Some of you might remember me......my gs has been out of commission for kind of a long time. i finally got the motor rebuilt.  i installed the motor, got a new battery and hooked everything back up but i get nothing when i turn the ignition on.  no lights, no cranking just nothing.  its depressing but i think im just gonna have to take it to a shop which i really dont want to do.  expensiiiiiiive.  but i suck at wiring so i dont think i have a choice......its depressing. i just wanna ride!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Quote from: 505 on May 24, 2008, 05:21:32 PM
Some of you might remember me......my gs has been out of commission for kind of a long time. i finally got the motor rebuilt.  i installed the motor, got a new battery and hooked everything back up but i get nothing when i turn the ignition on.  no lights, no cranking just nothing.  its depressing but i think im just gonna have to take it to a shop which i really dont want to do.  expensiiiiiiive.  but i suck at wiring so i dont think i have a choice......its depressing. i just wanna ride!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

It's the wrong time of year... but I'd say take it to a high school electronics class. Ya I know, it's lame, and goofy, but the kids would get a kick out of it, and the teacher would likely be a salty old engineer that really knows his stuff.

So... have you checked your ground, and the condition of BOTH the leads coming from the battery  ? Sometimes things corrode underneath the insulation.

Don't give up... call a friend, or a drinkin buddy, and just stare at it a while

Make sure ignition switch didnt crap out due to the long downtime, start at the battery and work your way out. Dont give up, you spent money on getting the motor rebuilt, now spend some sweat equity on it and dont let a piece of machinery beat you! I am sure you are going to get a ton of tech tips to check out, just hold out and try them.

Quote from: ohgood on May 24, 2008, 05:27:51 PM


Don't give up... call a friend, or a drinkin buddy, and just stare at it a while

That sounds about par for my mechanical ability. 

When  trouble shooting electrical devices, start with checking the power source, the fuses / circut breakers, and all of the connections . After that I would then  see where I have power to, i.e. check head lights and other devices then move on to the starting circut i.e. starter. Do you have a set of schematics, if so then you can check the various test points until you systematically deduct what is causing the failure.  For example, when my saturn wasn't running on all 4 cylinders I started out like this: Well I have power because I have lights that are not dimmed = have a good charge on the Bat. and the alt is effectively recharging, car cranks and starts, = egnition swithc and starting system is working. So, I pulled the plugs and seen spark but one plug looked weak, checked the impeadence of the plug wire and it was good, then I follwed the clilton manual on how to test the coil packs and that was what ended up being what was wrong.   Best of luck -- Jim

Post your locale.There maybe someone in your area willing to lend a hand.

When you bought the battery did/was the electrolite level correct and was it charged?If you ordered a battery it came empty with no electrolite solution in it.

I am not expert, but I am sure that if you got your motor rebuild fixing the electricals can NOT be that difficult. Since you are not getting any signal - no lights, no cranking, and i assume no indicator lights - there is not much that can go wrong. I'd say get multimeter and check these

1. Battery voltage
2. starter fuse
3. ignition switch.

my friend had the same problem - no lights nothing, for him it was both the fuse and the ignition switch had gone bad.

Hey, my bike was also out of commission for several months due to an electrical issue that took me a very long time to figure out given I had no prior experience working with electrical systems. It ended up being the clutch relay underneath the clutch lever on the handlebars. See this post http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=40630.0 and this one http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=12788.msg107882#msg107882 for a picture of the clutch switch.
My problem was that no power was making it to the starter relay to close the connection between the positive battery terminal and the starter motor. But, my lights, all of them, were functioning when I turned the ignition switch on...so it looks as though you have some more things to contend with. But, if you have the time, get the wiring diagram appropriate for your year of bike, go to the library or order a motorcycle electrical systems book (here's a popular one, http://www.amazon.com/Motorcycle-Electrical-Systems-Troubleshooting-Motorbooks/dp/0760327165, get yourself a test light or multimeter and give it a try. It's not easy, you'll get frustrated and want to give up. Don't.
If you need a pic of the wiring diagram for 2001 I think you can find it here on the forum, otherwise I can take a pic of mine and post it up. Good luck.

EDIT: corrected the third hyperlink to the appopriate site

thanks everybody      ya my buddy just came over with his multimeter  so were just gonna check everything and see if we can find whats wrong.  wish me luck!