GL1500 not starting

Ian,

Have you had a good look at the reverse lever switch?

There's a cam turned by the reverse lever, and the reverse levver switch rides aong that cam. -- If that switch is not "happy", you'll not get teh 12v power to to the "N" lamp itself and cause the issue you describe.

I'll try to find a good photo of the switch and update this post if I can.


--- promissed update -- The photo I was thinking of is one of the "broken" photos here so I googled "Gl1500 Reverse Lever Switch" and stole a snap (attached below). All this is behind teh left inner fairing, directly beneath the reverse lever (makes a bit of sense, that).

Have a good look at the wiring there:

• The brown with white stripe wire at reverse lever switch should be +12V with your key in the ON position and is the power source for this switch (from the "RVS/START" 5A fuse).
• When the reverse lever is in the "normal" (ride forward) position it supplies the black with white stripe wire should switch to +12V.
• With the lever in the reverse position, the blue with white stripe wire would be switched to +12

Ian,
I purchased a used 1990 Gl1500 with 60k miles several years ago and here is what I have done when I have had problems starting. I list them in order of difficulty.

1) Make sure the reverse lever is pushed all the way down and that the reverse light is out. If you are having trouble getting the reverse light to go out, lift the reverse lever up and down several times to see if it does go out eventually. If it does go out intermittently, move to step three.

2) Make sure the battery is well connected and charged. Maybe you will have to take the seat off to do a good job at this.

3) The reverse lever activates a switch mechanism which in part turns on the dash reverse light. This switch mechanism is just behind the cable pulley/cam that the reverse lever attaches to. The switch mechanism is plastic with several wires coming out of it if I recall correctly. With a little thought I was able to figure out how to remove that switch and externally connect the wires such that I could always start my bike but then the reverse would not work with the reverse lever up. I only mention this because it's a nice to know if this switch goes out on the road. After removing this switch mechanism I was able to simply clean it with silicone spray through what appeared to be a drain hole in the bottom of the switch. Spray in a bunch of silicone, shake it up, push the button several times and repeat. The switch has now been working fine for 3 years. You will have to take off several of the left side body panels to get to the switch but at least those are the easy ones to remove.

4) Make sure the starter switch on the right handle bar cluster is working. I bought my bike from an elderly couple that in their last few years of owning the bike they spent more time polishing than riding. My guess is they sprayed polish and Armor All on the both the handle bar switch clusters on a regular basis. I have had trouble with all of these switches being filled with greasy gunk. If you are careful you can figure out how to take these switches apart on the bike and clean the internal bits. You should not have to unsolder the switches from their wiring cables. The internal bits are small and include springs so be careful not to lose any of the parts. I cleaned mine with soap and water and then lubricated them with silicone spray and reassembled. They all work like new now. For the starter switch you will have to take apart the right hand cluster. Two screws will get it open. You will have to remove the throttle cable from the right handle to get to the starter switch. You should be able to do this by loosening the cable tension adjuster on the cable just prior to the cable going into the switch cluster. You may have luck simply spraying contact cleaner or silicon spray into the switch without disassembling the cluster. The contacts are on the top side of the switch. By top I mean the side pointing at the sky. If that works you may think about taking the bolder step of pulling the switches apart and cleaning them. I'm glad I did that to mine because they were very dirty and greasy inside.

Hope that helps.

