No Power

[Jon]

Lost all power while riding my '81 GS750 at 50 mph. Sat by the roadside a few minutes and it restarted and ran well. A few days ago lost power for just a few seconds. It restarted (45 mph push start) and ran well. It acts like no power, so I'm thinking ignition. Any help? Thanks

[Dave8338]

Loose / corroded connection on the main terminal in the fuse box, battery or in the ignition. A multi-testor will be your next best friend. Have you spent any time trying to recreate the problem?

[chef1366]

Could also be a fuel flow problem with a bad petcock.

[Newbee]

Same Problem on my XS400

Had the exact same symptom on my Yamaha XS400: bad fuse/connector.

Get an ohm meter. Don't assume a fuse is good by looking at it. I had a bad fuse and the connectors that it fits in to. Replaced all fuses and resoldered all new connectors been good for a year

[derwood]

if it has a vacuum petcock try it on "prime"......i believe an ignition problem would likely have some miss/back firing and popping stuff going on. i'm guessing fuel...

[Jon]

Thanks for the ideas.
I cleaned the kill switch contacts, and will look at the ignition switch next.
I haven't been able to reproduce the problem. Usually when I run low on gas it sputters somewhat and I can move the valve to "reserve". Then it is strong again. This didn't act like that, so I don't think it is fuel related.
I twisted all the electrical connectors to the igniter to make sure they had good contact, looked at the fuses (will check with a meter next time) and cleaned up some connections.

Can an igniter give an intermittent problem, or if they die are they really dead? Maybe I'll pick up a used one as a spare.

[mottyl]

"It restarted (45 mph push start) and ran well."

You can run at 45 mph!

[Jon]

Yeah, well I'm not the best author and I appreciate your humor. I was riding at 45mph when I lost all power so I coasted a little and then let the clutch back out in an attempt to restart the engine.

[mottyl]

You "author" fine. I just couldn't resist. Glad it didn't offend you.

Good luck with the problem. Electrical ones can be fun.

Chris