Electrical problems

[prd]

Hi I have an 80 gs450l I just bought it for 400 and I had it running but ran into some problems. I noticed the left plug wasnt sparking,and the right had a week spark so I pulled the tank to take a look at the coils at that time I realized that when the bike was running the left ignition coil wasn't getting any pulses, now they both do not work. It is an electric ignition, not point, also I am getting feed back from the engine. The ground on the ignition system is fried but is solid enough to connect. Please help this is my first bike, I know how to work on cars but I am a little over my with this. Any feed back would be awesome. Thanks - Paul

[posplayr]

a couple of things to check first (I assume ou have no spark):

a.) with a volt meter see if the positive side of both coils is 12V (needs to be over 10.5V minimum)
b.) with a volt meter see if the negative side goes up and down as you click the motor over
c.) do both sides

a.) will tell you if there is power to the coils
b.) will tell you if the ignitor is working
c.) should be self explainatory.

if no volt meter use a test light on the negative side

[Redman]

PRD,
Welcome to GSR.

Do you have a manaul? It will show a test of the pickups.

When you say "not getting pulses", what are you observing?
.

[BassCliff]

Greetings and Salutations!!

Hi Mr. prd,

Check the Electrical Odd and Ends section of my website for some ignition troubleshooting tips. In the meantime, let me say "Howdy!" in my usual manner...

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

[prd]

Thanks, its nice to get help online. These forums are amasing that being said,
Its not getting any electricity to the coils when I try to start it, Im testing the 2 wires before they reach the coils. The thick yellow wire that goes to the ignition has electricity but the wires before the ignition coils aren't getting electricity. It has 2 ignition coils.

[Redman]

No power to either coil.
Kill switch?

(am not familair with 450s to know about "thick yellow wire". I undeerstand the electrical system on 450s are much different than most other GSes))

[prd]

No the kill switch is off, it wont turn over at all if it is on. The yellow wire transmits the electricity from the engine to the ignition. Sorry I am not yet familiar with all the parts yet, I have been working on cars since I was 13 but have never touched a motorcycle. Thanks for you help this helps me out so much.

[Redman]

No the kill switch is off, it wont turn over at all if it is on.
....

Oh, yah, that is right. Kill Switch (on GSes I am familair with) cuts power to ignition and the starter button.

Well, if no power on the yellow wire.... follow it back to each connector, see how far back you have to go before you find the power. Bad connection somewhere. Am not familiar with wiring on 450 to be any more specific.

http://www.mtsac.edu/~cliff/storage/gs/GSX400_GS450_wiring.pdf

Link to schematics from BassCliff BikeCliff website.
Can see that the power to the two coils (and the ignitor) comes from the kill switch.
Maybe you can find that big connector in the headlight shell (if its like the other GSes).

.

[posplayr]

No power to either coil.
Kill switch?

))

thats funny

[prd]

So I traced it back and rewired parts of it and it is getting power but the ground isn't pulsing when it is turning over( I can get the right spark plug to spark by grounding the wire). The yellow wire goes to the starter. The 2 wires coming off the coils goes to the tri igniter, both positive are hot. But the ground wont pulse, the left coil is out, but the right works but isnt getting a pulse, so I need to replace the left coil and probably the tri igniter? Do you know where I can find one?