Trouble free GS???

[igotcenter]

I just gotta know, Is there any GS owner on the planet that has a trouble free GS? Is there anyone who has NEVER had a charging system problem?
what is the the longest period of time any of you have gone without having to change out a R/R or Stator or both? from what i have read it seems that everyone has these problems and no one has yet to come up with a real solution, other than to swap out parts that are inevitably going to fail again!! and again!! and again!!!

Ive read so many stories now with fellas stating they have replaced these parts numerous times and still are having these problems. over and over and over again

Is there any hope?? or are we all just running in a circle chasing the same problems together and running "stator paper" tests on our bikes over and over?

please tell me there is a light at the end of this tunnel, let me know how many times you all have swapped this stuff out with new stuff, how many stators you have gone through, how many R/R's you have gone through

and if anyone has a problem free GS please let me know, is it problem free right now because you just replaced the charging system? or has your bike been running great for a long time? if so how long?


i had a brand new 77 GS750 in 77 and drove it to La Paz, Mexico and down the coastline from Canada and back with no charging system problems! just a few new tires. i loved that bike and picked up an 82 just recently now it has charge system problems. Does one need to replace the entire electrical system new harness, new everything to get the same performance that i had in 77?

[rgierer]

I have a 77 GS750 with the original stator and seperater regulator and rectifier (seperate pieces) never any problems with the charging system on that bike!

But then again I have no expectations of a 30 yr old bike being trouble free.

[Nessism]

Yes, the stock Suzuki stator and R/R are not the best but many members seem to get along just fine. You could always adapt on another type of R/R, Honda parts are popular, or go to the aftermarket. For the stator, there are aftermarket replacements available or you could wind your own. At any rate, these are classic bikes from the 70's and early 80's - 30+ years old. Keep this in mind and go with the flow.

[80GS750]

i have no issues with mine, its got 22k on it and its the original... if it goes out i will attempt to find another one, or just go aftermarket....

[BassCliff]

Hi Mr. igotcenter,

Welcome to the forum. Thanks for joining us. The good folks here are not only making me a better motorcycle mechanic, they are also making me a better motorcycle rider. Everyone is happy to share what we know.

I have a 27 year old motorcycle. The stator has been replaced once. There are some tweaks that can be done to the wiring that make the electrics more reliable, like running a dedicated ground from the regulator to the battery and keeping the wiring in good condition (cleaning contacts, etc). I have no problems with that.

Unless your electrical harness is totally fried you should be able to clean it up, replace a few bits, and ride for a very long time.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[bwringer]

If you read the hundreds of tales of woe here, it's easy to get frightened and discouraged. You simply don't hear about the many people who didn't experience a particular problem.

For example, my '83 GS850G has 81,000 miles, and has never had an electrical problem.

However, I have taken several preventative measures, since I know this is a potential weak spot with any older vehicle. Tractors, cars, motorcycles, aircraft -- anything with a couple of decades of age can and will have wiring problems if you don't head them off beforehand.

A few days after I got the bike home (long before I discovered the GSR), I noticed that the R/R seemed to only be grounded to the rubber-mounted battery box, so I made up a nice fat ground wire and installed it. I also inspected the wiring in general and found that the cheesy bullet connectors from the stator were obviously overheating, so I soldered these connections and protected them with heat shrink. Later on, I found that these are things you have to do with pretty much every GS.

About three years ago, I stumbled across a regulator/rectifier for a Honda while browsing eBay for parts for my wife's bike. I grabbed it, and in the course of researching the part, discovered that it would make a more robust replacement for my GS850's stock reg/rect. The stock part was working just fine, but I replaced it with the Honda piece, and have enjoyed better electrical output at lower RPMs ever since, even with the stock stator.

This is just one example -- the key is the proper mindset toward inspection, preventative maintenance, repairs, and upgrades. To me, motorcycles are a little like aircraft -- failure in flight is often deadly and is simply not an option. If anything, I over-maintain and inspect everything as often as possible.

There are many other common problems I've experienced -- expired intake boots and o-rings, bad petcock, leaking valve cover gasket, leaky cam chain tensioner, leaking tach drive, elderly carb o-rings, and air leaks in the airbox. All these are well-known, have relatively simple fixes, and all have been done on my bike. You simply can't expect 25 year old elastomers to keep functioning indefinitely.

I've only been stranded twice -- once was when the #4 rod bearing seized, most likely a direct result of clogged oil passages caused by the previous owner's slovenly habits with sealing goop. This could have been prevented, but not by me. Once was when the rear drive spline stripped at about 50,000 miles -- another well-known problem that I could have prevented.

If you're going to ride a vintage motorcycle far and fast, the bikes in the GS series are more than capable with proper inspection, maintenance and updates. However, these tasks are far too numerous and important to entrust to anyone except yourself.

But if you don't want to get your hands dirty, or if you're not willing to take the time to understand your machine, you'd be better off taking out a loan and buying something with a warranty.

The topic of undoing the horrible things done by previous owners is another matter entirely, and it does seem to be on the upswing lately. I think more and more people have discovered the appeal of the GS, and most of the un-hacked-up examples have found more or less permanent homes (I'm never selling...). So it does seem that more and more marginal bikes are being resurrected these days, and there are a lot of people struggling to undo the expected effects of time compounded by the unexpected idiocies of previous owners.

[twistedwankel]

I just gotta know, Is there any GS owner on the planet that has a trouble free GS? Is there anyone who has NEVER had a charging system problem?

if anyone has a problem free GS please let me know, is it problem free right now because you just replaced the charging system? or has your bike been running great for a long time? if so how long?

I picked up a completely abused and neglected CT '81 GS750E three years ago before I retired to FL as a hobby fixit bike with 19k miles on it. I only was able to ride it for 4 months a year just like the two previous owners.

I only cleaned it up (from sitting outside), put a used exhaust on it, put 4000 miles on it and then had the original stator go bad due to a poor connector (burned). I replaced it with a used (shakey) ebay one which lasted 9 months for $10 delivered. I put my last used ebay $15 delivered stator (nice) on it 6000 miles ago. My take on all this is that now that I'm living where I can ride the bike year round I no longer have any problems with it whatsoever. Don't need a charger but left the hook up there for when I go away for a month.

Store it -fix it. Ride it -love it.

[earlfor]

Its pretty simple really. Make sure to keep a good condition battery in the bike, keep the electrical conections clean and a good ground on the battery and R/R. Poor connections make the charging system (particularly the R/R) work harder. This usually results in the R/R getting too hot and burning up.
Besides the battery and clean connections, I make a "Y" harness so I can plug in/connect two R/R's on my bike. The logic is that each R/R will only have to handle half the load, but with two of them, my cooling area is doubled. My experience has been a fix it once and never have the problem again.

Earl