'82 GS450 has gone dead

[mdelio]

So I picked up an 82 gs450L recently. Did a basic tune up on it and it ran great for days. Suddenly with no warning, nothing happens when I turn the ignition key. No lights, nothing. The battery is fine, and as far as I can tell, all the wires seem fine. I can't seem to find any fuses aside from an inline directly connected to the battery. That fuse is fine.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

[sv650]

Check the ground side of the wiring. I had problems with the GS400 and found the ground wire corroded. The fuse you found is all there is!

SV

[mdelio]

I should have added that in my last post. All ground wires seem ok. I'll check all the wiring again, but I was curious to know if it might be something defective.

Thanks

[duaneage]

OPen up the headlight bucket and find the connector for the ignition switch. Jump the red and orange wires and see if you get any life. The brown wire goes to the tail light for parking light action.

If you get life out of this test replace the ignition switch.

[Philly_Chris]

This advice is almost universally preceded by some sort of "I'm not trying to insult anyone's intelligence" disclaimer..

Is there a kill switch on the bars, that may be in the OFF position?

I've turned my key a few times with no results, freaked out for a few seconds, before realizing that I had leaned on the switch.

Not sure of the setup of your bike, or that it even has one, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

[Tarbash 27]

HOW DO YOU KNOW THE BATTERY IS FINE? DID YOU TEST IT OR DID YOU ACCIDENTLY LEAVE THE POWER ON AND DRAIN THE BATTERY? ALSO WHN I BOUGHT MY 750 OFF SOME GUY I NOTCED HE RIGGED A TOGGLE SWITCH WHICH BY FLICKING CUT OFF ALL THE POWER. CHECK FOR SOME MODIFICATIONS. IF NOT REFER TO A WIRING DIAGRAM AND MAKE SURE EVRYTHING IS HOOKED UP RIGHT.

[kkesler]

Take your meter and make sure the engine is grounded well. On my '81 GS450, someone had pulled the motor and painted it, so it had a really crappy ground.

I would then take the meter and wiring diagram and just start going down the line of the electrical system. Once you get somewhere where the voltage stops, there is the problem. On mine, I had a molex that plugged in at the steering head (under the front of the gas tank) crack apart but it was inside a cover so it was not obvious. Once I started tracking the voltage I found it in about 10 minutes.

[duaneage]

A key point here is to use a voltmeter to troubleshoot, not a creditcard, new battery, voodoo dolls, or even what "someone else had go wrong" because every electrical problem has the potential to be different than someone elses. A voltmeter is a must have for GS bike work and radio shack sells them starting at 10 bucks.

The trick is to isolate the problem. Everything does not just go bucko bazoo at once. Dead bikes are pretty easy since you'll be able to find the problem eventually. The intermittant problems are a bitch since you can't fix it if it is not acting up.
My money is on the ignition switch or the connectors that feed it.

[kkesler]

Yep, mine was intermittent and drove me crazy for weeks. The break on the molex was internal, so the terminals inside were moving around. Found it once I started testing down the line with the meter. Pulled the molex apart to test and it crumbled in my hands. Meter and patience is the only answer.