1982 GS650GL Won't Start Electrical Problem?

[Velsor]

1982 GS650GL
35k miles

I just recently bought this bike. The previous owner said he had used it up to the summer of 05 untill it wouldnt start.
I bought it for a couple hundred dollars as a project bike to restore since I have done a few older suzuki but just small engine bikes 50-150cc.

The previous owner said he though it was the starter.
The first thing i did was to remove the clutch safety by plugging the wires in the headlight into each other.
I also connected the two bars on the solenoid with a screw driver and the starter seemed to work so I went and bought a new solendiod from lowes as suggested in some other posts.
Initially after i had installed it it turned over and it worked for four or fives times by pushing the starter button. However then it stopped. Assuming sothing happened to the new solenoid i returned it and got another one however it still will not start.

I have since repaired the safety on the clutch, however i dont know how to tell if the starter switch is working. I have looking for the wires coming off of it in the headlight bucket however i cannot find them located in there to try to bypass the switch.

My question is where do I go from here and what possibly could have broken when I initually replaced the solenoid.

Thanks, Bryan

[duaneage]

Buy a voltmeter if you don't already have one. Don't troubleshoot with a screwdriver, it is safer to measure voltage between ground adn the terminal than short things out.

Hook the black voltmeter lead to the frame or engine adn then to the yellow/green wire on the solenoid. You should get 12 volts when you hit the starter button. If not, check the starter button contacts, the red adn orange wires on the ignition switch ( the green connector in the headlight bucket is the ignition key switch) and trace back to the fusebox. You might want to start at the fuse box and go forward. Your going to need a schematic to do it right, I have some that I could send you if you can wait until I am at work on tuesday..

[rkubik]

check starter

I had similar problems, finally traced to the starter itself. One magnet had come loose and was grinding against the armature. I epoxied the biggest piece back in place, cleaned out all the shavings and it works well all the time now.

Others have noted problems with starter brushes, do a search on that to read all about it. Not a hard fix as I recall.

The armature may need cleaning - you can read all about the rather easy technique at this link:

https://www.atving.com/atvconnection/Departments/TechTips/Tech-Tip-28.cfm

[Velsor]

Well i solved the problem with the bike not starting when you push the start, the ground for the starter system was not attached to the solenoid.

However when I push the start button now i hear the solenoid make its noise; a click or pop whatever you want to call it just once..sometimes i can hear the starter start to move alittle but not every time I try to start the bike. Would this be caused by an electrical short or a bad starter or some other problem, Thanks alot for the help.

[rkubik]

...sometimes i can hear the starter start to move alittle but not every time I try to start the bike. Would this be caused by an electrical short or a bad starter or some other problem, Thanks alot for the help.

In my case, it was a problem in the starter. I'd open it up and have a look.

[argonsagas]

First check and be sure that the battery is fully charged.
If not, then charge it and try again.

If the problem continues, then pull the starter.

I have not tried it on your model of bike, but my 1100 has to have the carbs removed to provide enough clearance to bring the starter away from the bike.

The brushes are not difficult to do, but it is probably best to buy a brush plate, which has all the soldering done, and you simply install it.

When taking the starter apart /reassembling it, look for the marks on the outside of the body and caps. These should line up when re-assembling the unit.