HONDA GL1000 1975/6 Called Merlin.

[Adamc]

Merlin Is A Stubborn Bastard.....

I decided to disconnect all the snap links in the wiring loom and clean things up; Using contact cleaner; and other tools.
I find a PO has been in here and cocked some things up.
Hours of fun later and all was repaired where required and fully cleaned and reconnected.

Switch on and ............. Sod all!

Turn the iggy on and I have power to the headlight; probably through the reserve lighting loop.
But nothing anywhere else.

I rechecked all connectors but nowt 'happens. Although it will crank over.

I now have to trace the loom through from battery to all extremities and find the fault.
I suspect a doggy Iggy switch, as the key fit is a bit loose.

Oh what fun these contraptions bring to us!

Oh and the colours differ from the chart too!
I have a few charts for the same year / different markets and they all differ.

 

[Jan_P]

Sorry to hear about electric problems Electric is strange in that it can be a 2 min Fix and a 50 cent cost
Or almost impossible and time consuming
Keep us informed we try to help.
It is almost never the wire itself for me .. It is the connectors or switches fuse holders and such
One thing to check in those multi pin connectors is that the pin has not moved .Now when someone have taken it apart before.
It can happen that the barb is not holding it in place so when connect the pin is pushed back from its position and not making
proper electric contact.
I would inspect the connector closest to the Fuses

 

[Its been a long time]

Sorry to hear of the electrical issues. They can be a pain to solve.

I disagree slightly with Jan_P, I have sometimes found that there's no indication of problems on the insulation but the wire inside is damaged. This quite often happens where there's strain or flexing on wires. I have found similar in wiring passing around headstock tubes for example. Whatever it is, hopefully we can be of some help.

 

[Highpower]

Aren't these old Wings a load of fun? I haven't been able to get mine to run correctly with the single carb set up, uneven idle and it will die if idles too long. I suspect that the 1000cc (61ci) engine might not have enough vacuum signal volume to let the carb idle circuit meter properly as it is jetted for a 170ci motor. replacement jets in different sies are not available and after many, many hours of trying various workarounds I have given up on the single carb.

I have rebuilt carbs on numerous other Japanese motorcycles, including those on my current XS650 and I used three different sets of Amal carbs to create one good set for my '68 Bonneville. Both of those bikes run perfectly, but that cotton pickin' Goldwing is not cooperating. I have a rather expensive set of gauges but I could never could get the stock carbs to sync properly even though the bike has a pretty even 170-180 psi compression on all cylinders. And yes, I checked extensively for any random air leaks and there were none.

So, I finally threw in the towel and sent the carburetor set off to be professionally rebuilt a couple of weeks ago.