1981 GS450E Rebuild

[SVSooke]

Can't even imagine 9 years.Not hearing mine for a few months was OK but to cart around a not running bike for 9 years.You have more perseverance than I would have.Don't get attached somehow,when they go I move on.

[pete]

Seconded!
I'm getting excited just reading the thread.

Man everyone's getting excited... the question is will there be a climactic end to this excitment or will it all just be one big letdown when it doesn't fire up? Hmmm... only time will tell! Right now I'm betting on a letdown... still no damn spark and still losing 2 volts somewhere dammit

I will succeed though!

Pete, I recommend that you convert to a blade type fuse. They're like $2-$3. At least around here they're that much.

The start up is getting close... Come on Pete! After 9 years!

It will be done... but not right now. Right now is spark and first start time... then I can do the cool stuff like suspension, proper harness fixes, etc. etc.

Can't even imagine 9 years.Not hearing mine for a few months was OK but to cart around a not running bike for 9 years.You have more perseverance than I would have.Don't get attached somehow,when they go I move on.

Well it's only been non-running at 2 houses. The last time I rode it was when I moved in with my wife (although we weren't married then) at Burpengary in 2002. It got transported from there to here in pieces.

And trust me, my perseverence has been sorely tested in recent times... I have definitely been tempted to say bugger it and buy a runner, but this bike does have sentimental value for sure, like the times when I had basically nothing but this bike... but anyways...

Oh, I must also clarify... 9 years since I've ridden it, but only about 6 since it last actually ran and I started pulling it down...

[pete]

So... first off, getting a plumber in tomorrow to look at the hot water system. I figured out what the problem was this morning in the daylight when the pilot light was out again... there's a water leak inside that's running down and extinguishing the flame... d'oh! Explains why it stopped working all of a sudden.

Anyway, got my spark plug caps from ZPower, man that was quick, and yes they will definitely work:



So, did something I didn't particularly want to do but it's only temporary... put some more insulation tape around that uninsulated bullet connector on the fuse lead and reconnected it ready for more testing tonight:



Then got the right spark plug cap on:



I then hooked it back up to the car battery and checked around with the multimeter some more, and I'm getting exactly the same results.

With ignition and kill switch off, I get the full car battery voltage at the battery terminals where I clamp the jumper leads on.

I lost about 0.4 volts between there and the ignition switch.

If I turn the ignition switch on, the voltage at the battery terminals drops to about 12 volts on the dot, but that stays fairly consistent around the live wires on the harness, so there doesn't appear to be much if any voltage drop with just the ignition on.

When I turn the kill switch to run, that's when I get the big drop. Just under 12 volts at the battery terminals, and progressively less and less through the harness until I hit about 10.6 volts at the coils.

So, the next test will have to be disconnecting everything, and measuring as I plug stuff together. Hopefully that will isolate the component(s) with the issue.

[pete]

I tested for spark again tonight with the now good right spark plug cap and spark plug. Still no spark. I was waving a screwdriver in front of the signal generator sensors to test.

I'm unsure at the moment if it's just the voltage drop that's doing that, or if it's something a little more serious like the igniter or coil(s).

So, I'm hoping I can do some proper electrical diagnosis on the igniter to determine if it's faulty or not.

Not sure if Matchless is watching this thread or not, but if you are, then this next bit could be of some interest...

I remembered tonight that I still have this:



My old college project from about 1991 or 1992:



In theory, if it still works, I should be able to jumper the igniter to the terminals, and simulate the signal generator while monitoring the output.

I have the schematic thanks to Matchless, so i should be able to work out what inputs should give me the required output. I'm a little rusty on that stuff, but hopefully I've retained enough info to be able to test it properly.

This could be a little bit of distracting fun... or extra frustration. See how it goes I guess...

[Leigh]

Oh, I must also clarify... 9 years since I've ridden it, but only about 6 since it last actually ran and I started pulling it down...

Well, Jeez, that makes i tso much better then. Only 6 years? What have we been getting worked up over?

Bloody hell, Pete, I get narky if I miss a weekend.
I'm now at 10-an-a-bit months.
I've been known to be unpleasant company in that time..

[Leigh]

So... first off, getting a plumber in tomorrow to look at the hot water system. I figured out what the problem was this morning in the daylight when the pilot light was out again... there's a water leak inside that's running down and extinguishing the flame... d'oh! Explains why it stopped working all of a sudden.

Say hello to a new system..
Stupid unrepairable crap.

[pete]

Well, Jeez, that makes i tso much better then. Only 6 years? What have we been getting worked up over?

Bloody hell, Pete, I get narky if I miss a weekend.
I'm now at 10-an-a-bit months.
I've been known to be unpleasant company in that time..

Hold on a sec, I believe a certain someone was leant a certain form of transportation to attend a certain event at a certain island... so quit ya whingin'

Say hello to a new system..
Stupid unrepairable crap.

