Stupid Stupid

[Skievryday]

83 GS 550 E Wasn't running when I bought it. No spark.
New battery about a month ago, and some random work. Still no spark... New plugs- nothing.
Wait for cheap coils and replacement iginition.
Plug in ignition.

This is where it gets stupid... I don't own a trickle charger. (You see where this is going?) Jumpers to bike from truck. HOLY CRAP THIS BIKE ACTUALLY RUNS! Choke all on. Try to roll throttle and rpms drop. Ok, will let sit. Remove jumpers... eventually dies. Re-try. 5k RPM on choke, still trying to let it clean itself out, leave jumpers on in case coils aren't getting enough juice to keep running. All the sudden dash lights come on real birght, and then it all goes. Main fuse blew. New fuse. No jumpers this time... no luck. Jumpers- new (used) ignitor is now smoking!

Ok so tell me this. Regulator issue? That is what I am thinking. I think it went into the second phase above 5k and too much juice went through the system spiking and burning the ignitor. Correct? The worst part is that I have another R/R I was going to put in, but that was goiung to come after it was running. I just want to get it sorted before I build an ignitor.

Yes I will buy a freaking trickle charger... (I have used jumpers a lot with luck...shhh...)

[Steve]

Jumpers are OK, as long as the donor vehicle is not running.

If you want a good charger, look at Wal-Mart and some auto parts stores. Schumacher has a small brick-shaped unit for about $20 that is a charger/maintainer. Perfect for overnight or long-term connections.

K-Mart and Sears have the same identical unit under the Die Hard label for about $30.

.

[Skievryday]

Cool

Donor vehicle was not running.

Am I right about it being an R/R issue?

[Nessism]

R/R issue will not cause your ignitor to smoke unless there is a short somewhere. I suggest getting a proper battery, with full charge, and then start troubleshooting. On the GSR homepage there is a tutorial called Stator Papers. Follow this instruction to decide where the charging system problem (if any) lies.

Good luck.

[Skievryday]

Ok

So recharge battery and build an ignitor and try again?

Looking for consensus.

One of the problems with diagnosing the charaging system is that the bike needs to run... details.

[Nessism]

So recharge battery and build an ignitor and try again?

Looking for consensus.

One of the problems with diagnosing the charaging system is that the bike needs to run... details.

Build an ignitor? What does this mean? You make your own?

[Skievryday]

Yep

Ya you commented on it early this morning...

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=132971

$40, 1 hour, and a soldering iron and I think it would be done.

[Nessism]

Think I have it now.

Before you build that HEI ignitor, did you check for spark by laying a plug on the side of the engine?

Going to back pedal a little from what I said earlier; not sure if a fried R/R could cause the ignitor to fry due to high voltage. The stock Suzuki R/R's were pretty bad so no loss in just replacing it with something else. I'm running a late model CRB R/R on my 850 - paid $28 shipped off ebay. Many members are running an older style Honda R/R so do a search for tons of information.

If you do make that ignitor, please take some photos and post a tutorial. Lots of people around here would find it interesting. One caution though, your bike has the ignition curve built into the ignitor which obviously won't be the case if you go the HEI route. You will need a mechanical advance unit from an earlier 550, along with the signal generators. Whole conversion is going to be a fair amount of work. If you had a first generation 550, 8V engine, the conversion would be much easier.

[Skievryday]

Dang

Of course it couldn't be that easy could it?

I had no spark to start. Swapped out the ignitor, and boom. Spark. On the weak battery nonetheless.

Well now I think I might be farked for the time being because I have no idea how to do what you are suggesting. Well I do, but it means tracking down 2 used parts instead of one.

No clue about electrics, but I saw that "build your own" one, and it looked so easy. Of course that meant forgetting about the other three wires coming from the signla generator. Not enough coffee obviously.

[Skievryday]

Somewhat a bump

I found an ignitor! Yes.

Now that I have that squared away, can I get a little help as to why I might have blown up the last one so I don't blow this one too?

Much appreciated.

[SqDancerLynn1]

It is possible to fry the ignitor !!! If the reg is bad the system can produce upwards of 20V enough to fry lights & ignitor