Please Help! My bike just stalled-no electrical power

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the great advice Earl. I've got Ron coming over this morning and I'll pass on your instructions. Btw, I installed a new fuel line on Wednesday. I am wondering whether perhaps I damaged a wire when re-installing the tank. I guess I'll find out. This problem could very well end up being self-inflicted. I'll let you know how things go. Thanks again.

[Anonymous]

Hi
It looks like you've got plenty of help but here's my pennyworth. A couple of months ago, much the same thing happened with my bike - I stalled in an emergency stop and lost all power. That problem seemed to be cured by a new starter solenoid. However, the bike soon broke down again and during attempts to fix it I got various wires smoking. I ended up with a new rectifier. I also had to replace (or have replaced - I paid an autoelectrician) several wires in the harness that had fused together!
The bike now starts far better than it ever did before so some good came from it.

Roger

[earlfor]

I agree Roger, after repairing the wiring, and checking connections for corrosion and increased resistance, the next things I would check are the starter solenoid and regulator/rectifier, and also the harness looking for rubbed/worn casing. replacing the burned wires will reconnect the system, but that doesnt explain why this happened.

Earl

Hi
It looks like you've got plenty of help but here's my pennyworth. A couple of months ago, much the same thing happened with my bike - I stalled in an emergency stop and lost all power. That problem seemed to be cured by a new starter solenoid. However, the bike soon broke down again and during attempts to fix it I got various wires smoking. I ended up with a new rectifier. I also had to replace (or have replaced - I paid an autoelectrician) several wires in the harness that had fused together!
The bike now starts far better than it ever did before so some good came from it.

Roger

[earlfor]

I really doubt the problem is anything you caused by installing a new fuel line. I've had gas tanks off and on many times and never had to rearrange a wire because of interference.

Earl

Thanks for the great advice Earl. I've got Ron coming over this morning and I'll pass on your instructions. Btw, I installed a new fuel line on Wednesday. I am wondering whether perhaps I damaged a wire when re-installing the tank. I guess I'll find out. This problem could very well end up being self-inflicted. I'll let you know how things go. Thanks again.

[SqDancerLynn1]

I would also disconnect the Regulator and check it

[wrench]

No I did not replace the fuse with one of higher amperage.

Hey i was only asking?? some times we all make the silliest of errrors?
Wrench.

[Anonymous]

I just had the same thing happen to me today. Does anyone have an idea as to whats going on here? ?

[earlfor]

You lost all electrical power and your wiring harness burned?

Earl

I just had the same thing happen to me today. Does anyone have an idea as to whats going on here? ?

[saaz]

It is easy for the horns to do this. They are wired positive (ie power to them all the time), the switch grounds them out to work. A simple problem. Had it happen to me when removing the tank......

Other than that, don't panic, check along all the wires and connectors, particularly those most recently subject to tank removal etc.......

[Anonymous]

On my 1100e the wiring harness is not burnt up. I went to gas it and it just died. It blew the main fuse 15amp. I replace the fuse three times with the key off and it blew all three fuses. So where do I start? R/R, stator, or starter? I have extra of all of the above. I going to try the R/R first. What do you guys think?

[earlfor]

Since the circuit to the starter is incomplete with the key turned off and if the engine isnt running then the stator isnt moving, so.......... I would disconnect the R/R, and replace the fuse and see if it still blows. may as well use up some of your smallest fuses because with the key off, there should be no draw at all anyway.

Earl

On my 1100e the wiring harness is not burnt up. I went to gas it and it just died. It blew the main fuse 15amp. I replace the fuse three times with the key off and it blew all three fuses. So where do I start? R/R, stator, or starter? I have extra of all of the above. I going to try the R/R first. What do you guys think?

[Bill + Karen]

Stick the leads of your multitestor in where the main fuze goes. Start disconnecting stuff until the draw disappears. Earl is right I would suspect the R/R also, thats what my 1100 was doing. The R/R on mine was toast and in true GS style took the stator with. Get it running and step thru the stator papers it makes it simple to find out whats good or bad. Bill

[argonsagas]

On Carmen's bike, we disconnected the whole back end of the harness, pulled it free, ripped off the wrapping, and pulled the wires apart to check for damage. There was a melted wire connected through the harness between the stator and the R/R.

All wires were checked and the damaged wire replaced.

No visible damage anywhere else in the harness, except abrasion on the outer tape near the front of the gas tank. Re-wrapped the harness, and overlapped the tape under the tank. Checked all fuses.

Reinstalled the harness, reconnected the battery.

With R/R disconnected, the bike was started several times and ran fine.

With the bike idling at 2000 + RPM checked the voltage from the stator.....26.5, 24.5, and 2.3. Not too much doubt the stator is gone.

With the VOM set on resistance, ohms reading varied between the terminals, but there was electrical flow in every case...twice the ohm reading was .006....my meter stalls out at .003, so this was a long way from the factory minimum, and about as close as we could get to a dead short.


Don't know why it blew a fuse afterwards, as it happened after I left, but we will pull off the fairing and check everything before installing another stator and R/R.

Unless it were loose internally, I don't see how the starter relay/solenoid could cause the problem on its own, as it does not activate unless the start switch is engaged. Will check the switch and circuit next time.

[earlfor]

Ron, are you saying that after running the bike with the stator and regulator disconnected and having it run fine without blowing a fuse, that you left, and Carmen ran the bike while you were away under the same conditions and it did blow another fuse?

Earl

Don't know why it blew a fuse afterwards, as it happened after I left, but we will pull off the fairing and check everything before installing another stator and R/R.

Unless it were loose internally, I don't see how the starter relay/solenoid could cause the problem on its own, as it does not activate unless the start switch is engaged. Will check the switch and circuit next time.

[argonsagas]

Yup.


At least I think so......I wasn't there.

After reconnecting everything except the stator/ R-R, it started several times, and ran fine for a few minutes. Carmen keeps the bike in a wonderful state of tune, and it starts very quickly, even cold, so there was little amperage draw on the start circuit.

After that, we re-checked the battery and found it had lost about 3/4 of 1 volt....which seemed OK to me after the multiple starts and a few minutes of running.


The subsequent blown fuse was an embarrassment....I had mentioned checking the horns, but did not do so, as we had determined the R/R and stator were shot, and other wires in the harness that led to the front of the bike were OK, plus the bike was running well.