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Bike not receiving power

Started by William.T, May 25, 2018, 10:33:20 AM

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William.T

Hello.
The story goes as follows: I bought a 2007 GS500 (No letter; made in spain) off an auction and brought it home. It hadn't been driven in a year and had previously been driven in the winter without being cleaned (the roadsalt has created a lot of rust). Battery is dead obviously, and the liquid/acid is too high for some reason. Nevertheless, I hooked it up to a 12V lawn mower battery, but to no avail; the bike did not power on (No head-/taillight nor any light in the dash).
I've started to disassemble it to thoroughly clean it and remove rust (I've only removed seat, tank, airbox and rear dirtguard so far) while on the lookout for any disconnected wires.
I checked the fuse . It isn't blown, but it's an 25 amp fuse, so I'm a little worried that something has been fried.
Furthermore, the wires around the battery are really oily - leaking brake fluid maybe? Could that short something out?

TL:DR
No lights in dash or headlight even when connected to working battery. Fuse isn't blown but it is a 25 amp one.

Best regards,
William

tobyd

Oily round the battery is a bit weird? Brake fluid is horrible stuff and eats paint so if you've lost paint in the vicinity it might be brake fluid? The battery tray rots itself anyway so it might be hard to tell.

do you have a decent ground? It was once a black wire with a white stripe but might be different for a 2007 - find that and make sure its not broken.

You might (but i doubt it) be able to sort out the old battery by adding (carefully!) some distilled water (for steam irons / batteries) which should dilent the electrolyte back to the right pH. if its lost loads of water (potentially from the Regulator lunching itself and horribly overcharging the battery) then the battery is scrap and has boiled off a lot of water.

There is quite a good guide somewhere on checking out a lot of the charging circuit (which might explain the 25A fuse) some of it needs the motor running. You'll only need a multimeter for it.

here it is

this might explain why it was abandoned for a year.

Good luck!








sledge

The fuse is ok........ Which one? The one actually in circuit that is only visible with the connecter plug removed from the solenoid or the spare one that is stored on the outside of the solenoid casing? This is a very common misunderstanding. Maybe you need to go back and double check  :dunno_black:


Assuming the fuse is ok put a GOOD battery in, make sure the terminals are clean and secure. Then with a meter or test probe check the red cable to the ignition switch is live with key-off and that the orange cable on the switch goes live with the key-on.........this will prove the ignition switch and give you somewhere to start testing the system

You mention rust and corrosion on the metalwork. If you have jumpleads you could also try running one from the battery negative terminal to one of the engine mounting bolts. This in effect will bypass all the ground connections. If things do start to work with the lead in place it indicates a related problem.

Oil around the battery is strange, my first thoughts would be are the engine breather, carb and tank vent and overflow pipes correctly routed.



William.T

#3
The frame paint looks fine and there's no visible leak from the container, so I don't think it's brake fluid.
Regarding the grounding, there's 2 cables/wires coming from the negative: where the thick, insulated one grounds to the engine and the thin black/white one goes either to the headlight or the left handlebar controls .
According to the tests, the R/R is working and so should the stator (I'm unsure if I did it correctly, will try again later). I took the solenoid apart, and look at this mess: - I cleaned it up and brushed most of the rust off, but still nothing. I've read that it'll say a clicking sound if the solenoid is bad, is this correct?

There wasn't a reserve fuse with the bike, so I'm fairly surtain that I checked the right one.
I haven't checked the ignition yet, as I can't get it off (stripped the nuts underneath the handlebars, sadly), but you might be onto something, as it feels a little spongy when turning the key.

EDIT: grounding the battery to a mounting bolt didn't do anything, so I think ground may be good

Regards,
William

William.T

Hello again.
After a hardwon battle with a bolt that needed to be drilled out  :2guns:, I finally got access to the ignition switch! Or so I thought. I have no idea how to advance from here:
 

Any suggestion would be appreciated

Regards, William

mr72

To remove the bolts on the ignition switch are break-away screws and you probably will be best off removing them with a sharp center punch and a hammer. Some have had success like with 6mm socket or drilling them out.

Shoulda checked the switch at the connector with a multimeter before tearing it all down like this. It's probably fine. Do the correct terminals get closed when turned to "on"? Q.E.D.

The starter solenoid will click if it is GOOD. No click, it's bad. But it's not involved in the issue you have which is no power to lights and dash etc. Actually I'd ignore the dash lights since they rely on things like oil pressure switch, turn signal switch and relay, headlight switch, bulbs, connectors... focus on the headlight and taillight, far fewer components to check.

Get a wiring diagram and chase the wiring from the battery to the headlight switch. There are only about three connectors and switches in there, should be easy enough to isolate and test with a multimeter.

pliskin

Boy, that top triple looks really corroded for the age of the bike. If it wasn't brake fluid something else really ate into it. Salt water maybe? Wouldn't be surprised if the contacts in there are ate up as well. Just hotwire the ignition wires and see if that works.
Why are you looking here?

William.T

Pardon my ignorance, I thought you had to remove the "cap" or whatever, so I could test like the person in this video: https://youtu.be/7_4mAXJH7wA?t=49s
So I did as you said, and I get 70-110 Ohms between the brown and white in the ON position. Nothing in anything else, be it ON or OFF:


Don't fret about the disassembly; I want to remove rust and repaint the headlight bracket anyway  :cheers:

@Pliskin yes, it was ridden during the winter, so there's a lot of corrosion and rust which needs to be fixed  :technical:

Regards, William

mr72

Quote from: William.T on June 07, 2018, 11:01:10 AM
Pardon my ignorance, I thought you had to remove the "cap" or whatever, so I could test like the person in this video: https://youtu.be/7_4mAXJH7wA?t=49s
So I did as you said, and I get 70-110 Ohms between the brown and white in the ON position. Nothing in anything else, be it ON or OFF:

Well for the lights to come on, you'd have to have near zero ohms between the red and the gray (dunno about white, it's gray on the wiring diagram) and to get everything else to come on you'd have to have near zero ohms between red and orange. 70+ ohms is not close to near zero. With the information you have posted, I would conclude the switch is bad.

William.T

I tried hotwiring it and the lights come on!


I'll get to ordering a replacement as soon as possible. I really appreciate all of your help!  :cheers:

Best regards, William

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