Won't start, completely dead, blown fuse

[pogonotroph]

New rider here with a (new to me) 2006 GS500. The battery that the bike was sold with was obviously on the way out as it wouldn't hold a charge very well, i.e. it wouldn't have enough juice to start if left for more than 48 hours or so.

Yesterday I went to start the bike and it wouldn't start (last time I had ridden it was 24 hrs before). No biggie, I thought, I will just jump it from my car like I always do (car is never running when I do this). This worked and I got the bike running. However, just a few blocks down the street, I downshifted into first at a stop sign and the engine died. It has been doing this the past few days, where it will randomly die when shifted into gear, even with the clutch lever pulled in. I tried to start the bike but after cranking for a few seconds, it stopped turning over and all lights went out.

I tried push starting the bike, which got it running for a few seconds, but it would immediately die. After doing this 3 times, the bike would not start from a push start anymore.

I pushed the bike back home and tried to jump it from my car battery again, but this time it would not work. None of the lights would turn on, even after being hooked up to the car for 20 minutes. I then tried charging it with a portable solar 6 amp battery charger, but that didn't do anything so I unhooked that after a minute or so.
I next looked at the bike's main fuse and, sure enough, it was blown. So I replaced it with a new fuse. But still no lights.

I purchased a multimeter and a battery tender junior today. The voltage across the battery leads reads 12.6v (with the engine not running obviously). This is after the battery tender has been hooked up for 5 hrs.

So to summarize my problems:
1) Bike dying when shifted into gear (Plan is to check side stand switch?)
2) Blown fuse (Was this from hooking up the 6 amp portable charger? Or is this the root of the problem?)
3) Absolutely no signs of life even after charging to 12.6v and placing a new fuse (Do I just need to buy a new battery? Shouldn't the lights turn on with a charge of 12.6v though?)

Any ideas? Where do I go from here? The electrical system is far from my strong point....

[Joolstacho]

Oi! you know the battery is stuffed, so why haven't you got a fresh battery for it? Just don't flaggelate yourself mate!!!
If there's one thing you learn, it's that it's totally futile trying to put off spending the money for a new battery when you have this sort of problem!!!

1: Get a new battery, yours may be coming up to a good voltage after a good charge, but it's not holding the voltage is it. It's old and tired (like me!)
Battery tender is useless if your battery is old and tired.

The blown fuse is telling you that something in the wiring is shorting out somewhere. You see very few comments on here about blown fuses, I think it's pretty rare.
Sorry, but I think you need to go through the wiring/component checking procedures. It's tiresome, but necessary.
Upside: the bike runs ok (when it runs?) If this is the case it's not carburation, or valve clearances, or anything horrible like that, prob just a simple electrical fault.

1: Check your clutch lever 'safety' switch, if the motor dies when you shift into gear maybe the stupid clutch safety switching thinks you haven't pulled in the clutch.
2: I wouldn't have thought 6amps from the charger would blow a 20 amp fuse? (Surely your charger doesn't just chuck 6a out all the time anyway? Most of them would be rated at 6a max, then cut down the charge rate as it charges the battery?)
3: Get a new battery and start the troubleshooting from there. The lights won't come on if the fuse is blown.

Are you sure you're not a making basic simple mistake like trying to start it with the sidestand down, or the run switch off?

Please distinguish between
A: Battery not turning motor over, - and...
B: Motor turning over but won't start.
(There's a world of difference in terms of tracking the problem down.

(Sympathise with you re: "far from my electrical strong-point" , but you'll get it, keep, at it)

[Janx101]

Hrm, maybe check the sidestand switch WIRING area to make sure it's not shorted out/ crimped/ torn somewhere? Also look for subtle deformations in the wiring plastic!, can be broken/carbonised/ sparking wires under there!

Also don't think the run voltage from the tender would blow the fuse, but sparks when removing/attaching the leads might? Big fat sparks?

Get the rec/reg checked too!

[pogonotroph]

Oi! you know the battery is stuffed, so why haven't you got a fresh battery for it? Just don't flaggelate yourself mate!!!
If there's one thing you learn, it's that it's totally futile trying to put off spending the money for a new battery when you have this sort of problem!!!

1: Get a new battery, yours may be coming up to a good voltage after a good charge, but it's not holding the voltage is it. It's old and tired (like me!)
Battery tender is useless if your battery is old and tired.

The blown fuse is telling you that something in the wiring is shorting out somewhere. You see very few comments on here about blown fuses, I think it's pretty rare.
Sorry, but I think you need to go through the wiring/component checking procedures. It's tiresome, but necessary.
Upside: the bike runs ok (when it runs?) If this is the case it's not carburation, or valve clearances, or anything horrible like that, prob just a simple electrical fault.

