Going to look at a GS450, need help

[Kabonkie]

I have a friend that is going to go look at a 80 GS450. I don't know much about them except that they are two cylinders if I remember correctly.

They guy said he was riding it last year and it sparked/shorted out and shut down.

I'm thinking maybe stator? Any quick and easy checks for this? Any thing else I need to look at?

Current owner is the original owner and it is suppose to be in excellent shape, always garage stored. (I havent' seen it yet). But is asking $500 for it.

All help is welcome, no matter if you think it's a trivial item. Remember I know next to nothing about these bikes.

[Kcwiro]

I'd suggest you take a voltmeter, and a test light if you got it... that will let you check for blown fuses, dead battery... check out the wiring behind the R/R ... that is where my friends 550 wiring rotted out and grounded for some fireworks.

Good Luck.

[bwringer]

$500 is stooooooopid money for a 450 that's not running and has an unknown and probably serious electrical problem. Plus, the carbs are certain to be full of goo and gum from sitting, and the battery ($50) will be dead.

Aside from cosmetics, look for problems brought on by the long period of storage. The carbs are definitely gummed up by now, but they're easy to rebuild with a $12 set of o-rings, two $4 float bowl gaskets, a $20 can of carb dip, and a few hours of time.

More seriously, check to make sure the brakes still work and don't drag or bind. Again, the parts to fix this are inexpensive ($25 per caliper or master cylinder), but understand that you will have a few hours of work ahead of you.

Check the condition of the tires, chain, and sprockets, and factor this into the price. About 99.9999% of used bikes sold need new tires immediately ($150 - $300), and 99.9999999999999% of chain-driven used bikes need a new chain and sprockets immediately (about $125). But you might get lucky.

Don't let an unverified claim of new sprockets and chain or tires drive up the price, but use these factors to keep the price down. Most sellers will tell you the sprockets and tires were "just replaced last year". Unless the seller can produce a dated, signed receipt listing the bike and mileage, don't believe it. And if they replaced the chain without replacing the sprockets at the same time (or vice-versa), these parts will all need to be junked. Sprockets and chains MUST be replaced as a set.

You won't be able to fix the electrical problem right then and there, but if you can remove the tank and spend a little time, you might at least be able to spot any burned spots if it's a wiring problem, and get an idea of how severe it is. If the fuse is blown, don't replace it until you track down and fix the problem and clean every connector in the wiring harness. A few hours of pleasant and/or frustrating tedium lie ahead, but it's not rocket science.

Look inside the tank to see if the long period of inactivity has allowed rust to blossom on the tank walls above the fuel level (a POR15 relining kit is about $40). See if the petcock has ever been replaced (about $40-$60, and must be replaced every 20 years or so).

All of the above can and should be dealt with by a more caring owner -- these are great bikes -- but right now it's only a rolling assemblage of parts. If it's complete and in exceptional cosmetic condition, don't pay more than maybe $200. In average condition, maybe $50 or $100. Remember that you will need to invest several hundred bucks (battery, tires, chain & sprockets at minimum) and quite a bit of time after you get it home.

As long as you don't have the idea that you're going to ride it home, and you're willing to invest a bit of money and time, your friend could end up riding a very nice old bike this spring.

[DickV]

Gs450

I have a 1982 GS450TXZ (with about 7K miles) that I had an electrical/ignition problem with.
The R/R failed allowing the high AC voltage from the generator to get to all electrical components that were "on" when the R/R failed. All bulbs that were powered at the time burned out, and the engine shut down. Turned out the coil primaries got the high voltage and as a result the secondary voltage must have gone sky high and caused a break-down of the insulation on the secondary wiring. I tested the signal generator and the ignitor and they seemed to check out OK. The resistance checks for the 2 coils were reasonable but when I had the coils tested properly at a local dealership on their coil tester, one coil did not produce any spark and the other coil worked only at a minimum spark gap. Two new OEM coils solved the problem. If you search on COILS you should find the procedure I used to check the signal generator and ignitor.
I think a reasonable approach would be to start checking the ignition system with a known good battery after visually checking for burned wires and connectors. The wiring on my bike is like new because it was always stored inside and not ridden in bad weather. Once the ignition system is working and the engine starts (assuming the carbs are good enough to at least get it started), you can then move to the charging system if it is not operating properly.
I really enjoy my GS450 and it serves me well. Good luck.
DickV

[Kabonkie]

I really do appreciate the suggestions. As far as claims from the current owner, I'm not worried about. I know him as well, and pretty well. And if he said he changed the oil or the chain or tires. I'd believe him.

