bike: 2000 gs500e

I had awesome plans to ride my bike to work today. well I get about half way there and it quits. wtfffffffffff. as it dies I mess with the reserve switch and it doesnt change anything. I come to a stop and check the gas, there is enough in there to rule it out. I sit for a few minutes and it starts right up. sweet. bad gas or something at the bottom of the tank. well 3 miles later it dies again and doesnt start back up, seems like a dead battery kinda. blah blah blah I am loading it onto the trailer and it starts right up no problems.

My assumption is that something is getting hot then causing the electrical system to shaZam! out.

Being stuck in Webster I really dont want to mess around with having anyone give me a ride home so i decide to ride it home figuring I'll ride it for 20 minutes and sit for ten and be home in an hour. well of course the damn thing starts right up, I let it warm up and it doesnt make it to the end of my uncles road.

cmon now.

any ideas what it might be, or where/how to start looking?

I just changed the battery and got a used stator and magnet 'drum' (a magnet had broke off and ruined the stator). It was charging at 13.9 volts which is good enough for me.

The only electrical parts by the motor to get hot are each coil/ spark plug wire. I havent checked the plugs yet, but it runs mint when it does run.

Can a starter relay cause it to stop running?

also, when it first died it would turn over and turn over and eventually the battery started to die. yet after it sat I came back and it started like the battery was fine. BUT I just went and tried to start it and the battery was too dead to turn it over.

help!

charge the battery up, fill the tank all the way with gas, and try riding it.  due to the shape of the tank, it may look like there is plenty in it, even though there may not be.

Looking in the tank is not a good way to tell if you have Enough gas. The best you can do is fill-er up, reset the trip meter to zero and ride until you hit reserve. This is the point you Now know is your limit.

IF your fuel lines were crossed, then you'll always be on reserve even when you think you're on "on". So you won't have a reserve, as such. In this case, fill-er up, reset the trip meter and filler up again every 180 to 200 miles.

Assuming you actually have filled it up - not just looked in the tank and Figured there is enough gas - and it still does this. Then try opening the gas tank and letting the cap just sit without being firmly shut. And see if it does it still.

Michael

being out of gas doesnt explain the battery being dead enough to not turn the motor over then coming back 45 mins later and having it start right up.

If you just put a new battery in, make doubly sure all the connections are tight. a slightly loose cable will work untill it moves just right to not allow enough power, then poof bike is off.

Quote from: travisn on April 29, 2010, 09:59:56 PM
being out of gas doesnt explain the battery being dead enough to not turn the motor over then coming back 45 mins later and having it start right up.

Oddly it can sometimes. ive been there 

I went through all the vacuum and fuel lines, checked wiring connections, and made sure both petcocks were in the right position. put it back together and fired it up. while it was running I was double checking the connections and the wires coming from the stator are HOT.

not a fuel issue.

but I am lost why those wires are hot. voltage rectifier? its charging at 13.9-14.1 volts at the battery while running.

The charging system is totally separate from your ignition system.  The wires from the generator to the voltage regulator and battery can get as hot as they want to and even burst into flames and melt and they won't affect the running of the bike until the battery runs dead.

From the sound of your symptoms I would bet either fuel starvation, either from a faulty fuel "pump" (they come faulty from the factory) or a clog creating a vacuum in the tank.

First test will be to run the bike for a while (10 minutes/miles or until it dies again) and then immediately open the tank filler cap. If you hear a "whoosh" of air going in, then the little pin hole in the bottom of the filler cap is clogged with gunk and isn't letting air into the tank as fuel drains out.  The vacuum keeps fuel from flowing fast enough, but GS tanks are leaky enough that it only takes a little while for the pressure to equalize and fuel to flow again.

Then there is the old stand by, the crap fuel pump/petcock. Even if everything looks fine, if the diaphragm inside has given up (and they all do), then the bike won't be able to keep up with engine at normal and high rpm. It will idle all day long, but nothing more.

Next are gunked up float bowl valves, but those most often cause flooding, not starvation.

good luck.

alright, then what would cause it to not turn over and act totally dead then 25 minutes later fire right up? there has to be some connection between the two that I am missing.

Quote from: travisn on May 04, 2010, 07:08:46 AM
alright, then what would cause it to not turn over and act totally dead then 25 minutes later fire right up? there has to be some connection between the two that I am missing.

Do you have the 20A fuse bypassed or have a higher rated one in place? Does the ICU get hot as well when running or when it dies?

