1985 GL1200 LTD will not run.

[WilwaY]

Hello All, brand new to GoldwingDocs. Great site! I have learned much already. I bought this '85 LTD with 42,000 mile on the odometer in August and rode it as far as my garage. The PO sold it cheap because it did not charge the battery and the volts decreased as I rode it home. The PO soldered the stator wires and installed a new R/R. I disconnected the three stator wires and tested the R/R and stator following the recommendations found here. The R/R and stator test good. I rehooked the stator wires back up to test AC volts with the engine running but the engine will not stay running after the starter button is released. It does fire and even rev briefly while the starter button is engaged, but then dies immediately when the starter button is disengaged. The two 30 amp dog bone fuses seem to be intact upon inspection with the headlight coming on and the motor cranks over. I have all the manuals and wiring diagrams but am a novice when it comes to electrical, electronic issues, and this GL's fuel injection. I must have disconnected something because it didn't do this before I took it apart to test the R/R and stator. Any ideas on what's wrong and how to fix it will be appreciated.

[HawkeyeGL1200]

I'm wondering if your stator is bad. I'd try charging the battery out of the frame, then cleaning the hot and ground wires really well, clean the solenoid terminals, pull and look at the plugs, check the resistors in the plug boots for tightness, check fuel filter, air filter and then put the charged battery back in and try to start it again.

It's possible you aren't getting any fuel (plugged filter or bad pump). If yours is a fuel injected model, I've got a supplemental manual that covers the fuel injected bikes. I can email it to you if you send me your email address through a PM. The fuel injection system isn't all that complicated. Something as simple as a dislodged vacuum line can screw it up mightily...

P.S. The pump output requirements for the fuel injected models is significantly higher in pressure than a carbureted model. I have it written down somewhere... carb model bikes only require 3 PSI pump output. Fuel injected require closer to 75 pounds if I recall correctly... so it is possible the PO used an incorrect fuel pump... that was an after-thought

[WilwaY]

I believe the stator could be bad but the bike ran before I tested R/R and stator(I do have the Honda supplement for the '85 fuel injected LTD, thanks). I did charge the battery out side the bike and did all the suggested things prior to starting it yesterday. The motor fires and runs as long as the starter button is depressed but dies immediately after the button is released. It acts like the the kill switch is immediately flipped on when the starter button is released and kills the ignition. Not sure where to go from here.

[oldishwinger]

Just a thought about a couple of things, the bike should start even with a bad stator, or cut stator wires, albiet a bit rough, as long as the battery has more than 11volts if it drops below that, the bike wont start, it will turn over, but that would be it.

secondly when starting, the bike must be in neutral, and most importantly the neutral light must be showing, if it isnt, you will need to pull the clutch in to start, as it has a switch that bypasses the neutral light, when the clutch is pulled in. it allows for a driveaway without going to neutral to start.

you might like to check the switch at the clutch and make sure it isnt sticking

good luck.

[HawkeyeGL1200]

An uneducated guess would be (mine, is what I mean) that something that's making "contact" while cranking the engine and providing current to the fuel system, isn't doing so after you release the start button. Now, I'll need to go back and refresh my memory as to how the ECU or ICU or whatever it is that Honda calls the electronic controller gets its current supply. I'm thinking you have a loose or broken "hot" wire somewhere that is supposed to tell the control unit to inject fuel.

I'll tackle the schematic and logic diagrams tomorrow sometime, and put a more intelligently thought out reply after I think it through some more... but my best guess is there's a lack of voltage to the fuel delivery system.

I believe the stator could be bad but the bike ran before I tested R/R and stator(I do have the Honda supplement for the '85 fuel injected LTD, thanks). I did charge the battery out side the bike and did all the suggested things prior to starting it yesterday. The motor fires and runs as long as the starter button is depressed but dies immediately after the button is released. It acts like the the kill switch is immediately flipped on when the starter button is released and kills the ignition. Not sure where to go from here.

[WingAdmin]

I think you have two problems:

1. Stator is not charging battery
2. Battery is history

The first one is evidenced by the fact that the bike gradually died as you rode home.

You said you charged the battery, so it should be able to easily start and run the bike. However it quits as soon as you let go of the starter.

When you press the starter button in, the headlight turns off, in order to supply more power to the starter while cranking the bike. It also makes a stronger spark. When you let go of the starter, the headlight comes on and the spark goes back to normal strength. With the headlight drawing power, there is no longer enough power to create a strong enough spark to run the engine, and it quits.

[WilwaY]

Problem solved! After checking all fuses twice and poring over the LTD's wiring diagram, it looked like I might have hooked up the starter relay switch incorrectly after unhooking all wires for cleaning. And yes that was the problem. I had hooked up the white wire with the second 30 amp fuse to the starter motor side of the relay instead of the battery side. It would crank and run as long as the starter button stayed engaged but die as soon as it was released. After switching the white wire to the battery side it started and ran like a champ. Lesson learned; when in doubt photograph everything before taking it apart to reference when re-assembling.

[WingAdmin]

Excellent, glad to hear you got it running. I hate when I discover self-caused mistakes like that.

[RedFlash]

I have the same problem on my '85, fires, until you let the starter button off. Only changed the solenoid for the new, improved one, no wires moved, all are as original in the connector on top, and the battery and starter wires. Worked fine before solenoid change. The old one had the melted down 30A fuse holder problem.

[DaveO430]

I have the same problem on my '85, fires, until you let the starter button off. Only changed the solenoid for the new, improved one, no wires moved, all are as original in the connector on top, and the battery and starter wires. Worked fine before solenoid change. The old one had the melted down 30A fuse holder problem.

I've seen this many times. The solenoid you installed is not wired the same as the original. You have to find which 2 terminals are hot and connect the red, red/white wires there, the other 2 wires go to the terminals that are not hot. It may be just a matter of turning the plug around.