1: Check your clutch lever 'safety' switch, if the motor dies when you shift into gear maybe the stupid clutch safety switching thinks you haven't pulled in the clutch.
2: I wouldn't have thought 6amps from the charger would blow a 20 amp fuse? (Surely your charger doesn't just chuck 6a out all the time anyway? Most of them would be rated at 6a max, then cut down the charge rate as it charges the battery?)
3: Get a new battery and start the troubleshooting from there. The lights won't come on if the fuse is blown.

Are you sure you're not a making basic simple mistake like trying to start it with the sidestand down, or the run switch off?

Please distinguish between
A: Battery not turning motor over, - and...
B: Motor turning over but won't start.
(There's a world of difference in terms of tracking the problem down.

(Sympathise with you re: "far from my electrical strong-point" , but you'll get it, keep, at it)

To clarify, the engine is not turning over at all and no lights turn on when the key is turned. No parking light either when the key is turned to "P". Side stand is up and killswitch is set to run. I replaced the blown main fuse but still no lights come on when turning the key. The multimeter reads 12.9v across the battery terminals.

Are there other fuses (other than the main fuse) that could be causing this problem?

[Kiwingenuity]

The GS will not run reliably with a bump start and a faulty battery.  I know this much from experience with a brand new battery that had an internal fault. I could bump start and it idled but it died when I asked for rpm.

A stock GS should only normally have a single fuse - 20A - connected in series with the battery +ve - straight to the ignition switch.

Question 1 - do you have a wiring diagram for your bike? What year is it?
Question 2 - with the fuse replaced do you see 12V at the ignition? measure the following voltages with respect to the frame

• With the switch set to "Off" only one wire should have 12V present (usually the big fat Red wire)
• With the switch set to "Park" you should see 12V on one extra wire (usually the thin brown wire)
• With the switch set to "On" you should see 12V on the other fat wire (usually the big fat orange wire)

I would also suggest some mechanical checks to start with

• Check the battery earth connections are clean and tight to the frame
• Check the ignition harness connector for corrosion / check the harness for signs of pinching or rubbing against the frame

Start with that and let us know what you see there - I cannot emphasise how important it is having a good battery - Janx is correct - I would also check the regulator / rectifier is still doing its thing if you have had the main battery fuse pop.

Good luck and let us know how those checks go - if still no joy will try help you further 

[pogonotroph]

Well after meticulously checking the harness for pinched or exposed wires or anywhere there could be a short, I figured out the problem. Apparently I inserted the new main fuse backwards (looks symmetrical so I'm not really sure, it's possible the terminals were also corroded as I also cleaned them with a steel brush as well before reinserting).

I wish I would have figured my stupid error out before going over everything with the multimeter and buying a new battery. Oh well, I learned something and needed a newer battery anyways...

I'm still not sure why the fuse blew in the first place, I'm hoping it was just it's time to go?

Thanks for all of your help. Hopefully another newb will see this in the future and remember to insert the fuse both ways (orientations) and clean it if the bike still is lifeless after replacing it!

[Janx101]

Backward? .. a blade fuse? .. no polarity on a blade!? ... or other type fuse?, maybe cleaning helped?, or your error/short hasn't occurred again yet! .. check reg/rec maybe for melty back side?

[Kiwingenuity]

Great to hear you have it sorted - fuses definately not polarity sensitive so most likely a good clean has sorted it. 

The fuse could have popped if your battery was a bit too weedy and the voltage sagged heaps while trying to start - more current - would recommend checking the regulator is doing its thing and you are getting a good charge voltage.

A new battery always helps - eases the stress on other parts of the electrical system 

[pogonotroph]

So my replacement fuse blew last night. After a little more research, I noticed that a previous poster had described very similar symptoms of his bike dying and blowing fuses while shifting into gear:

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=62030.0

I went over all the wiring and indeed there was a small wire going to the right blinker that was sitting precariously close to the cylinder block. Indeed, there was a very small break in the wire's outer rubber cover that I had previously discounted as dust. I taped this up, repositioned the wire upwards away from the hot engine with a ziptie, and replaced the fuse again.

Hopefully this will be the last of that!

The take home message: if your bike is dying or blowing fuses when shifting into gear, check for exposed wiring from cable rubber melting on the engine. Mind your cabling!

[jaynavajo15]

My 06 gsf was turning off While riding to. No problems since new battery.