Most of your symptoms are still of fuel starvation. Perhaps you have a bad battery as well that can't push the motor past TDC when heated up and everything is nice and snug? 

afaik the fuse is not jumped and of the correct rating. i will double check that though.

The battery is brand new, but the problem occurs even before the starter gets a chance to engage.

sounds like the signal generator assy otherwise know as the crank trigger.  Sounds like one of the small pick-up coils is bad and will really mess up the coil output to the plugs.

where exactly is this beaut and how do i test it?

right side of the engine under the  round cover.   Without reinventing the wheel, there is a very detailed procedure for testing.  I think Kerry did the write up.  Good Luck.  I think you'll need an ohm meter.

Before you go to too much trouble, check the fuse that's connected to the starter relay. I was just having a similar issue and it was one side of the fuse was loose. The fuse had little black spots on it from it arcing by moving around. Check the fuse to see if you have these little black spots. If so, the easy fix is to us a flat screwdriver and tighten the clamp that holds the fuse or just buy a new fuse holder and replace.

Quote from: Worm on May 10, 2010, 03:10:48 PM
Before you go to too much trouble, check the fuse that's connected to the starter relay. I was just having a similar issue and it was one side of the fuse was loose. The fuse had little black spots on it from it arcing by moving around. Check the fuse to see if you have these little black spots. If so, the easy fix is to us a flat screwdriver and tighten the clamp that holds the fuse or just buy a new fuse holder and replace.

just checked that. the fuse is mint. I did manage to unplug it while it was running and it definitely made it idle poorly and not rev. I dont think its my problem though

Quote from: harlight on May 10, 2010, 12:57:20 PM
right side of the engine under the  round cover.   Without reinventing the wheel, there is a very detailed procedure for testing.  I think Kerry did the write up.  Good Luck.  I think you'll need an ohm meter.

I went through that the singal generator checked out ok. here is the link incase anyone is looking for it http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=5500.msg44988#msg44988

I think I have deducted that the RR is at fault per a resistance table I found in the FSM. one is on its way, hopefully it checks out.

If the fuse block is getting really hot that can be the immediate cause. A fuse can separate internally when it overheats, and then make contact again when it cools down. Had GS850 years ago that would do that. The trick is figure out why the fuse block is heating up.

Quote from: RichDesmond on May 10, 2010, 06:34:51 PM
If the fuse block is getting really hot that can be the immediate cause. A fuse can separate internally when it overheats, and then make contact again when it cools down. Had GS850 years ago that would do that. The trick is figure out why the fuse block is heating up.

the fuse block isnt getting hot. the wires coming out of the stator are. pretty sure its the RR, there isnt resistance where there should be so it means that there is excessive current being allowed to flow thus creating heat

I read this on another GS site which might explain hot wires?

QuoteAs Ritzo Muntinga of ElectroSport Industries told us: by design, the regulator/rectifier unit does not regulate the third phase! Now, what does this lead to? Anyone who can answer this may stay after class and clean the blackboard... no hands? Okay then. Here goes. Given that we here in Europe have our lights on almost constantly, and I understand you US citizens aren't even able to switch them off, we are using the third phase extensively. Lights on or not, we may safely assume that at normal cruising speeds the electricity generated will still exceed consumption -- except maybe on the previously described Goldwing. But my guess is that on such a bike, switching the light on would not make a measurable impact on electricity consumption). So we end up with a battery filled to the brim, and a regulator/rectifier unit trying to give the battery everything it has from the third phase.

Now then. I am not quite sure about this, so I will have to confirm this with Theo, but my guess is this: the regulator/rectifier unit gives the battery what the battery wants, and REFUSES TO ACCEPT ANYTHING MORE THAN THAT FROM THE GENERATOR! This leaves our generator with the sudden unexpected task of sinking the excess energy into -- somewhere. Our poor stator has no choice than to sink this for a large part into its own coils.

...................... One tip: it seems to be possible to extend the life of the stator by keeping the engine oil level topped up religiously! In an effort to circumvent the problem, Suzuki San has the stator running in engine oil, in order to try to let the stator keep its cool under all this stress.

Also, check for crushed fuel lines? they can be trapped against the frame if not routed properly, had a garage do that to me when I took my bike in for warranty work

You can't go by the resistance readings on the RR. I was thinking that was my problem but when I checked it with two different multimeters and the result was the same, no resistance on any of the contacts like the list said. I asked the local Suzuki service guy and he said the only real way to test the RR is with it on the bike and it running.