A
Anonymous
Guest
Hello folks, thank GOD there's a resource on the web like this. I just bought my first motorcycle, an '81 GS850, and really love it. Handles great, starts every time, and runs fairly well.
I am not, however, an electrician or much less a mechanic. I've done a bit of both in my time, enough I suppose to know when to ask for help.
Here are the electrical problems that I know of:
1. Front and rear turn signals are stuck in the ON position (except for the rear-left which won't come on at all, even with a new lamp, but a test light shows that a tiny bit of current is there). Activating either the left or right turn signal switch does absolutely nothing, though the High and Low beam part of the switch does work. (Question: the turn signal switch seems to have two setting in the left and right direction. From neutral I can click once in either direction and it stays, but I can also push it a bit further in either direction, though it will return back the left or right position when released. I haven't seen turn signals like this, what does the far position do?)
2. The front brake doesn't engage the brake light, though the rear brake does. I disassembled the switch last night and saw that the little square piece that appears the slide over the contacts was broken into two pieces. The brake lever is bent, so I assume some previous owner dropped it and perhaps this contributed to the internal breakage. Is there a fix for this other than replacing the entire switch?
3. I found an awesome color wiring diagram ( http://smokeriders.com/Technical/wiring_diagrams/wiring_diagrams.html ). It says that it's for a 1980 GS850GT & GLT, will this be similar enough for me to use?
4. I see from said diagram that there is a part called a TURN SIGNAL CONTROL UNIT, which I believe is missing from my bike. I see one unit clipped near the side of my battery and what looks like a clip for another unit, but there's no unit. I read on this forum that some electrically-inclided people have bypassed this unit so I'm not at all sure that this current set up is a problem. What does the CONTROL UNIT do? I believe the person who wrote that they bypassed the unit said they thought that it just automatically cancelled the signals after 15 flashes. Is that all it does?
5. There seem to be some shorts in some of the factory connectors. Some of the plastic shows signs of melting and some of the male prongs inside the connectors are corroded. Where can I find replacement connectors?
Other than that, everything seems fine. The horn works, the high/low switch works, all the dash lights work. I'd really like to just simply replace the wiring harness, but unless I can find one at a scrap yard for <$50, I won't be able to afford it for a few weeks. Any suggestions on how I should go about diagnosing the turn signal issue?
Also, when you replace a wire that is factory labled with specific color labeling with a standard black/grey/yellow/red/etc wire, how do you record what that wire is? And what gauge wire should I use to replace the existing wires?
Any specific resources/ links ya'll can point me at? Any help at all at this point would be appreciated. And if anyone knows someone in the Eugene, Oregon area that would like to be a mentor or swap labor, please let me know, too.
Thanks!
I am not, however, an electrician or much less a mechanic. I've done a bit of both in my time, enough I suppose to know when to ask for help.
Here are the electrical problems that I know of:
1. Front and rear turn signals are stuck in the ON position (except for the rear-left which won't come on at all, even with a new lamp, but a test light shows that a tiny bit of current is there). Activating either the left or right turn signal switch does absolutely nothing, though the High and Low beam part of the switch does work. (Question: the turn signal switch seems to have two setting in the left and right direction. From neutral I can click once in either direction and it stays, but I can also push it a bit further in either direction, though it will return back the left or right position when released. I haven't seen turn signals like this, what does the far position do?)
2. The front brake doesn't engage the brake light, though the rear brake does. I disassembled the switch last night and saw that the little square piece that appears the slide over the contacts was broken into two pieces. The brake lever is bent, so I assume some previous owner dropped it and perhaps this contributed to the internal breakage. Is there a fix for this other than replacing the entire switch?
3. I found an awesome color wiring diagram ( http://smokeriders.com/Technical/wiring_diagrams/wiring_diagrams.html ). It says that it's for a 1980 GS850GT & GLT, will this be similar enough for me to use?
4. I see from said diagram that there is a part called a TURN SIGNAL CONTROL UNIT, which I believe is missing from my bike. I see one unit clipped near the side of my battery and what looks like a clip for another unit, but there's no unit. I read on this forum that some electrically-inclided people have bypassed this unit so I'm not at all sure that this current set up is a problem. What does the CONTROL UNIT do? I believe the person who wrote that they bypassed the unit said they thought that it just automatically cancelled the signals after 15 flashes. Is that all it does?
5. There seem to be some shorts in some of the factory connectors. Some of the plastic shows signs of melting and some of the male prongs inside the connectors are corroded. Where can I find replacement connectors?
Other than that, everything seems fine. The horn works, the high/low switch works, all the dash lights work. I'd really like to just simply replace the wiring harness, but unless I can find one at a scrap yard for <$50, I won't be able to afford it for a few weeks. Any suggestions on how I should go about diagnosing the turn signal issue?
Also, when you replace a wire that is factory labled with specific color labeling with a standard black/grey/yellow/red/etc wire, how do you record what that wire is? And what gauge wire should I use to replace the existing wires?
Any specific resources/ links ya'll can point me at? Any help at all at this point would be appreciated. And if anyone knows someone in the Eugene, Oregon area that would like to be a mentor or swap labor, please let me know, too.
Thanks!
