Suzuki GT500 electrical mess

Eddie Ferrell · Jul 13, 2004

I recently picked up a 1974 Suzuki GT550 triple. I got it real cheap
and besides being the loudest bike ever (no baffles) it's in good
shape and it ran. Well, until I thought "cleaning up" the non-original
wiring was a good idea. I finally got it running again, althouth never
as good as before my tinkering.

The strange thing is that it won't start with the electric starter
anymore. It used to start quick with either the kick starter or the
electric starter but now only the kick starter will fire it up (or
bump starting it). The electric starter will turn it over nice and
strong and the battery is new and fully charged, but it just never
fires up. One or two kicks will start it right up.

This wasn't a big deal until my kick starter sheared off, now I can't
ride it until I get a new one and/or fix the elecrtic start. I really
don't know much about moto repair but in my non-wrench mind it seems
that the starter is using all of the power and not letting any get to
the plugs. Is this possible or am I thinking of it all wrong? Any
suggestions or advice would be great.
Thanks,
Eddie F.

Rob Munach · Jul 13, 2004

Eddie said:

I recently picked up a 1974 Suzuki GT550 triple. I got it real cheap
and besides being the loudest bike ever (no baffles) it's in good
shape and it ran. Well, until I thought "cleaning up" the non-original
wiring was a good idea. I finally got it running again, althouth never
as good as before my tinkering.

The strange thing is that it won't start with the electric starter
anymore. It used to start quick with either the kick starter or the
electric starter but now only the kick starter will fire it up (or
bump starting it). The electric starter will turn it over nice and
strong and the battery is new and fully charged, but it just never
fires up. One or two kicks will start it right up.

This wasn't a big deal until my kick starter sheared off, now I can't
ride it until I get a new one and/or fix the elecrtic start. I really
don't know much about moto repair but in my non-wrench mind it seems
that the starter is using all of the power and not letting any get to
the plugs. Is this possible or am I thinking of it all wrong? Any
suggestions or advice would be great.
Thanks,
Eddie F.
Click to expand...

Dump the POS! Sometimes free is too much to pay for a bike.

Eddie Ferrell · Jul 21, 2004

Lefty said:

On Mon, 12 Jul 2004, Eddie Ferrell wrote:
]I recently picked up a 1974 Suzuki GT550 triple. I got it real cheap
]and besides being the loudest bike ever (no baffles) it's in good
]shape and it ran. Well, until I thought "cleaning up" the non-original
]wiring was a good idea. I finally got it running again, althouth never
]as good as before my tinkering.
] The strange thing is that it won't start with the electric starter
]anymore. It used to start quick with either the kick starter or the
]electric starter but now only the kick starter will fire it up (or
]bump starting it). The electric starter will turn it over nice and
]strong and the battery is new and fully charged, but it just never
]fires up. One or two kicks will start it right up.
] This wasn't a big deal until my kick starter sheared off, now I can't
]ride it until I get a new one and/or fix the elecrtic start. I really
]don't know much about moto repair but in my non-wrench mind it seems
]that the starter is using all of the power and not letting any get to
]the plugs. Is this possible or am I thinking of it all wrong? Any
]suggestions or advice would be great.
]Thanks, Eddie F.

Sounds like you cross-wired the starter motor & Ignition coils, loading
down the coils. Get a CAR battery & some jumper cables, and put the car
battery in parallel with you motorcycle battery. Then try starting the bike.
(Car battery has more Capacity, Amper-Hours, and won't be loaded) Also,
be sure your headlight if off while trying to start the bike (load again).

In your re-wiring job, did you replace the wires From The Fuse Box all the
way to the load? <Ignition, Lights, Starter, ect) Did you "Combine the
loads", or leave enough current for each group of loads? (Trying to run
everything on one wire won't work for long...)

If the car battery trick doesn't work, you're timing is the next question.
(spark at the right time?) Good luck, sounds like you need some...
Lefty
Click to expand...

