Another GS newbie...

[car99r]

OK guys, I own lots of bikes and work on lots of bikes but never been a wiring guru at all...

Hoping for a little help if someone is willing. Some may recognize me from thechopperunderground.com?

Anyway, I got a GS550L I picked up this weekend. Guy said it had no spark and kept blowing a fuse. Just pulled it into garage today and hooked up the charger to it. To begin with I have nothing with the starter button. I checked it out and all the wiring looks good to button and from button. I am not getting any lights coming on or anything. I replaced the fuse(although good) and still nothing. Where do I begin??? lol

Just printed out the electrical section of the manual but I thought with experience around here maybe someone knew of a common problem with these?

[terrylee]

Are you getting lights or anything when you turn on the key? If not it could be dirty or bad ign. switch (had that problem myself recently and took it apart, cleaned it and now it works fine). terrylee

[Einstein]

Bad grounds, bad switches, bad wiring, bad connections..

You are going to have to trace the fault with a meter, and using the wiring diagram to follow the feeds.

As Terrylee says, ignition switches are known to go bad, so I would probably have a poke around with the meter in there just to check.


John

[Suzuki_Don]

You didn't mention if you had a known good battery. Check the voltage there first, with key off and then key on. If you have 12v then trace from there.

[car99r]

Are you getting lights or anything when you turn on the key? If not it could be dirty or bad ign. switch (had that problem myself recently and took it apart, cleaned it and now it works fine). terrylee

Absolutely no lights! I will make this my first check!

Somehow I bet I am back again even after finding the first problem.

[car99r]

You didn't mention if you had a known good battery. Check the voltage there first, with key off and then key on. If you have 12v then trace from there.

Yes, battery has 12v, first thing I checked. I also put a battery charger on it to make sure.

I just came back in from garage. I checked contuity on the switch and all checks out good. Found the main fuse was bad but everytime I put new one in it blows immediately when turning the ignition switch on??? I have traced over the wires several times and cannot find any bare wires or melted wires.

What could be a cause of it blowing the fuse so fast? Any thoughts?

[BassCliff]

Hi,

Well, I'll play Captain Obvious.

You've got a short somewhere. I would start by looking for melted insulation or connectors in the charging system, between the stator and regulator/rectifier unit. Take off the tank, side covers, tail section, headlight, and carefully check the entire wiring harness for burned or worn insulation that is grounding out. I might have a wiring diagram or manual for your bike on my website. Let me give you my welcome schpiel.....

If there's anything you'd like to know about the Suzuki GS model bikes, and most others actually, you've come to the right place. There's a lot of knowledge and experience here in the community. Come on in and let me say "HOoooowwwDY!"....

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

[Suzuki_Don]

The current goes from the battery to the ignition switch. When the switch is turned ON the current then goes back to the fuse. From there it feeds the various circuits on the bike. If it were me I would disconnect the various circuits, ignition, lights, horn, handlebar switches, etc. and then connect them up individually with the ignition in the ON position. When the fuse blows then I know that is the circuit that has the problem. Easy.

[Suzuki_Don]

P.S. What model, year is the 550L. The later models had multiple fuses. Have you checked these as well.

[car99r]

Hi,

Well, I'll play Captain Obvious.

You've got a short somewhere. I would start by looking for melted insulation or connectors in the charging system, between the stator and regulator/rectifier unit. Take off the tank, side covers, tail section, headlight, and carefully check the entire wiring harness for burned or worn insulation that is grounding out. I might have a wiring diagram or manual for your bike on my website. Let me give you my welcome schpiel.....

If there's anything you'd like to know about the Suzuki GS model bikes, and most others actually, you've come to the right place. There's a lot of knowledge and experience here in the community. Come on in and let me say "HOoooowwwDY!"....

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

Cliff,
I was pointed to your site and found it very helpful. I checked out the wiring diagram and that is where I foudn test for ignition contiunity test. Thank you and yes, I believe I do have a ground. just wa shoping there was something common on the GS's to begin with. Was hoping for somehting simple if you will... After owning and working on over hundred bikes you think I would give up on simple some day...

The current goes from the battery to the ignition switch. When the switch is turned ON the current then goes back to the fuse. From there it feeds the various circuits on the bike. If it were me I would disconnect the various circuits, ignition, lights, horn, handlebar switches, etc. and then connect them up individually with the ignition in the ON position. When the fuse blows then I know that is the circuit that has the problem. Easy.

I believe this will be my next step. Not the greatest when it comes to wiring but can see smoke easily... JK, just not great with a meter.

P.S. What model, year is the 550L. The later models had multiple fuses. Have you checked these as well.

Sorry, it is an 82'

Everything I find says the fuse's are 15,10,10,10

It does nto however, tell me what each fuse is for. The 15 is the one blowing and appears to be the main.

[car99r]

Weeelll.....

That was pretty fast. I disconnected just about every connector I could find. I then installed new fuse and started connecting back together. I hooked up everything but the reg/rec and I could turn the bike over with button and had lights. As soon as I plugged in red wire to reg/rec it blew the fuse.

I then decided to check reg/rec with meter. The manual I got from Cliff's site did not have ohm rating for each wire. I have one for the 83 GS55E and wire codes are the same.

It has the follwoing for testing:

R - W/Bl = 4-10ohm
R - W/R = 4-10ohm
R - Y = 4-10ohm
R - B/W = 30-80ohm

My results were right at the 2 ohm range on all but B/W which I do not recall at this time but was nowhere near close to 30-80.

So, do you GS experts believe that the reg/rec can go bad and cause this? If so what am I looking at to replace with a good unit?

[Suzuki_Don]

OK. The wire from the ignition switch feeds the 15 amp fuse, this fuse then connects directly to the three 10 amp fuses within the fuse box. So that eliminates a fault in the other circuits feeding from the 10 amp fuses. If they had a fault then the 10 amp fuses would blow before the 15 amp fuse. So the fault is between the battery and the 15 amp fuse.

So start looking. You could run a bypass wire for testing purposes from the +ive side of the battery to the 10 amp side of the 15 amp fuse holder after removing the 15 amp fuse. This would bypass (eliminate the ignition switch and most likely the fault (ground) and should power up the other circuits feeding from the three 10 amp fuses. Lights should work. Instrument panel lights should come on. Oil, etc. the plugs should spark.

Also the fault could be in the fuse block, a lot of the guys replace these or clean them up and resolder them.

You get the idea.

Get back to us.

[Suzuki_Don]

You can get a Honda unit from DUANAGE a member on this Forum. Email or message him and he will post it to you. Won't cost anything near a new item and the Honda units are larger and have better cooling anyway.

[car99r]

You can get a Honda unit from DUANAGE a member on this Forum. Email or message him and he will post it to you. Won't cost anything near a new item and the Honda units are larger and have better cooling anyway.

Thank you!

I actually have about 30 bikes here and many of those are parts bikes. If I knew what years would work and how to make them work I might have one.

Know of a list anywhere or instuctions about the wiring differences?

[car99r]

Couple more questions before I do replace the reg/rec? I read the Stator Papers and still a little lost.

I did not remove the reg/rec from the bike when testing. Would the "B/W" wire having a bad ground give these results? Should I totally remove it and then test again?