assembly (which isn't working) and the petcock. Should be pretty doable...right. Hahahahahaha.

Thanks again all who are helping me out here.....as my name's states.....I'm a complete biker noob.

[allojohn]

Inline fuel filters on gravity fed carbs are notorious for slowing the flow. Sort your tank out and dump the filter.
And as Dave asked, where in MN are you?

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Hopefully.......the tank and battery are the only major issues I find. Hopefully this won't be too hard to figure out how to drain and complete. I'll be buying a new in line fuel filter as well.
.

They won't be. But stick around, use the search function to find answers. Anything you come across has been covered here more than once. I don't want to discourage you from asking question, but reading old posts that dealt with your problem is a great way to get a deeper understanding of any of your issues.

I highly recommend you visit a few links in my signature: bonanzadave already gave you some of these, I'm just pounding the idea home.
The top 10 Newbie mistakes thread is a great first read.
BikeCliff's Website for manual, diagrams and how-to's on just about everything GS related.
Learn how to post good pictures on the forum using Imgur or Flickr or other pic hosting websites

Once you get the fuel system cleaned up, I would work on the charging system, cause it needs work. The Quick test on my signature in a good place to start with that, but you must start with new or know good battery. Yours is neither.

Then you can read about what it takes to fix the charging system so that it will be reliable, in the Charging System Sorted thread in my signature.

[Biker-Noob]

Rich82GS750TZ Thanks for the post. I will be going through that 10 newbie mistakes and fixing the tank before I ride again. I don't want to injure the bike any more than it has been (So excited to ride though). I will also get a new bike battery and if it's a consensus that I find....remove that fuel filter too. Thanks to everyone.....I appreciate the head start.

Any other advice on where to go and start with is still appreciated.

[Rich82GS750TZ]

There’s a least one guy on the forum that swears by the use of inline filters. Most who’ve tried them, swear at them, cause more harm then good. I’ve no experience with them.

[Rob S.]

AGM type battery. Absorbed Glass Mat.

[Gorminrider]

Alright....... So the levels look good.

so now charge it up to "full" with a plugin battery charger...if you have no charger, and live in a neighborhood of houses, at least 50% of the guys in your neighbourhood have one...or there are alternative means-attach to your car battery with a turn signal light bulb" in series" and go for a drive (+ to+, - to -). It's worth trying to save it. Your charging system has a problem so I wouldn't buy a new battery just yet if it wasn't really really bad. Fix the charging system first. You can use a car battery too,to run the bike and indicate if the charge system is working...

Now I just need to figure out how to drain the tank, remove the fuel level indicator assembly (which isn't working) and the petcock. Should be pretty doable...right. Hahahahahaha.

sure is-take the tap off and clean the filter and tank up. You'll never get much done through the fuel cap- it has a deep lip......there are filter screens on the carbs above the float needle seats but these are larger mesh than the one in the tank I think so unlikely to be bothered unless the tanks filter is torn.

[salty_monk]

Use POR15 not Kreem...

https://por15.com/products/motorcycl...ank-repair-kit

I like the MotoBatt or the Deka (also sometimes branded Big Crank) for AGM batteries. http://www.etx15l.com/ - https://www.motobatt.us/products/batteries

If you want to go fancy get an Antigravity Lithium... but make sure you've changed to an SH775 mosfet RR first. https://antigravitybatteries.com/