1983 gs450t

[Ohioan]

I just purchased a '83 GS450T. It has two problems.

1. There is a charging issue, I have been told it's the stator, but I'm looking for 2nd, 3rd, etc. opinions. The bike starts up and runs, until the battery dies, and then nothing. Is there a way to test to see if it is the stator or something else? There is a new battery in the bike.

2. When the bike is started cold, it idles at around 1k-1.5k rpms. As the engine warms up, it slowly revs up to about 2krpms then revs quickly to 3.5k. I'm guessing the choke is stuck. The choke cable is just hanging on the handle bars, the switch on the bars is missing. When I pull, or push, on the choke cable at the handle bars, the cable does not move at the choke. The cable at the bars doesn't move more than half and inch. Should I just try to replace the cable to see if that helps? or is there something else to try? I can barely get my hand in to the cable at the engine. If I adjust the idle down once the engine is warmed up it runs fine, I drove it up the block and didn't experience any issues.

As you can tell, I'm very inexperienced with working on motorcycles. All help is greatly appreciated.

this is my first motorcycle, I got it really cheap, the problems don't seem to be that big. Other than these two issues, it works fine.

[Steve]

First of all,

You are now part of one of the best nuthouses on that interweb thingy.

May I suggest that you add a little information to your profile? A location would be nice. Your name suggests you might be in oHIo or maybe just from oHIo. Somebody might be close enough to give you a hand, but we don't know who to pick on. It would also be helpful to add your bike to your signature. You mentioned it here, which is nice, but you will have to remember to mention it every time you ask a question. Adding it to your signature line does it for you, automatically.

Now to your problems:

1. There is a charging issue, I have been told it's the stator, but I'm looking for 2nd, 3rd, etc. opinions. The bike starts up and runs, until the battery dies, and then nothing. Is there a way to test to see if it is the stator or something else? There is a new battery in the bike.

Just off the home page of this site is the In The Garage section. In there, you will find a nice section called The Stator Papers. Paper #4 has a nice troubleshooting tree to help you quickly find what's wrong.

2. When the bike is started cold, it idles at around 1k-1.5k rpms. As the engine warms up, it slowly revs up to about 2krpms then revs quickly to 3.5k. I'm guessing the choke is stuck. The choke cable is just hanging on the handle bars, the switch on the bars is missing. When I pull, or push, on the choke cable at the handle bars, the cable does not move at the choke. The cable at the bars doesn't move more than half and inch. Should I just try to replace the cable to see if that helps? or is there something else to try? I can barely get my hand in to the cable at the engine. If I adjust the idle down once the engine is warmed up it runs fine, I drove it up the block and didn't experience any issues.

Multiple things going on here.
- When the idle speed increases as the bike warms up, it is likely bad o-rings in the intake tubes. New rings are available from a fellow forum member at www.cycleorings.com. Do you have any idea how regularly the bike was ridden before you got it? If not, it might be a good idea to clean the carbs while you have them off to change the intake o-rings. From that same site, you can order a set of o-rings to rebuild the carbs. A guide for cleaning the carbs can be found by clicking on this link.
-The choke cable should be attached below the left handgrip. Parts are available from many sources. BassCliff will be along shortly with his official MegaWelcome that includes many of those sources. You might need a cable as well. I am not sure if it is possible to pull hard enough on the cable by hand to move the choke linkage on the carbs. There is quite a bit of mechanical leverage at the thumb lever when it's installed properly.

.

[Larry D]

Welcome !!
Listen to Steve, he knows a thing or two about our bikes. If he's close to you and you talk to him real nice, he'll probably ride over and give you a hand........if we could get it to stop raining in the midwest.

We also really like pictures of your new bike. Here's how to post up to four via photobucket.....

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/images/how_to_post_pictures.pdf

[spyug]

Welcome aboard.

It sounds like you are suffering from the 2 Achilles heels of the GS world:1)lack of charging 2) gummed up carbs. Friend Steve has given you the directions to sort this out so commence to reading and then wrenching.
Seldom a quick and easy fix to all ailments but with some education and a systematic step by step approach you will be able to figure things out.

You mention you don't have experience wrenching on bikes but over all what is you mechanical aptitude and the state of your toolbox? In order to work effectively on these issues you will need some basic metric wrenches and sockets, a torque wrench is nice but not essential and for the electrical you will need a digital multimeter and a circuit tester. All available from any good auto repair store.

While you should definitely pull ,clean and rebuild the carbs as a priority and definitely read the Stator papers a few simple things might help sort out the charging issue.

In a multitude of cases, charging and other electrical issues can be nailed down to bad/ineffective ground and or corroded connectors. Start at the battery and clean up the terminals and the connectors on either end of the positive and negative leads. For grounds, you want to make sure you have good metal to metal contact. Even a little bit of rust or corrosion can mess this up. Make sure the leads coming and going to the fuse block are clean and corrosion free, that the contacts in the fuse block are clean and that the fuses are good. Over time go through all your connectors and clean them up.

While the stator can be an issue, the regulator/rectifier can also be a culprit in bad charging and often the factory ground lead from it is the problem. A solution and quick fix sometimes is as simple as running a seperate ground lead from the R/R (black/white wire) directly to the negative terminal of the battery. This solved a lack of charging problem for me and others so give it a whirl. The factory R/Rs are considered underpowered for the job and many folks switch them out for newer models. Lots of info on this and friend Duaneage is the man for replacement Honda units if you need one.