But I have not seen the bike or talked to the current owner about it. So I don't know if it's a T, L or Q for all I know. I should know more tomorrow afternoon.

I was planning on taking my multimeter along. I don't think the current owner will mind my tinkering with it. So time shouldn't be a problem, and he might even allow me to bring it home for a more detailed inspection. And he might have a manual on it, but I'd bet the tests you're suggesting aren't much different than on the 850.

Thanks again.

[Kabonkie]

Still don't know what model it is.

But I've just seen a future winner for BOM.

80 GS450. Under 5K original miles.
Other than some dust sitting on it, it looks like it could be sitting in a showroom.

The short sound came from the battery area. I looked for smoked wires, smoked fuse and anything else I could see, but didn't find anything. Battery is dead.

My friend looked at it and bought it before I could make any suggestions. Then the owner looked at me and said "let me know how much it's going to cost to fix it".

[Lil_Red]

If it physically is in good condition and only has 5k on it, your friend got a really good deal.

[bwringer]

COOL!

Pictures! We want pictures!

I love hearing about finds like this. The GS twins are sweet bikes, and it's so rare to find one in decent condition.

[bgmart450]

Awesome find. Hope the short is something simple.

...and yeah pic please

[koolaid_kid]

My friend looked at it and bought it before I could make any suggestions. Then the owner looked at me and said "let me know how much it's going to cost to fix it".

Kool. Sounds like the PO will help with the cost of repair, so your buddy may be sitting in high cotton. Since it had a catastrophic failure, chances are a component blew, rather than a shorted wire. JMO.

[Kabonkie]

It'll be a couple of weeks before I see it again. The owner will be out of town until then. Then we're going over to pick it up. Once I get the dust layer off, I'll take some pics.

Then it'll be time to figure out what happened and get it running again.

I'm sure I'll be asking more questions then. Oh and the owner has the repair manual to it as well...

[Kabonkie]

I picked up the bike tonight.
It's here, the battery is okay and is on the charger tonight. It will need the carbs removed and cleaned. The throttle doesn't move right now. So it'll be a bit before it actually runs.

But as far as the electrical problem. I found the issue. Seems the battery fits into a compartment below the airbox. And to allow enough room to slide the battery in and out, it contains a, for better work, jumper wire. It connects to the positive terminal, then exits the battery compartment and reconnects to a place just there, and an extra smaller wire with the main fuse in it. This jumper looks like it has been in and out several times and bared some wires. This was the short. I can see where it shorted to. So a new connector, and some tape to cover any stray bare areas. I stuck the battery back in far enough to hook it up and I have lights, and it did turn over.

So all we need is to clean the carbs and probably the petcock. Then a sync.

[Steve]

So dust it off, already.

We still want pictures! [-o<

We don't need the audio file of it running, we just want to SEE it. 8-[


.

[Lil_Red]

I picked up the bike tonight.
It's here, the battery is okay and is on the charger tonight. It will need the carbs removed and cleaned. The throttle doesn't move right now. So it'll be a bit before it actually runs.

But as far as the electrical problem. I found the issue. Seems the battery fits into a compartment below the airbox. And to allow enough room to slide the battery in and out, it contains a, for better work, jumper wire. It connects to the positive terminal, then exits the battery compartment and reconnects to a place just there, and an extra smaller wire with the main fuse in it. This jumper looks like it has been in and out several times and bared some wires. This was the short. I can see where it shorted to. So a new connector, and some tape to cover any stray bare areas. I stuck the battery back in far enough to hook it up and I have lights, and it did turn over.

So all we need is to clean the carbs and probably the petcock. Then a sync.

That entire battery wire is the one thing I really don't like about the 450 but at least it was an easy fix.

[Kabonkie]

Okay, here are the pics. It's a 80 GS 450 E.







I pulled the carbs tonight and cleaned them. They were pretty well varnished, but they're back on and it did fire up and run. It's not running too well yet, but a sync, and I think the plugs need to be looked at pretty good. But it's well back on it's way to being on the road.