Click and dead...

[Witt]

I have been reading a lot of posts on here trying to find a problem similar to mine but most are slightly different so here it goes.

1979 GS750E
Completely stock
~30k miles
I do routine maintenance on it. The bike was running really good last summer and would be taken out once or twice a week. It has always had hard starts and rough idling. If it runs for 10 - 20 minutes it will be ok but it has to be with the choke fully out the entire time and even after this it likes to die out when its just idling.

The Problem:
When I brought it out of storage this year it gave me a lot of problems starting and would take about 10 tries to get it going. Every time I try to turn it over it will sputter once or twice then stop. After giving me issues for a little while the bike started to act weird. Now every time I press the electric start there is a click and the dash lights go dead. They will come back on after about 10 - 15 minutes but the same thing happens if I use the electric starter again. The kick starter works fine but its still a pain in the ass to get it to kick over.

I checked the voltage across the battery and it was about 10V so its charging right now. Im also a bit of a noob to bikes so im still familiarizing myself with all of the electrical components and where they're located.

If anyone has suggestions on some troubleshooting I could do I would really appriciate it.

P.S. if someone could point out whats in these next two pictures it would be great because I am lost on a couple. For example I had no idea what A could possibly be.

[errorcauser]

(A) looks to be a bunch of cobbled up rectifiers. It appears someone has rigged up a homemade R/R for your bike. That's what it looks like to me anyway.

10Volts is not enough voltage to be charging properly.

Here's a good place to start trouble shooting.....
http://www.thegsresources.com/garage/gs_statorfault.htm

[Steve]

"A" appears to be a home-made rectifier, can't tell if there's a regulator in there, too.

"B" is the fuse for your AUX circuit. Not needed for anything in stock form, but you can hook up a cell phone charger, GPS, etc. to it.

"C" appears to be your turn signal flasher.

"Starter Relay" is correct, but usually called a Starter Solenoid. Same thing, different name.

"Main Fuses" is your main fuse box. Nice that you have the cover with labels.

"+ Battery wire" is correct.

"Electric Starter" might be an electronic ingniton conversion. I can't read the label, so follow the wires, see if they disappear behind the cover on the right end of the crank.



Errorcauser is correct, if you have 10 volts, you are NOT charging your 12-volt battery. You would be doing yourself a BIG favor by contacting duaneage (a member on this board, do an advanced search for his name) and get a new rectifier/regulator for your bike to replace that creation that has been installed.

Because of the constant state of low charge, you might also have to get a new battery, then you will be able to use your electric starter, too.

.

[yasser]

Here's a good place to start trouble shooting.....
http://www.thegsresources.com/garage/gs_statorfault.htm

And Bascliff's collection site http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/

[chef1366]

Good luck. No manual will help you.
You're like the guy that get's my bike when I'm done with it.
WTF?????

[Big T]

You need the basics:

1. Charging system check
2. Clean carbs
3. Adjust valves

Your idling problems are from #2 and #3. Hard staring can be a lot of things, tight valves, dirty carbs, low voltage at coils

So, go to the BassCliff site linked above, do some reading and start wrenching

[BassCliff]

Greetings and Salutations!!

Hi Mr. Witt,

Don't you just love PO's (Previous Owners)? Here's my "welcome thing"...

Here is your very own magical, mystical, mythical, mind-expanding "mega-welcome". Please take notice of the "Top 10 Common Issues", the Carb Rebuild Series, and the Stator Papers. Now 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!

Thanks for joining us. Keep us informed.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[Witt]

Update

Thanks everyone for all the great feedback. BassCliff, thanks for the welcome, your site is terrific. I will be spending many hours in the near future on it. Here is a little update on the bike:

I think the bike charges fine (it ran all last summer with no charging problems) but the battery was drained since I used the electric start many many times without it starting and therefore not charging. I am still going to get a new R/R since I dont really trust the homemade contraption on there...

The thing I am wondering about the electronics is if I damaged my battery. Right now it reads fine on the multimeter but I dont have a load tester. My friend brought it to my attention that they can die when under a load but I dont know how often it happens on bikes. He suggested it could be the case since the electronics will die then suddenly come back 5-10 minutes later. Could this be the problem?
My idea to test it is to hook it up on the battery charger while the battery is in the bike and test if the starter kills the bike or not. Anyone have any other ideas?

[chef1366]

Try to start the bike with the multimeter on the battery. That will be your load tester.

[BassCliff]

Hi Mr. Witt,

How old is your battery? If your common lead/acid battery is three years old or older, you might think about replacing it. I like AGM batteries.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[duaneage]

Just saw this post, that RR arrangement is shocking to say the least. I'm going to try and get you the RR you requested as soon as possible.

I would suggest taking some time to go over the other maintenance items mentioned before. The GS is a fine machine but before setting out on the road make sure the brakes, carbs and other items are addressed first so you don't get stuck and can safely stop OK.

Man that RR is scary.

[Witt]

Thanks for the suggestion chef. The battery is only a little over a year old so it should be ok unless it is damaged but Im going to test it tomorrow and find out if it is or not.

As far as the other maintenance, how long does it usually take for someone with medium/low bike experience to clean the carbs and adjust the valves? Like would someone suggest setting aside a couple hours at a time or do it all at once?

[Baatfam]

Thanks for the suggestion chef. The battery is only a little over a year old so it should be ok unless it is damaged but Im going to test it tomorrow and find out if it is or not.

As far as the other maintenance, how long does it usually take for someone with medium/low bike experience to clean the carbs and adjust the valves? Like would someone suggest setting aside a couple hours at a time or do it all at once?

Well you can do the valves in an afternoon without much trouble, even if you don't know what you're doing...
Cleaning the carbs will take at least four or five days to do it right. You need to soak each carb body in the cleaner for a day each...
I suppose you could speed things up with four cans of cleaner...
Add another day to readjust and balance them...

It's not so bad...just take your time...

EDIT: Oops...I think you have an 8 valve motor, so valve adjusting is a whole different game involving order/getting/trading shims...

[Larry D]

Adjusting the valves will take a few hours, start to finish. You'll need to remove the old valve cover gasket and clean the surface very well, this will take some time. Bass Cliff has great instructions on his site.

Cleaning and rebuilding the carbs is a three or four (maybe five) day process to be done well.

See the carb cleaning series on the homepage of this site.

Good Luck !!

[Matchless]

With a home made rectifier and no surity whether the PO also fitted a regulator, you will most likely be looking at a new battery. Charge it and have it load tested if you want to be sure. You will also need to test you stator AC output as well, as it may be part of your problem. All three the stator, R/R and battery must be in working order, as well as the wiring and connections, otherwise you are going to find yourself chasing your tail.

The losing of power when trying to start could be due to the battery failing as soon as it is loaded or due to a bad connection if the battery is fully charged.

Good call on ordering a R/R from duanage!

Good luck