You were exactly right! I had combined all of the load to one curcuit
inadvertantly. It was such a mess of wires that I didn't notice they
were all connected together in a round-about way. Thanks a lot for
your help, now its time to ride!!
Cheers,
Eddie

Eddie Ferrell · Jul 21, 2004

Rob Munach said:

Dump the POS! Sometimes free is too much to pay for a bike.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice but I think I'll keep it.

Eddie Ferrell · Jul 21, 2004

David Ward said:

: I recently picked up a 1974 Suzuki GT550 triple. I got it real cheap
: and besides being the loudest bike ever (no baffles) it's in good
: shape and it ran. Well, until I thought "cleaning up" the non-original
: wiring was a good idea. I finally got it running again, althouth never
: as good as before my tinkering.
:
: The strange thing is that it won't start with the electric starter
: anymore. It used to start quick with either the kick starter or the
: electric starter but now only the kick starter will fire it up (or
: bump starting it). The electric starter will turn it over nice and
: strong and the battery is new and fully charged, but it just never
: fires up. One or two kicks will start it right up.
:
Since you re-wired it, you must have a VOM... just check
to see if there's power at the coils while cranking. Sounds
like (first guess) you buggered the wires at the starter/
kill switch.

Second guess - you sourced the power for the coils from
the same terminal as the starter - and while it's turning, it's
reducing the power to the coils to zip. VOM will show that
too.

Best o' luck. Always had a soft spot for killer triples.

Dave
Click to expand...

Both of your guesses were right on. I DID mess up the wires at the
starter switch and that is where it was stealing the power from the
coils. Thanks a lot for your advice, it got me ridin' again!
Cheers,
Eddie

Eddie Ferrell · Jul 21, 2004

not letting any get to the plugs. Is this possible or am I thinking of it all
wrong? Any suggestions or advice would be great.

It does sound like the voltage to the ignition coils, through the primary
windings and through the ignition points to ground is less than needed for a
decent spark to light off the fuel/air mixture...

Suzuki 2-stroke triples are really easy-starting motorcycles. I used to watch
Harley riders jumping up and down on their kick starters and getting all hot
and sweaty, and I would turn on my Suzuki's key and nonchalantly push the
starter button with my pinky finger
and the engine would instantly start...

Ignition points condition is critical for good running of a Suzuki triple, so
clean and gap the points and plugs as often as you can stand it, every 3000
miles is typical...

Also, borrow or buy a cheap volt-ohm meter. Harbor Freight sells a digital VOM
for only $7.00, and check out the voltage at the coils while you crank the
engine with the starter...

The voltage shouldn't drop to much below 12 volts while cranking...

I had an ignition switch go bad on my Suzuki triple once. I suppose it got
water inside and corroded and had high resistance, which actually caused the
solder on the wires leading to the switch to melt from the heat...

finally got it running again, althouth never as good as before my tinkering.

If you can get your hands on a Clymer or Chilton's manual, you'll find a wiring
diagram in the back to help you troubleshoot your problems...

You will notice that some of the wires cross each other on the diagram, but
don't actually connect to each other.
The places where wires do connect to each other are shown by heavy dots. Those
are solder splices. The engineers soldered wires together wherever possible,
because that makes a better electrical connection than a
cheap plastic plug or a bullet terminal...

Do you know how to solder? Learn the art of soldering
wires and you can solve some of your electrical problems...

If you decide to go through your "non-original wiring" again, try to solder as
many connections as possible, and get rid of terminals which somebody crimped
on with a pair of pliers or even used an electrician's crimper to install.
Those crimped connections usually make poor contact, get hot, and reduce the
voltage to whatever electrical device they are supposed to be powering...

Good luck with your electrical problems...

# * 0 * #
^
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. I did what you said and went back through my
wiring to solder the connections instead of using a connector. In the
process I found where I had combined an orange with an orange/white
wire. This was stealing the voltage to the coils whenever I used the
starter. I just ordered a manual like you suggested and that should
help future problems. Thanks again for your assistance, I'm ridin'
because of it!!
Cheers,
Eddie

geoff_m · Aug 10, 2004

Wiring manual is at
http://www.smokeriders.com/Technical/wiring_diagrams/wiring_diagrams.html
Don't see many of them around these days.
Geoff

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