Help: Bike died on highway, then came back to life

haisam10

haisam10

Well-known member
I made my first awesome highway long distance trip from Mississauga to St. Catharines (long distance for me :p). Half way there, I was in top gear, revving at 7k And going about 120. The bike started losing power and would accelerate, slow down, jerk and eventually the engine would die. I pulled over, looked the bike over and didn't see anything wrong (I am a noob tho). I got started again and same thing happened, a total of 5 times. I turned petcock to prime and went on my way, and same thing happened. I am not sure what is going on but I kept trying to fix it and eventually it didn't die and I got to my destination. I had to keep the speed low and kept the revs steady. I have no idea what the problem is so any help would be appreciated.

Bike details:
1994 GS500
55k on it
It's red, if that makes a diff ;)
No mods that I know of

Thanks all
 
Are you sure you weren't out of gas?
 
water in the gas? take a sample from the reserve position into a clear jar to see whats in the bottom of your tank.
 
I know there was a problem with the petcock and it was replaced before I bought it, might be the petcock.

Filled the tank before I left so gas should be the issue. I will take a look at the petcock tomm. Thanks fr the input.
 
I had an older bike that did something like this. Problem was the ignition switch. It was dirty and wasn't making a complete contact, so once in a while, while driving the bike would "shut down".

Carmen

haisam10 said:
I made my first awesome highway long distance trip from Mississauga to St. Catharines (long distance for me :p). Half way there, I was in top gear, revving at 7k And going about 120. The bike started losing power and would accelerate, slow down, jerk and eventually the engine would die. I pulled over, looked the bike over and didn't see anything wrong (I am a noob tho). I got started again and same thing happened, a total of 5 times. I turned petcock to prime and went on my way, and same thing happened. I am not sure what is going on but I kept trying to fix it and eventually it didn't die and I got to my destination. I had to keep the speed low and kept the revs steady. I have no idea what the problem is so any help would be appreciated.

Bike details:
1994 GS500
55k on it
It's red, if that makes a diff ;)
No mods that I know of

Thanks all
Click to expand...
 
I'm a newb too, but something similar happened on my car. Could it be a clooged air filter?
 
dmode said:
I'm a newb too, but something similar happened on my car. Could it be a clooged air filter?
Click to expand...

Could be a number of things but starved air isn't really one.

Wires, plugs, fuel filter is where I would start.

Always replace the cheapest components first when trying to troubleshoot.
 
Vent hole in gas cap could be clogged creating a vacuum in the tank, thus poor or no flow of gas. Next time pop the lid and see if you hear a swoosh of air. Simple things first!
 
If it's a newer bike it won't have a hole in the cap, but a vent tube or hose that goes to a canister and/or the bottom of the bike. Same idea though, if you open the cap and it runs fine, then the hose is pinched or blocked. There was a tech bulletin somewhere that the bottom of the hose where it protrudes under the bike should be cut at a 45 degree angle to lessen the chance of it getting plugged.
 
halsam, this is a well known issue with the Suzuki GS500. It is a fuel starvation problem related to the petcock. If you go over to the GSTwins message board and search for 'fuel starvation' you'll find dozens of posts on this exact topic as it relates to your bike.

Long term fix: Replace petcock with an aftermarket one.
Short term fix: Switch petcock to prime when this happens, just don't forget to turn it off when you park.
 
Thanks all for the help. I came back today from St. Catharines on prime and had no issues. The petcock seems to be the culprit. Learning new things about my bike everyday :P.
 
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