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1978 GS1000 wont start, sat 10 years

  • Thread starter Thread starter matt8874
  • Start date Start date
Huge update

Gas tank derusted and sealed with por 15
New coils and wires
New spark plugs
New air filter
New battery
Properly gapped plugs and used feeler gauge to gap points
Carb dipped all small carb components and dipped carb in pinsol, replaced all orings and gaskets on carb

Problem now is that carb is not properly in sync
It's running lean, white smoke from pipes
The bike will only run with the air box off and your hand choking the intake

Suggestions?
 
We are to assume there wasnt white smoke before?? Could it be the valve stems seals let some oil past as the bike sat a few days while you were doing the carbs?? Does the smoke go away after a few minutes or stay the same all the time???? Details help

.EDIT...where did you set the pilot screws and side mixture screws at??? Bottom at 3/4 to 7/8 ( I like mine a tad rich and at 7/8 ). Side mixtures screws at about 1 1/2 to start with and then fine tune ONLY WITH the mixture screws.
 
Well I had it running for only a few minutes because it dies when you take your hand away from the intake. It has a white grayish smoke the whole time.

And I think the screws you mentioned are the 4 on the bottoms of the carbs that are at an angle? They have a spring inside? I was unsure where to set them so I put them all at 1.5 turns out from bottom. The leftmost carb cannot be adjusted, the screw is stuck and stripped. I think gramps was frustrated with that one lol
 
That bike should have VM26 carbs. The BOTTOM screws at the back of the carb bowls are PILOT SCREWS....3/4 to 7/8 out and forget about them.

Side screws that set at a 45 degree angle on the side of the carb bodies are the MIXTURE screws...set at 1 1/2 to 2 out as the starting point. I have 4 1000s and ALL of them were lean and had the lean backfire ( popping sound ) symptom at 2 out. With the , I have found that around 1 1/2 out is about perfect with all my bikes. Not lean..but not getting black sooty spark plugs either. You fine tune the mixture using the side screws ONLY.
 
As for the left most carb screw. Get a Dremel and a Dremel bit thats real fine at the point..like a real small burr tool. Go into the hole the screw is in and cut a new slot..being careful not to hit the threads in the carb body. Next heat the carb body up with a torch and drip some oil in the hole and let it soak in a while. heat it up again and gently start to get the screw to turn.

Once it moves a little, go in and out and work some more oil into the threads. Each time going in and out, try to get it out a little further each time. Be patient and work it out of the hole. Now you can take a hack saw blade and cut a new slot in the screw once its out.
 
You dipped the carbs in pinesol?

You have to boil them in a pinesol mixture
 
Okay so a short reply first, to Big T, yes I put it in a 5 gal bucket as an assembly, but all the pieces taken out, and mixed one gallon of pinesol with about 3-3.5 gallons of water, let it soak for 3 days. I had a short thought of maybe the fuel lines (the T and two outer lines, plastic, may not have been cleaned enough, I didnt blow it out with compressed air, dont have a compressor to do that with) still have a little build up in them.

As for Chucks reply, which ones are the bottom screws? I attempted to use a dremel but I totally messed up the slot on the screw, as far as I can tell the carb threads were untouched, just didnt have a fine enough bit. That is one of the ones on the back side of the carb, that are angled, I would guess its a 45 degrees one, on both sides they angle out but up a little. I am unsure what the pilot screws are, I have set the angled ones which I believe are the air/fuel mixture screws at 1.75 turns, it seems to run better there, but as I mentioned the one cannot be adjusted. The other day I got it running and I was able to take my hand off the intake, it ran for about 2 minutes until it warmed up and slowly died.

EDIT: Wait so the pilot screws are inside the float bowl? I just looked up a diagram and it said pilot jet or something. All the screws inside the float bowl I just tightened down by finger til they were tight, then used a flat head screw driver and turned them about 1/4 turn or less to make sure they were in there good. Do I need to loosen anything up in the float bowl?
 
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Take a look at the VM rebuild guide ln basscliff's site. The fuel pilot screw sits on the bottom of the carb but is exposed with the bowl on.

