Hello guys, I own a '94 GS 500 E which I have been riding for 2 years now
Last autumn I was out riding when suddenly the engine jerked and stalled so I pulled to the side of the road to restart, but to my surprise there was no electrical power whatsoever (not even oil and neutral lights in the dash) I then changed the main fuse which fixed the problem for 10 minutes when it popped again.
I tried replacing it again but this time it was dead for good. Battery had been on for 2 months at that point and it is still good (put it in my '92 gsxf 750 and works great)

Now as far as diagnostics are concerned I looked at the following
Shorted the starter solenoid with a screwdriver and engine turns over normally, albeit with no spark
No electrics work whatsoever (headlight, stoplight, turn signals, dashboard lights...)
Have replaced about 5 fuses at this point but none of them did the trick
I have continuity between the fuse sockets (checked with multimeter)
All earths are there and working (I put one multimeter lead on the negative bat terminal and checked grounding to engine block, chassis it is good)
All of the wiring in the headlight housing, dashboard, magneto, positive to starter look great

I've put about 15k km on the bike since I got it and it has served me very well. Now it's getting warmer and I want to get it running again. It's a really clean bike so I don't want to get rid of it. I am looking for some advice that can hopefully point me in the right direction as this issue has left me scratching my head for quite some time now  . Thank you all for your time.

Are the fuses still blowing when you replace them? Not sure what you mean by "dead for good." Does it blow the fuses instantly or does it no longer blow fuses but the fresh fuse is no longer fixing the problem?

It sounds like you have a short to ground somewhere. If there are no obvious visual issues with the wiring I think you will have to systematically test for continuity from the battery at different points of the wiring harness while using the wiring diagram as a guide.

I recently had a short because a tailight bulb globe had broken off on some bumpy terrain and the wires that were exposed by the globe ripping out were touching. In that case the issue was obvious because the taillight was out. But I guess my point is that the short could be anywhere.

Sorry for the poor wording, yes I replace the fuse and it no longer blows, tests good for continuity but the bike doesn't get any power.
I'm guessing there has to be a "files section" somewhere around the forum right?

Have you checked the auxillary ground ? Usually that causes 1 cyl to not fire. Your symptoms are unusual to me. Oh fuse and spare are in the same plug, make sure you're replacing the active one and not the spare.
Also you can blow fuses if your alternator stator and rotor are hitting each other. Aka Goats.
Cool.
Buddha.

Quote from: gigelmaricel on April 20, 2022, 10:34:01 PM
I'm guessing there has to be a "files section" somewhere around the forum right?

We do have a wiki but the wiring diagrams are not showing up for me:
http://wiki.gstwins.com/index.php?n=Main.WiringDiagrams
You can also find the wiring diagram easy via google.
You will also find one in the back of your Haynes or Clymer manual.

Thanks a lot for the info/tips will come back next week once I have investigated further 
Happy easter!

This could be the Clutch switch or the Side Stand Switch/Circuit Wiring. Check these before diving in too deep.
Good Luck, let us know how you get on.

Quote from: The Buddha on April 21, 2022, 06:12:51 AM
Have you checked the auxillary ground ? Usually that causes 1 cyl to not fire. Your symptoms are unusual to me. Oh fuse and spare are in the same plug, make sure you're replacing the active one and not the spare.
Also you can blow fuses if your alternator stator and rotor are hitting each other. Aka Goats.
Cool.
Buddha.

Hi Buddha.
When you mention the Auxiliary Ground, which wire are you talking about? We have the main ground going from the battery to the Engine.
then we have the ground running from the battery into the main loom yes. Are you talking about something different? I only ask as Ive been looking into why there seems to be firing/ feeling problems nearly always on the left cylinder. Have come across this on a fair few bikes I have worked on. (especially from cold) Just interested learn how the Ground would only effect one cylinder. Thanks

Quote from: GS Man on April 26, 2022, 01:47:24 PM

Quote from: The Buddha on April 21, 2022, 06:12:51 AM
Have you checked the auxillary ground ? Usually that causes 1 cyl to not fire. Your symptoms are unusual to me. Oh fuse and spare are in the same plug, make sure you're replacing the active one and not the spare.
Also you can blow fuses if your alternator stator and rotor are hitting each other. Aka Goats.
Cool.
Buddha.

