Engine dies only when in gear
 

Hi Guys - I've been lurking around this board for awhile now and can't tell you how much everyone's knowledge has really helped me out while in a few binds. This is by far the best resource I've found for information on the GZ250. Unfortunately I've finally hit a dead end with my current issue and could really use some advice on what may be causing the problem.

A little background... I live in Phoenix, AZ and own a '03 GZ with about 5-6k miles on it. It has always run beautifully until one scorching hot summer day about a month or so ago. I had just returned from a 30 or so mile ride at speeds of 65-70mph and was heading home on the side streets (45mph) when all of a sudden the bike started sputtering as though I had run out of gas. I quickly switched to the reserve tank, but to my surprise the bike simply shut down. Thankfully traffic wasn't too heavy at the time, so I navigated to a parking lot to try and figure out why the reserve didn't work.

Upon switching to neutral, I try to start her and she fired up right away... (i apparently still had a half tank left). Then the moment I switch into 1st gear, she shuts off as though the side-stand was down (of course, it isn't). And this is where I am completely lost as to what the problem might be.

I removed the tank to see if maybe the wiring had somehow melted and was shorting out, but everything appeared to look fine. My next thought is that maybe my turn signal / side-stand relay had blown, so I checked the turn signals and they work fine, but since I don't have a multimeter, I haven't been able to actually test it. If it's bad, will the turn signals still work?

And this is about as far as I've gotten so far. Am I even headed in the right direction? I'll do whatever I can to help you guys help me (pictures, more detail, etc), just let me know. And of course, any help on this will be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks!

:)

I might not be able to help you, but a video would probably be the best thing to show us.

Maybe just a 15 second video of the actual occurance.

My camera doesn't do video, but I can borrow one. I'll see if I can get that posted up either a bit later today or early tomorrow.

Anyone have any other ideas in the meantime?

Let's not overlook the obvious. The side stand switch itself may be bad, have loose wires or be out of adjustment/bent. It should be fairly easy to by-pass it temporarily as a test.

It must be something about that relay. The symptoms are clear.

I would have to agree, although I still would like to see what happens.

Ok everyone... Thanks for responding with ideas this far. Here is a video of the problem:

http://video.tinypic.com/player.php?v=4t56h4z

Easy Rider: How would I go about with the by-pass test? Just remove the relay?

In the service manual, pages 6-15 and 6-16, will tell you how and where to test with a multi-meter. You can download the manual here in the troubleshooting

forum. :)

Yeah, that manual is a god-sent. And this is pretty much where I came to a dead end. I'm not much of an electrician (I can swallow my pride and say that I actually don't know squat), so since I don't have a multi-meter, would something like this get the job done:

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...ctId=100013868

:??:

Yes, that should do the job.