suzuki tempter

[adam79]

Im traveling with a friend today to go and look at a 1983 suzuki gr650 tempter for sale. The owner is selling it cheap, because he says there is an electrical problem, and the battery isnt charging. Im weary about this, because there is no way to start the bike and see how it runs, and neither of us can afford a battery. I have a battery charger, but that takes too long. Will jumper cables from my car work to get it started??

Are there any common reasons for charging problems on these bikes? What should I look for? Your advice is appreciated.

[bikerphil]

Yep, you can jump it with jumper cables, just make sure the car is not running. Most common problem on any bike for not charging would be corrosion on battery cables, ground straps, and related connectors like the voltage regulator and alternator.

[GARTHXS]

me too

Starting with your car battery works really well , especially for a non runner , you can crank on it for a long time

[adam79]

The battery was dead, so we hooked it up to the car. The starter would just click at first, but if we let it charge for a few minutes, the bike would turn over for a few seconds..until the juice ran out. We never could get it started. There was still gas in it, and he said it had been sitting since last aug. I couldnt believe that I forgot my tools.....we couldnt check compression or spark, so I had no idea what the possible problems could be with the bike. We'll go back monday to find out.

Originally the guy said it was a charging problem, but I dont think so because he said the bike wouldnt start even if the battery charged, but it did. He said when he was riding it the bike just started getting harder to start and eventually wouldnt run. Im thinking fuel problems, but it is really hard to speculate until we can get that battery charged, new plugs and get some clean fuel in it. But is it worth it? I wonder, because the carbs need to be cleaned anyways and there is no gauruntee we can get it started anyways.

[MacMcMacmac]

The Tempter may have had the same regulator/rectifier problems of the other GSes of the era. It is easily fixed with either an Electrosport unit, or a retrofitted Honda reg/rec from a 450 Nighthawk, amongst other models. A very good ground is essential on these electrical systems. Many GS owners, including myself, run a dedicated ground wire straight to the negative terminal of the battery, but the system is over-designed and failure prone. It should run with a fully charged battery though. If you can get it running, check the battery terminals (cleaned!) with a multimeter while it is running. If you get 12V or less (and dropping) it isn't charging. You can check to see if it's the reg/rec or the alternator by doing a no-load test on each phase of the alternator at 5000rpm. You should see about 80V AC on each phase.

[trbig]

You CAN jump a bike with the car engine RUNNING. It won't hurt anything. One of those wive's tales passed down that isn't true. There have been past long discussions about this subject.


Tod

[fredintoon]

You CAN jump a bike with the car engine RUNNING. It won't hurt anything. One of those wive's tales passed down that isn't true. There have been past long discussions about this subject.
Tod

Hi Tod,
rather, it's an old wives tale that isn't always true but sometimes it is.
OK, it won't hurt the vehicle that's being boosted but it might upset the car that's doing the boosting.
Twice I jumpered another car from my 1988 Olds Cutlass Ciera while the engine was running.
Both times, afterwards the Olds' tach persistently stopped at 1800 rpm rather than zero itself when the engine was turned off.
The fix was to fish in the odometer zeroing shaft hole with a straightened paperclip to drag the tach needle back to zero, once zeroed it stayed fixed.
Until Mr. Stupid boosted another car with the engine running, that is.

[prometheus578]

"Ya bunch of superstitious primates..."

Now, I don't profess to know everything about what goes on in those little black boxes that spark.
Resisters, capacitors, diodes....
If I can't fix it with a screwdriver and a 10mm wrench... "it ain't worth fixin'"
And yes, TRBIG, there have been long discussions about this in the past.
Just as, once in the past I was gainfully employed.
This subject came up years back, so I decided to get the definative answer.
Having access... I contacted the "Dealership Technical Hotlines" of Kawasaki, Triumph, Yamaha, and Victory... talked to the big shots who know everything.
Answer: Engine off.
So, there ya have it... tech info straight from the horse's mouth...
(Not from a horse's ass)
Of course, I suppose that we could still argue the point... but another point being...
If your bike doesn't start immediately when jumped from a non-running car... you have other problems to worry about, the least of which would be...
"Should I have the car running or not".