Now start your reading and wrenching and let us know what you find.

Cheers & good luck.
Spyug.

[Ohioan]

Sorry, I usually jump into the CP and enter my details when I join a new forum, just slipped my mind this time.

I have a friend, who lives a little ways down the road who is a mechanic, and has rebuilt old honda bikes before. I'm a do-it-yourself kind of guy. If I'm not sure about something, I ask questions and/or search for an answer.

Carbs:

Everything I've ever saw about carbs being gummed up comes causes the opposite effect I'm having, so I didn't even think of that. The gas tank is clean, and the previous owner had ridden the bike quite a bit before she decided to sell it. But, she did say she had a "mobile motorcycle mechanic" she found off Craigslist pull the carbs and clean them. Hard to tell what happened there.

Charging Issues:

I'll try the connections and see what I can find. Should I just use a wire brush and sandpaper?

I'll go through that before I go and buy a new stator for $150.

[spyug]

Just about every older bike I've seen has had carb issues. When they sit for even a short time now the gas goes bad and turns to junk that clogs passages and jets. Very, very common.

One thing you can try is to dump a half can of Seafoam into a full tank and run it through. You might need to do this a couple of times but it can help in a lot of cases. It is not a substitution for the carb rebuild as undoubtedly the o-rings have dried up and split causing excess air to get in. I also use Seafoam on going as a stabilizer to keep gas good between rides. A couple of caps full per tank keeps things sweet.

For cleaning contacts, use whatever you can, fine sand paper or emery cloth, points files, dremel tools whatever gets you down to shiny metal. When you read over the threads & articles on electrics you will see that a lot of guys just snip off the bad connectors (especially bullets) and replace them with new spades. A bit of a longer term project in my mind. to keep contacts clean and corrosion free get some dialectic grease (electrical supply store or some auto centers)and smear them. You can also use petroleum jelly in a pinch.

This is the simple stuff to try first and to hopefully get you going but you do need to do the diagnostics to understand what is working right and what needs fixing. You'll find that owning and old bike is an on going project. Things do need fixing from time to time and there are improvement projects that you can do to make things better as well. Half the fun in a bike for lots of us is the wrenching. The feeling you get when you figure something out and sort it yourself is well.......priceless.

Enjoy the tinkering.

Cheers,
Spyug

[BassCliff]

Greetings and Salutations!!

Hi Mr. Ohioan,

Let me roll out the welcome mat for you...

Please click here for your mega-welcome, chock full of tips, suggestions, links to vendors, and other information. Then feel free to visit my little BikeCliff website where I've been collecting the wisdom of this generous community. Don't forget, we like pictures! Not you, your bike!

Pay particular attention to the "Top 10 Common Issues", the Stator Papers and the Carb Rebuild Series. You might also think about new sprockets and chain.

Thanks for joining us. Keep us informed.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[Ohioan]

I'm going to order a set of o-rings and my friend down the road is going to help me tear out the carbs and clean them up and chase down that electrical problem. The links you guys provided gave me lots of good info! Thanks

[Ohioan]

on basscliff's website, it says

1. Intake O-rings (install NEW OEM or Viton only - common nitrile O-rings will quickly deteriorate from heat)

The o-rings on the website http://cycleorings.com/ says that their o-rings are made ofNitrile (Buna-N), 70 Durometer. Is this the same thing Basscliff warns against?

[errorcauser]

on basscliff's website, it says

The o-rings on the website http://cycleorings.com/ says that their o-rings are made ofNitrile (Buna-N), 70 Durometer. Is this the same thing Basscliff warns against?

That's the right place to get your o-rings. Order with complete confidence.

[Ohioan]

Okay.. Why are those o-rings okay, if they are nitrile?

[Nessism]

You need viton O-rings for the intake pipes (or commonly called boots here), but more common Nitrile is okay for the carb O-rings. Get both sets. Sounds like your intake O-rings are shot but even if the carbs seem okay right now, they should be updated with fresh o-rings while you have them off the bike.

[Ohioan]

Thank you, I always like to know WHY.

[Ohioan]

I was pulling the battery out today so I can charge it up, when I looked behind the airbox and saw this:


This stuff was just hanging out back there, just laying there.



Now, shouldn't that ground wire be attached to something? I couldn't find a place for it. Perhaps someone here would know. This MIGHT just be the solution to my charging issue. The battery dies pretty quick, after about 15 minutes of running.

Then I'm looking at the intake boots.



And looky there! It's cracked around the screw. Looks like I need new boots.

I plan on buying new o-rings and boots, and pulling the carbs and cleaning them.

Then once I getting running good, I'm going to go after that charging issue.

So, can anyone tell me where that ground wire is supposed to go?

[Nessism]

The round bob looks like a flasher unit. Stock one was rectangular shaped on mose GS bikes so maybe someone replaced the one on your bike and couldn't find a good place to mount it. The extra plug could be just that, sometimes Suzuki left unused connectors in the harness. As for your charging system, go to the Stator papers and follow the directions.