Hi Buddha.
When you mention the Auxiliary Ground, which wire are you talking about? We have the main ground going from the battery to the Engine.
then we have the ground running from the battery into the main loom yes. Are you talking about something different? I only ask as Ive been looking into why there seems to be firing/ feeling problems nearly always on the left cylinder. Have come across this on a fair few bikes I have worked on. (especially from cold) Just interested learn how the Ground would only effect one cylinder. Thanks

Yea that one to the wiring harness. Its got a single spade connector in a locking clip type connector that's black, and its like 2" from the battery negative post. It somehow causes one cyl to drop, I never found out why. Just that it can do that.
Cool.
Buddha.

Thanks for this info, Ill look into it.

Allrighty

First of all thank you Buddha for the wiring diagram, has been really helpful.
Now there is no clutch switch on my bike, as it is a '94 EU model

I took a look at it today, and found that the 2 red wires coming from the cover of the fuse weren't getting any current through them so I jiggled them around a lil bit and surprise relay clicked and bike got its power back

Now I haven't done any soldering on said 2 red wires yet so bike still runs intermittently, that is due tomorrow.
checked voltage at battery with engine running and it reads a solid 13.8-14.0 V

Anything else to look out for?
Thanks everyone for the input!

Bluesmudge provided wiring diagram. Yea, common mistake 
Cool.
Buddha.

Update...

fiddled around and cleaned all contacts housed in the starter solenoid
bike started up like a champ, left it running for 15 minutes and then shut off
Started right back up rode it almost all the way back home (~11km) then engine shut off, pulled to the side and smoke started coming out from underneath the saddle.
pulled the fairing to the side and the wires going to the relay that clicks when you turn the ignition on (the small one furthest to the right, i really don't know what it is called or what it does exactly) were pretty molten soo currently looking for some advice before digging deeper into the wiring.
bike still turns the ignition on but didn't really feel like giving it a go 

Is my magneto/alternator charging too much? measuring at the battery i get 13.8-14.0 regardless of headlights, brake lights, engine rpm and so on.
Could there be a short somewhere along the way? wiring is clean with no brittle wire insulator and the likes.

Melted what Put a pic up.
Cool.
Buddha.

Update 2

The orange/blue wire coming from the sidestand relay was all but melted from the relay almost all the way to the engine stop switch
Along with it were 3 more orange wires that were pretty much reduced to a piece of copper covered in molten insulator
Ended up replacing the orange/blue wire from the headlight connector all the way to the relay and those other 3 smaller orange wires (2 go into the same relay one goes to the sidestand I think).

Bike now runs, tomorrow I'll tidy and properly solder the wiring that I messed with along with a proper test drive
Sorry didn't take any pics, will try to take some with the finished repair

Hopefully that takes care of things, it's getting pretty hot around here and my car has no A/C

Side stand switch can be shorted at the wiring harness inside the left side cover. Its specifically made with 1 male and 1 female bullet connector to be shorted that way. But you had burnt the side stand relay ? I have no idea how, I dont think it carries voltage, its a connect (short) or disconnect (open) but glad you sorted that.
Cool.
Buddha.

It sounds like you have way too much voltage going through your harness to just be melting wires all over. Although I would expect that to blow your main fuse. Did you put a higher amperage fuse in? I think its supposed to be 15A but double check that spec. You can't just replace melted wire and expect it to fix the problem. That's like replacing the fuse without diagnosing why the fuse blew in the first place.

Have you checked the voltage at the wires that are melting? Its possible the Reg/Rectifier isn't stepping the voltage down properly. I think you would see this with it showing over 14.5 volts but you say the battery never gets above 14v so I honestly have no idea what's going on with your bike. I do have to question your methods for testing battery voltage, because you should be seeing the voltage change when you turn on lights or change rpm. Try measuring voltage while starting the engine. If you don't see a big voltage drop when you hit the starter then something is wrong with your multimeter.

I would run through the checks for the stator that are in the manual. If the reg/rectifier is fried it might be because of the stator and replacing the reg/rectifier will only be a short term solution until the bad stator burns it up again.