A little research/diagnostics

[glynnd89]

After piddling around for a couple days on my gs, I have come to a strong conclusion that the starter relay is out, but before I shell out the money to replace, is there a way to rule out that it may be in the connections.  I have pulled off the plastic connector and checked the fuse, the fuse is fine and not corroded and the contacts in the connector are clean from what I can see. I have turned the ignition on and the gauge cluster wont light up and motor wont turn. after removing the connector and inspecting fuse (again) and replacing connecter the light will come on.  As soon as I engage the starter from the button, the lights go off and I start the process over again. Any suggestions?

[adidasguy]

Sounds like bad wiring connections.
You fiddle: a connection gets made, albeit poor. So lights come on.
You hit the starter: more current required and the bad connection opens up again. So lights go back off.
If starter stuff was really bad, you'd probably fry the fuse and fiddling would not make things work again (for a while).
Start at the battery and follow the +12 with a  volt meter until you find the bad connection. Can even be the wire in the connector or connector not mating properly.
You could even use a 12v light bulb and a wire. Attach the wire or meter probe to a stick pin or needle so you can poke into places and even through insulation if necessary. The point of a new, sharp, narrow exacto blade could work.
Wires can look attached to a connector, where it may be just the insulation and the wire is corroded so it is not making connection inside the insulation.

[ben2go]

Agree.Sounds like corrosion in one or more connections.Cleaning the battery terminals and wire ends with sand paper cured the no power issues on one of my bikes.I would also test,or have,your battery tested just to be sure it's good.

[numus]

This is why I bypassed that stupid connector. Somehow (still havn't figured out where) there is a bridge from the left side of the fuse to the right post of the starter solenoid... Mine just broke finally so i removed the entire connector. Directly wired the starter switch to the solenoid and created a new primary power connection to the positive battery post and put a new inline fuse in.

Trace the red wires from that green connector and you should find another connector that has 2 wires (1 red and one black/white) that then goes into the rectifer... Disconnect there and run a volt meter across that connector with the key in the on position.. If you don't see voltage run the red from that connector and the black from the negative battery post... If you see voltage then the starter solenoid connector isnt the problem.

[Toogoofy317]

This is why I bypassed the connector.

That sounds dangerous! They are like $12 off ebay. Hell if ur that hard up for money I've got a spare PM me with a good reason, not some Im just too lazy to scour Ebay krap.

Mary

[numus]

This is why I bypassed the connector.

That sounds dangerous! They are like $12 off ebay. Hell if ur that hard up for money I've got a spare PM me with a good reason, not some Im just too lazy to scour Ebay krap.

Mary

How is it dangerous?
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=57323.msg649379#msg649379
That is the new wiring... IT is wired exactly the same as if I had the other model of GS500 that has a fuse by the battery and doesn't connect like mine did..