Luckyone

Ian,
It does sound like the relay has failed. The fact that it clicks indicates that the trigger circuits are working properly. (reverse switches, sidestand, neutral, clutch switch etc) It's not uncommon for the point set in the relay to fail. Seeing you already have identified the output terminal for the relay I would do this. You can pull the relay out part way and still make contact. Now you can reach in and test the exposed part of the connector tab for power and ground. I'm not sure of this but the info that follows is very common.
On the relay there is usually a schematic of how it works, Usually terminal 85 and 86 are the triggers. They are the signals coming from the key and the other the ground from, neutral, reverse switches, sidestand, clutch lever etc. If that were the issue it would not click so I bet all is fine there. Terminal 30 is usually hot at all times, and 87A is normally closed while 87 is normally open. When you push the button the starter relay coil is engaged sending a pintle in to a point set closing a path from 30 to 87. That seems to be happening as you say it clicks. When the point set closes it sends power from 30 (hot ) to 87 and the starter solenoid. I would make sure there is power at either 30 or 87 all the time. (sometimes 30 is power in and sometimes 87 is power in. It makes no difference which way it flows through the point set.) If you have power all the time you know you have power in. (If you don't have power in look at fuses and wiring to the relay) If you have power in check the tab for power out. If it's going in but not coming out it's the relay point set has failed.

With all that said just flip flop another relay and see if it starts. If it does you know it's the relay. If it won't start with a different known good relay then you need to troubleshoot as above. Good luck.

redwing52 said:

Ian,
It does sound like the relay has failed. The fact that it clicks indicates that the trigger circuits are working properly. (reverse switches, sidestand, neutral, clutch switch etc) It's not uncommon for the point set in the relay to fail. Seeing you already have identified the output terminal for the relay I would do this. You can pull the relay out part way and still make contact. Now you can reach in and test the exposed part of the connector tab for power and ground. I'm not sure of this but the info that follows is very common.
On the relay there is usually a schematic of how it works, Usually terminal 85 and 86 are the triggers. They are the signals coming from the key and the other the ground from, neutral, reverse switches, sidestand, clutch lever etc. If that were the issue it would not click so I bet all is fine there. Terminal 30 is usually hot at all times, and 87A is normally closed while 87 is normally open. When you push the button the starter relay coil is engaged sending a pintle in to a point set closing a path from 30 to 87. That seems to be happening as you say it clicks. When the point set closes it sends power from 30 (hot ) to 87 and the starter solenoid. I would make sure there is power at either 30 or 87 all the time. (sometimes 30 is power in and sometimes 87 is power in. It makes no difference which way it flows through the point set.) If you have power all the time you know you have power in. (If you don't have power in look at fuses and wiring to the relay) If you have power in check the tab for power out. If it's going in but not coming out it's the relay point set has failed.

With all that said just flip flop another relay and see if it starts. If it does you know it's the relay. If it won't start with a different known good relay then you need to troubleshoot as above. Good luck.

Click to expand...

Hi Bud
The bike started with power supply direct to right hand terminal on relay yesterday but no joy today. All the relays have been swapped over and all seem to "click" at least. The starter button is working and all fuses are intact. I am wondering if the reverse switch might be the problem. Looks like I will need to strip off reverse lever and check the microswitch. The
reverse light does come on when I switch on the ignition. My neutral switch was also replaced but the light still does not come on. However the bike did start before after isolating the side stand switch and pulling in the clutch lever.
This problem seemed to arise after starting the bike and then discovering that the starter was still running.
Any further thought on this please.

Cheers

Ian

I'm fairly certain that the reverse light comes on for just a second when you first turn on the key. I'm thinking it does a bulb check but just for a second. Are you saying the reverse light stayed on? When you talk about relays are you talking little cube relays or solenoids? People interchange the two words. Here's some schematics that might help. If you click on this page you will get a pop up. If you click on the pop up you will get it in a new window that you can zoom large to see them.

The "R" ight does go off after a few seconds.
The bike will start if I "short" across the two 8mm nuts on the starter solenoid (the heavy red leads) When I press the starter button the two small wires red/yellow and red/grey on the fused green terminal connector receive 12 volts. If I put the bike into reverse and short out the 2 8mm heavy red wires on the solenoid the bike will jump into reverse, proving that reverse works and the solenoid is putting power to the starter. My thoughts are that the solenoid is not passing power from one side of the heavy red wire to the other. This leads me to think the solenoid is bust. Am I correct on my assumptions do you think or have I missed something?