New Rider from SOMD

[TheBoomerangKid]

Hey everybody! I recently bought a 1992 GS500E as my first bike.
Now before i get too deep into my post I guess I ought to tell you a bit about myself. I'm 19 and from good old Southern Maryland. I've always had a pretty good interest in things with motors, whether its a truck, a car, a boat, or a bike. I've got a 1988 Dodge Ram 50 4x4 as my daily driver and i recently sold my 1987 Nissan 300ZX, but we can talk more about my other vehicles in another post.. Since I had a little extra cash laying around from selling the Nissan and recieving my tax return, I just had to spend it on something. So I started looking at motorcycles.

I ended up buying a red 1992 GS500E with dual headlights and a Vance and Hyne's exhaust. Its got 28,000 miles on it and it seems to be in pretty fair condition, and so far I just love it! When I bought the bike there was only a few things that i could tell needed to be fixed. The tachometer light, neutral light, and turn signal light were all burnt out. Those were all easy fixes, just pull the old bulb out and put a new one in. The other thing that needed fixing was the turn signals themselves, since somebody had decided that LED blinkers are better than the stock ones i had the seemingly common issue of them lighting up but not blinking. Also, when i replaced the turn signal bulb in the dash, all four corners light up! So after a little bit of research I went to the local auto parts store and bought a pair of load resistors, installed them, and all is well. Or so I thought. Before I had installed the resistors my bike would start up first or second try every time. But now it seems like the battery isn't holding a charge. Two days after installing them I went to start the bike and it just didn't have enough juice. I thought nothing of it at the time, so I jump started it and went for a ride. Then the next day, the same thing happened. And two or three times since then I get all geared up and ready to go just to find I have a dead battery again. So my question for you all is if the load resistors could have something to do with my battery dying, and how I could go about fixing that. Or if I just need a new battery since I'm really not sure how old it is anyways.

Aside from that the only other problem I've found is a little bit of a high idle after its warmed up, but I adjusted the idle screw on the carb and I think that solved the problem for now.

So thanks in advance! I'll post pictures as soon as i figure out how 
- David

[adidasguy]

Sounds like the load resistors are installed wrong.
Remove them and see if the problem of draining the battery goes away.
If it does, then show us how you installed them.

[TheBoomerangKid]

Thanks for the reply, I took the resistors off today and jumped the battery with my truck. The bike started up and I let it warm up for a few minutes before taking it out for a ride. I only made it to the first stop sign when the bike died on me. So I pushed it back to my truck and let the battery charge through the jumper cables for a few minutes before trying to start it again. When I tried to start it all it would do is click a few times. So I pushed it back into my garage and I think I'm going to try buying a new battery for it because its probably about time for a new one anyways.

Anyways, here's some pictures!

Here is the resistors installed onto the wires or the turn signals. I put them in underneath the seat, just seems like the right spot.
It should be noted that there was a decent amount of "jerry rigging" on the bike when i got it.


this is a quick masterpiece on paint of how the resistors were wired


and heres the bike itself




i have since fixed the crooked mirrors and bought a bungee cargo net for the back of the seat

[Big Rich]

Do you have a multimeter? Check the charging system before buying a new battery (but I would bet your battery is toast anyway).

Those inline resistors are garbage...... you're better off getting a turn signal relay made for the lower load of led lights. They cost about $10 and can be found at Autozone.

[TheBoomerangKid]

I'll have to ask my father if he's got a multimeter in his garage.

And thanks for the tip, i'll head down the autozone within the next day or two and pick those up. (We just had a new autozone built just up the road from me!  )

[illenium]

I'll have to ask my father if he's got a multimeter in his garage.

And thanks for the tip, i'll head down the autozone within the next day or two and pick those up. (We just had a new autozone built just up the road from me!  )

Hello and good choice on the bike, can't go wrong with a GS   


I had to deal with LED signals on my KTM, I ended up trying the low voltage flashers from autozone and advance autoparts, neither one worked for me, not enough load. I ended up buying the tusk relay on ebay. Works like a charm

PS: Battery hooked up to the car will never charge it to start the bike, only good enough to jump start. With the cold we had you likely have to use a motorcycle battery charger (or low amp car one) or if it doesnt charge/hold the charge, need a new battery all together

[TheBoomerangKid]

Thanks everybody for your input! I went ahead and bought a new battery and I haven't any any problems with it dying yet. I believe the battery that was in there was hadn't been replaced since the bike was new, so I'm thinking that my problem may not have been in the resistors, but just that the battery was 22 years old (insert old man emoticon with beard and cane here)

I did also buy the tusk led flasher relay and this sound pretty dumb, but I have no clue how to install it. I read a how to on replacing the relay, and the wire connections are just totally different. Do I need to splice the wires in or am I just looking in the wrong place on the bike? The part said it was universal but I'm beginning to doubt that a little. So if anybody could help me figure out just how to install it so that I can ditch those inline resistors I would be very thankful!

.... As you probably noticed, electrical systems are not my strong suit lol

[illenium]

it replaces the stock turn signal relay which should be under the throttle side rear fairing. On the 92 the
wires going to it should be orange and light blue. cut the old install the new. before you put everything
back together, make sure it works, which way you hook it up shouldn't matter, just needs to be in there
to interrupt the current, that's all the relay does

old (stock) relay



electrical battlefield for your bike:

[nmh5028]

Ooh another GS'er in SOMD. I'm not alone anymore