So resoldered all my connections (including the new one from the rectifer and engine start switch to the positive terminal.. Road it down the road and once i hit a hill the bike lost acceleration and no matter how much i tried to the throttle the engine just died.. Wouldn't turn over again...
Any idea if this might be electrical or carb related?

You were going up hill ? OK what battery you got in it ? es 12BS sideways - if so look for positive battery post hitting the frame.
Cool.
Buddha.

Quote from: The Buddha on August 16, 2011, 12:23:47 PM
You were going up hill ? OK what battery you got in it ? es 12BS sideways - if so look for positive battery post hitting the frame.
Cool.
Buddha.

CB10L-a2 battery... Nothing appears to be hitting the frame.. The bike is at a gas station right now.. waiting for a buddy to get off work so we can pick it up in his truck and haul it to his house...

Going to dismantle the carbs and check them.. would a stuck float possibly cause this?

I`d have the spark plugs out and check for a spark firstly,as youv`e been at the wiring.

maybe the tank is not getting ventilation?  Try to start it with the fuel cap open.  What problem was it that lead you to soldering?

Quote from: ramennoodles on August 16, 2011, 03:15:22 PM
maybe the tank is not getting ventilation?  Try to start it with the fuel cap open.  What problem was it that lead you to soldering?

The fuse harness was having continuity issues to the positive battery terminal... So removed it and soldered a new fuse to the rectifer and engine start switch red wires..

Quote from: JAY W on August 16, 2011, 01:34:51 PM
I`d have the spark plugs out and check for a spark firstly,as youv`e been at the wiring.

The engine turned over and was able to ride.. Once i hit 4th or 5th and about 50mph and went uphill that is when the engine decided to cut out and wouldn't turn over again after that... The electrical kept on trying (until the battery voltage dropped to 11.75 after all teh tries and it wouldn't even click the solenoid anymore). What could cause the engine to die like this? We are going to try to remove the carbs this weekend and clean them.

Sounds just like a bad frame petcock or a plugged fuel cap vent.It really sounds like an air locked tank from a clogged fuel cap vent.

Upgraded petcock is cheaper. http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=56352.0

Clean fuel cap cost 20 minutes. http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=41061.0

yep start with the easy stuff first.
tank venting open cap and listed for a whooosh.
petcock vacuum not actuating it. turn it to prime, wait 30 seconds, check for gas leaking and try again.
spark plugs. big blue spark?
plug wire not seated on coil good anymore?
With a float stuck it would be draining gas until the engine died unless you left the petcock on prime. Can tap the carb with a screwdriver handle to unstick it sometimes.
rectifier overheating, use the manual and see if it measures out the resistance properly. or replace/borrow known good one to test.
kill switch has a short and is set to "kill" even though it looks like it is not.
Carbs out of sync.

Not sure if these gs500s have this or not can't remember
clutch switch not engaging (some bikes have this on the clutch lever itself)
kickstand switch has a short in it.


Some people will tell you not to use a car battery to jump start it.  if you do this do it with the car off.

Quote from: pookiebear on August 17, 2011, 02:50:58 PM
yep start with the easy stuff first.
tank venting open cap and listed for a whooosh.
petcock vacuum not actuating it. turn it to prime, wait 30 seconds, check for gas leaking and try again.
spark plugs. big blue spark?
plug wire not seated on coil good anymore?
With a float stuck it would be draining gas until the engine died unless you left the petcock on prime. Can tap the carb with a screwdriver handle to unstick it sometimes.
rectifier overheating, use the manual and see if it measures out the resistance properly. or replace/borrow known good one to test.
kill switch has a short and is set to "kill" even though it looks like it is not.
Carbs out of sync.

Not sure if these gs500s have this or not can't remember
clutch switch not engaging (some bikes have this on the clutch lever itself)
kickstand switch has a short in it.


Some people will tell you not to use a car battery to jump start it.  if you do this do it with the car off.

Kickstand and clutch switch have both been bypassed (actually gotta look into the kickstand one again.. know for a fact clutch is bypassed).. Should just be the green to black/white wire for sidestand correct?

do you think your generator is working?  Maybe the bike is running off the charged battery.  One way I use to test this on my cars was to start the car, then removed the terminals off the battery.  If it still ran, the alternators pushing enough juice. If not, then it was a bad alternator.

Quote from: ramennoodles on August 17, 2011, 03:35:09 PM
do you think your generator is working?  Maybe the bike is running off the charged battery.  One way I use to test this on my cars was to start the car, then removed the terminals off the battery.  If it still ran, the alternators pushing enough juice. If not, then it was a bad alternator.

Was thinking of redoing all my generator connections cause they are kinda corroded... will run a full generator check while i am at it..

Interesting...I had a somewhat similar situation a few months back. Turned out my valves needed to be readjusted. If you're tearing down the carbs I'd take a look at them too.

On my 250 it did something like this.  Was cruising and then knew something was wrong, coasted as far as I could when it shut off and pushed it the rest of the way.  After checking everything I could think of, pulled the valve cover and saw the exhaust valve spring BROKE.  Replaced it and was good to go.

yea a tight exhaust valve can do this too. Engine heats up the valve wont open enough. 2 hours later its cool enough to start.  add that to the list of things to check.

Going to try to fix the bike tomorrow.. anything else i should look at? Also how should i check the exaust valve... really hoping i can fix it without paying a shop.

Rewired all the generator wires and soldered the kickstand safety switch to bypass it (insead of just twisting  the wires)... seems  to be running fine now

Pita is back home!!!
Friend just rode it from his garage to my house to test it out and seems that ever since replacing all the generator connections the bike is running great again.... Looks like the continuity issue over 1 of the wires was possibly causing the generator to not function... so the bike was just running off the battery and dieing after a few minutes.... atleast that is the working theory unless it happens again...

Hope that was it and you're good to go!

PITA stranded me this morning again... luckily the girlfriend picked me up and got me to work...

Same thing happened...

While riding about 50 in 3rd or 4th the bike starts overreving underreving (jerking back and forth a little) and then starts to lose power. if i let up off the throttle and grab the clutch the engine dies (power system still stays on) and oil light comes on....
Give it a few seconds to minutes and it fires back up (wont fire up before then tho) and will go for another few minutes until it dies again...
Anything I should look at or is it time i take it to a mechanic?

Edit: Should note it didnt' do this at all yesterday when I rode it all around town... It is now sitting at 77 miles on this tank and somewhere around half a tank left.