ran for 15 mi. now won't start

[dairyman]

I am new to the site, just received a gs850l from a co-worker as a freebie. It has been sitting for a few years and he told me that it would not even crank over. Loaded it up last thursday and spent about an 3 hours tinkering and found a loose ground wire, tightened the ground, choke bike and it statred right up. It ran for about 5 minutes and started smoking a little and shut off. Tried to start again but with no luck, the bike now has no spark to the plugs. Could it be the stator,coil pack? If it is the stator what is the method of testing. Any help with this issue would be greatly appreciated.

[Larry D]

Get a multimeter and test as per the Stator Papers.

http://www.thegsresources.com/gs_garage.htm

[Big T]

Kill switch position?

Carbs got clogged?

[almarconi]

It has been sitting for a few years

You probably don't want to hear this but.. more than likely you are going to have to go through the entire bike before it will run well. Without doing the basics (carb clean, electrical system, valve adjust, compression check..etc) you are just going to be chasing problems. Take your time and do the basic maintenance first before trying to figure out what could be wrong.