OK my bike suffered a blackout...and still is...turn the key and nothing...The battery is good...turns over other bikes well, the ignition switch is good...makes connections when tested with a meter, the fuse is good...but the bike dont light up when turned on and no crank either. No clicking, whirring, turning...nothing...No electrics what so ever...and it was lighting up and cranking and right about fired up when this happened...with no warning...Nothing burned up, nothing visibly died.
Anyone know what happened...
Thanks.
Srinath.

Wow, Srinrath with a mechanical question.
Its got to be somewhere early in the electrics. How did you check the ignition ?

The plug has 4 wires in the green plug that comes from it...remove it form the harness and test it...when its off, none are connected, set a multimeter to ohms and check...and it should read open which is OL in mine. Then turn key to on and it should connect 2 pairs (say 1 and 2 and 3 and 4...resistance is 0 if connected...in part it should connect 1 and 4... All of that worked fine.
Dude I have had many mechanical questions...Just that no one seems to have encountered these before...At 35K my bike ate its ignition trigger...no one had seen that before either...Diagnosis is my speciality but I also want to make use of the knowledge out there.
Cool.
Srinath.

Fuse? no. All the wires of the ignition switch checked sat (satisfactorily). See if one of the wires on the ig melted its insulation and it shorting to one of the other contacts on the ign. Happened to me on the Hawaiian GS500. The wire crossed over one of the soldering points and wore down the insulation.

I have never worked on the electrical system of a motorcycle before, at least not yet but I have on cars before.  You could have a fusable link or a relay that has gone bad, I did notice two relays on the GS frame near the stator.  You might want to have those checked out.  I have just looked at the wiring schematics, something you might want to have checked out is the starter relay, and the regulator/rectifier.  The batery has a direct connect to the later.  So if you have no power when the switch is turned on it might be in that area.  And this might not be the coarse to go towards but the starter switch is connected to the engine stop switch, there might be a short between the two and not supplying power to the system.

The bike dont even light up...Not just strating...well before I hit the strat button...it is kaput...Frame relays and regulator...I'll try those next though.
When I turn the key on I hear a click form one of those things under the right side cover...and my 89 does it too...so that relay works I think.
Cool.
Srinath.

Quote from: seshadri_srinathThe bike dont even light up...Not just strating...well before I hit the strat button...it is kaput...Frame relays and regulator...I'll try those next though.
When I turn the key on I hear a click form one of those things under the right side cover...and my 89 does it too...so that relay works I think.
Cool.
Srinath.

That 'click' should be the starter solenoid.

Ok try this. Remove the battery. And see if there is any continuity between both cables that go to the battery.   If there is then your shorting the battery out somewhere(melted wire). other than That you could start disconnecting things and see when it starts working again and you'll know that thats where the problem is.

Quote from: scratch
That 'click' should be the starter solenoid.

It clicks as I turn the key...not when I hit the start button...Could still be that but its comming from that square plastic thing not the round metal thing.
Cool.
Srinath.

I was curious if you can do the same thing with the starter soliniod on a motorcycle as you can with a car or truck and cross over the cables to get the engine to turn over.  I know that is how I found out the starter was bad on my truck because it would never catch, but I think that is alot different.  Also if you have the Clymer manual, have you gone through the ignition system diagnosis?  I think this would cover most of the electrical problems.  But I still think it has something to do with the starter or a relay.  Since your not even getting power to the lights or instruments.  And don't you have more than one GS, try switching out the relays one at a time and complete a process of elimination with the electrical problem.  I would even say switch the starter and the soliniod.

Well systematic swapping of parts is how I diagnose most of the fuzzy cases for which I dont have the right test equipment. That's how I founf my ignition plate was bad, and everything...but current situation demands that the 89 is functional...cos the Vulcan has eaten a radiator temp switch, the eli has eaten its water pump seal, the virago is wihtout headlight, the 440 is minus battery (hey I can put the 89's battery in it), the 900 and the other 1000 are missing more pieces than I can count and I have the nitehawk is in 1000 pieces...
Cool.
Srinath.

Well I think I would still lean towards the starter relay or the regulator.

The regulator only comes into play when the alternator is making power. The headlight has a relay that turns it on, if I remember right. That may be the click you hear when turning the ignition on. There shouldn't be any other relay, except the starter one.

Just because a relay goes click, doesn't mean it is actually transmitting the high amperage current. It could be actuating fine, but the contacts can be gone.

Sometimes fuses look fine, but are blown. Did you check continuity across the fuse holder?

I can't remember how the GS kill switch is wired in (my race bike ain't normal no more), but take a close look at it, maybe try bypassing it. On my BMW it kills the lights and everything.

DC electrical problems, when it isn't intermitent, is easy to track down with a multimeter.

its probably your ignition considering nothing comes onlie.  That is the only switch point that controls all electronics

I replaced 3 fuses...they all looked fine and all had connectivity. The relay could be shot but sill actuate...yea...one of the theories I am going to check out. Regulator is easy to test...I have a spare somewhere...The GS kill switch is motor only...lights and brake lights stay on. Could my black box be bad...I hope not but have to ask...
Cool.
Srinath.