Can someone explain to me how these two conditions relate?

[Anonymous]

I have a GS550L. The other day while I was sitting in traffic it died on me. I tried to start it and the batteriy just didn't have enough to get it going. A very nice guy, who's house I was sitting in front of, gave me a push and I got it going.

I drove it home, about 15 minutes away. I parked it shut it off and it started right back up. I did this several times without issue.

Yesterday morning I went out to start it and all I was getting is a "click". I started checking connections and moving some wires and all of a sudden it started turning over, trying to start. I had to through a charger on it, but got it going.

Later that day, same thing. I tried to start it and got only the "click". I wiggled the wire going from the relay to the starter and, boom it started. I thought ok great, I have the problem. But, later when I was riding it it all of sudden had a drastic loss of power. It was hard to keep up RPMs. and I could hear the motor revving up and then loosing power. I had to pull to the side of the road. At that point it stalled out. I wiggled the same wire as before and it started up again and drove with out a problem for about 20 minutes as I was heading home, then the same thing happened again. I did the same thing and again it was fine until I got it home.

What I don't know is, how does the wire going to the starter effect the bike when it is running. These two things seem to be related, but I can't justify how. Maybe they are not related at all, but it just seems like an awful coincidence if they are not. Could a loose or shorting out wire to the starter effect the bike the way I described above while I was riding it?

[redliner1973]

A couple possibilities, a shorted wire to ground may be causing such a drain on the electrical system that it is lowering available voltage to the ignition system. remember that starter wire, if shorted, will direct ALL battery power to ground. that's lotsa amps.

The other was that maybe the starter itself was engaging/sticking and the drag was causing it to slow. or that a loose wire was shorting out one of the coils, making your 4 cylinder into a 2 cylinder.

you definately have a wiring issue. I would look there before condemning any other part of the system

[focus frenzy]

coroded connections, 75% of all electrical problems can a traced back to bad connections, including regulator and stator failures.
brass was used for all the electrical connections and brass tarneshes, the tarnesh is a very poor conductor.

[Redman]

You say "that wire" is the wire from starter relay to the starter. The big thick wire, about same size a batery cable? Big ring connecter, on stud, with nut on starter relay? That wire?

Makes sence that could effect weither the starter will start. Maybe bad connection at the starter relay.

Doesnt make scence that wiggling "that" wire would effect anything related to the bike running when the bike is running (if starter relay is actaully off like it should be). Wonder if wiggling "that" wire is also moving some other wires further down in same direction, such as the stator and R/R wires?

[Redman]

On mine "that" big wire from starter realy to starter in the inside-left side and not so easy to gett at to wiggle (outside-rightside big wire is from battery). The thin white-green wire that is more towards the outside is the wire from the starter button (and interlock switch). Same applies there, can see how that effects the starter starting, but not so much how it can effect bike running when bike is running, unless wiggling it is wiggling other wires also.

Poke around some more, see what you can find. Let us know.

[IanFrancisco]

You said that your battery is getting discharged. The power from the regulator has to get back into the battery through the red wires. On my bike the red wire from the fuse is connected to the thick red wire from the battery (both are connected to the starter relay). Any intermittent connections there will cause the bike to stop running, if I'm not mistaken.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies! "That wire" that I am talking about is the wire that connects directly to the starter, the heavy black one. Sorry I didn't make that clear. Yesterday I pulled of the cover to the starter and check the wire and the connection itself was tight, but the bolt (for lack of a better word) that the wire connects to seems to be loose going into the starter. In other words, I can wiggle the the whole thing back and forth. I can see how this would effect the bike starting, but I am still not sure if it would have been able to cause the lack of power and the stall. I am trying to connect or disconnect the two symptoms from each other, because if they canbe connected I have found the problem. If they can't, then i have found one problem, the one causing the trouble starting, but still have another I have to try to track down, the one causing the lack of power.