Yeah I expect it'll be new system time... got an old Rheem there now, probably end up with some hoo-flung-dung sealed up thing that you can't even light the pilot light on without spending $1000 to call a plumber in... and he'll have to be a contortionist jockey so he can crawl inside and wind his arm around it three times to light the damn thing...

[pete]

Well, just over $200 and the relief valve on the water system has been replaced. However, the anode that is sacrificed in order to prevent rust in the tank has already been sacrificed... and then some, so he's not sure how long before the tank needs replacing. Wonderful. Another $1500 if it has to be done.

Anyways... I'm starting to remember why I didn't persevere with a career in electronics now.

Disconnected everything from the wiring harness tonight.



Grabbed my A4 printout of the wiring diagram (I use an A3 sized one for reference to make it readable):



And proceeded to plug things in one by one, measuring and measuring again while I did it to see if I could isolate what's causing the voltage drop.



If you look at that diagram, you'll see how tedious that was.

End result was if I plugged the right coil in, I'd lose about 1.5 volts, so that seemed to be the culprit.

However, I went to double check, and that behaviour moved across to the left coil, so the right coil was measuring fine, but the left coil was causing the 1.5 volt drop.

That confuses me completely, but also is leading me to believe I need to give the igniter a thorough test. The ignitor is where the other leg of the coils plug into, so it's quite possible it's the igniter causing the drop, and that could explain why the behaviour has moved between the coils.

Unfortunately i just realised I didn't test with the coils plugged in and igniter unplugged, so I will have to try that as it may narrow it down.

Hopefully my old college project still works and I can do some proper testing of the igniter.

[Leigh]

Hold on a sec, I believe a certain someone was leant a certain form of transportation to attend a certain event at a certain island... so quit ya whingin'

Well, yeah ok, there was that..
Looks like the weather is going to be too hot/cold/wet/dry to do the back yard so I better spend the weekend in the shed..

[pete]

Well, yeah ok, there was that..
Looks like the weather is going to be too hot/cold/wet/dry to do the back yard so I better spend the weekend in the shed..

I'd say that's a grand idea!

Unfortunately I have to go sofa shopping today... that'll be a fun trip.

And I've had a glorious 4 hours of sleep... gotta love on call sometimes.

[pete]

I actually have a 1982 Suzuki GS450EZ

So I finally figured out half my problems with weird coloured wiring in the harness. My bike's actually an '82, not an '81.

My first suspicion of this was partly confirmed by the gasket guy saying the change from the 12 bolt valve cover to the 15 bolt valve cover was in the '82 model year, not the '81 model year, so the Suzuki fiche is a little misleading in that regard.

His listing from Athena is "80 - 83" 12 bolt and then "82 - 83" 15 bolt, although his listing on the website is a little confusing. Having said that, he and I were both quite confused about it... thanks Suzuki

Anyway, I got my final confirmation it's an '82 this morning while looking through the wiring diagrams again.

The '81 diagram shows a yellow/white wire coming out from the kill switch, which was confusing for me last night because I had no yellow/white from there, but the orange/white tested like that was it.

A closer look this morning in the Clymer shows the '82 model has an orange/white there instead of a yellow/white.

So, wiring confusion solved, I have a 1982 Suzuki GS450EZ.

I also noticed last night that something funny's going on with the rect/reg wiring and it doesn't match the '81 or '82 diagram. A closer inspection shows the connector is much newer than the other connectors, so obviously when the rect/reg has been replaced, it's had some alternative wiring done as well which I will need to work out.

[Leigh]

I'd say that's a grand idea!

Unfortunately I have to go sofa shopping today... that'll be a fun trip.

And I've had a glorious 4 hours of sleep... gotta love on call sometimes.

Four hours? That's about the same as me... gotta love drinking irresponsibly to all hours of the night sometimes.


Sofa shopping.. You are such a manly man, Pete.
I can hear the crack of the whip from here

[pete]

Four hours? That's about the same as me... gotta love drinking irresponsibly to all hours of the night sometimes.


Sofa shopping.. You are such a manly man, Pete.
I can hear the crack of the whip from here

Mate if only my four hours was from something enjoyable! Sheeesh... and the phone keeps ringing this morning... never ends sometimes...

As for the sofa shopping... this time it's actually a manufacturing fault but our sofas are discontinued so we need to find replacement ones, and they were all purchased in my name... can't get out of that one

PS: I won't deny there may be some whip cracking involved...

[Flaming Chainsaws]

Change your sig Pete . But... You could have just checked the steering neck for the year.

Electrical scares the **** out of me, that's for sure. Hoping you get it solved!

[pete]

Change your sig Pete . But... You could have just checked the steering neck for the year.

Electrical scares the **** out of me, that's for sure. Hoping you get it solved!

Ooops, forgot to update the sig., thanks!

As for the neck... don't work for Aussie models. There's no E, S, X, Z etc., just the 450.

The only way I know it's an E is because the wheels aren't gold and the bikini fairing that was on it initially is aftermarket.

The only indication to year is manufacturing date which from memory is 10/81, so no help as to official model year...