HELP ME GET MY BIKE STARTED

[animal]

i bought a gs500 in sep of 07 and have been fixing it up since.  I painted the tank, front fender, rear side panels and exhaust, replaced the old rusty bar tubes and cleaned off a lot of rust.  today i finally got it all back together and my bike won't start.  i have it off the kickstand, clutch pulled in, gear in neutral, key on, killswitch on and i press the start button but NOTHING HAPPENS!  i get no noises at all.

i have taken apart the clutch engage sensor and that could be the reason why, but i can still shift up and down with the clutch pulled in.  the battery is a little low but i should still have enough to get a clicking noise.

i tried doing a rolling start or two down the driveway but getting no spark at all, the engine won't turn over. 

please help, i need to have this bike running by tomorrow!

[Jay_wolf]

Battery is low , i had that , it wouldnt turn over and i could work out why , battery was flatter than Gwen Stifani's chest ,  charged it for a day and it started on the button , the battery may be to weak to even get a clicking noise ,

If that doesnt work , then check the clutch switch and the Sidestand switch

[DoD#i]

i have taken apart the clutch engage sensor and that could be the reason why, but i can still shift up and down with the clutch pulled in.  the battery is a little low but i should still have enough to get a clicking noise.

The clutch switch is almost certainly the problem given the available details. It does not affect ability to shift.

What year GS?

See if this helps - several workarounds included. http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=43024.0

[animal]

it's a 1989.

i cleaned the spark plugs, added distilled water and started charging my very dry, very dead battery.  did a few more attempts at a push start to no avail.  the sidestand switch is operating correctly, as far as i can see.

i will check the clutch switch again.

thank you so much for the input.

[animal]

is there an easy way to bypass the clutch switch?  i am no electrician, nor am i mechanic for that matter but i know how to cut and twist wires.

[simoniz]

A dry dead battery is not a good thing, if it is really old it may not ever recharge fully again. Splash out on a new one and see if that is the answer - if not you can rule it out. Did you check the starter solenoid is not stuck? My '89 was a bear to get back to life, but it would always turn over, even when it was a wreck.

[DoD#i]

is there an easy way to bypass the clutch switch?  i am no electrician, nor am i mechanic for that matter but i know how to cut and twist wires.

Read the thread I linked. If it's like the '90, it's so easy to bypass it's almost funny - no cutting or twisting required - just plug nice factory terminals into each other and done.

But the even simpler first step is to just use a wrench or screwdriver to short the starting relay - that pretty well isolates "does the battery and starter work" .vs. "are the interlocks preventing it from starting"

If your battery is that bad, it may well be the problem, so try the wrench/screwdriver.

[animal]

okay i went tthrough the clutch switch with a multitester, traced the problem back to the connection before the clutch switch (inside the headlight housing).  after fixing that and about 2 hours of charging, now the engine will crank but i'm not getting any spark.  advice?

[DoD#i]

The cheap option - it's the battery still being weak - try jumping it from a car or swapping in a known-good battery.

The expensive option - if you are not getting spark on either side, it may be the CDI "black box".

The tedious option: - it may be a variety of bad connections - 19 years of getting old and grotty don't help an electrical system.

The bone-stupid option, but one has to ask: have you tried new plugs, or cleaning the plugs you have?

[animal]

i have cleaned and gapped the plugs.

i've decided to let the battery charge for a few hours and just brainstorm.  thanks for all your help, guys.  i'll let you know if/when i get it working.

[animal]

tried starting the bike this morning and once again, the starter is turning the crank put i have very little spark.  there is a slight burble from the exhaust, but not much.  i will check the plugs again.  if i can't fix this problem i might have to sell the bike this month.

[sledge]

Get a can of this....... http://www.thekarchercentre.co.uk/index.php?app=gbu0&ns=prodshow&ref=EASY ....or something similar. Fire a few shots into the air-filter whiles its cranking over and see what happens.

You might know it better as this.. http://www.napaonline.com/MasterPages/NOLMaster.aspx?PageId=470&LineCode=CRC&PartNumber=05671&Description=Starting+Fluid