The guide shows the difference between the jets. Just tighten them snuggly with a screwdriver, no need to super tighten them.

The dremel recommendation was for the stuck air/fuel screws as you correctly described them.
 
Not much of a systematic approach happening here!

How did you clean the water/pinesol mixture out of the carbs after you dipped :rolleyes:them?

Are you running the gasoline/seafoam mixture still? If so then that will cause white exhaust. Get fresh clean gas. Do you have good flow from the petcock?

If you have to keep your hand over the carbs to keep it running then primary circuit is still plugged.
 
NO..pilot JETS are in the bowls, and the pilot SCREWS are the ones on the bottom of the carbs at the engine side of the bowls...you can see them with the bowls on the carbs. These get set at 3/4 to 7/8 out from GENTLY seated. You set them GENTLY because there is a point on them and you DO NOT want to jam the point into the bottom and snap it off in there.

The side screws..which you correctly stated sit at about a 45* angle to the carb throat are the MIXTURE screws. Set them at 1 1/4 out from seated. DO NOT tune the bike using the bottom pilot screws..set them and forget them. You fine tune using the side MIXTURE screws only.

Using the MIXTURE screws, turning them in will RICHEN the cylinder and turning them out will LEAN a cylinder.
 
Quick update then. I set the pilot screws at the bottom of the bowls to 3/4 out from gently seated. I left the mixture screws where they were, about 1 3/4 turns out. It was hard to get started running, had to open the throttle ever so slightly while cranking and while keeping hand over intake. It ran for less than a minute after taking hand off intake. It can be revved up while running. Adjusted choke and tried starting again for about 5 minutes, while my hand was over the intake I hear POP!! and my hand is engulfed in flames. Backfire through the carbs, was NOT holding throttle open at this point. And even when I was it was literally a hair, almost like I wasnt even holding it.

And by the way, this whole time I have been using a bottle with gas in it. The cap was drilled to fit the fuel line and the vacuum is operated by the bottle being sealed. The tank is off and set aside so this has no possible way of being the petcock. Also I am NOT running seafoam currently.
 
Do you have the vacuum coming off carb 3 capped off?? If not thats a massive leak and will cause problems. I am 99.9% sure its nothing to do with the screw settings, as I have 4 1000s and all are set very close to each other with what I told you.
 
I do not have that capped off, and didnt even think of that. I will try it again another night. Would make sense that it would be a big leak and cause some problems
 
The bike will run for a while now, it may even be able to be driven. Although the rear brake needs to be serviced, needs both tires, and needs a headlight. Here are some pics and videos for the update, it still dies every now and then, and Im not completely sure why, and the tachometer does not work. I have set the air/fuel mixture screws at 1.25 turns out from gentle bottom, the fuel pilot screws on the bottom to 3/4 out from gentle bottom, the floats adjusted to 0.914" to 0.918" on each.

Choke has to be all the way open at all times, any lower adjustments and the bike will die right away.


Here is the rigged up "gas tank" with the 'capped' vacuum line that goes to petcock.


Heres the videos. Read the descriptions on them for info.
Link & Desc. [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fIsNPys58E&feature=youtu.be
[/URL]
Link & Desc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29PUuonf0Gc&feature=youtu.be

Link & Desc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsulCJiWIfA&feature=youtu.be

Link & Desc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9prT9glHh1U&feature=youtu.be
 
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Sounds like maybe theres still some blockage in the pilot circuit. Have you made sure the very tip of the pilot jets are poked out as well as the big holes around the sides? Theres a small hole in the tip that has to be open too for good fuel flow at idle speeds. I would double check the pilot jets, set the bottom pilot screws at 7/8..go out another 1/8 turn to richen the pilot circuit a tad, and douse the carb spray into the pilot jet holes and then lots of compressed air to be sure some tiny spec of crap didnt get sucked up.
 
Pffft

Most likely you broke the tips off the pilot fuel screws when you seated them tight back in post 48

I never saw where you've actually cleaned the carbs completely, much less taken out the pilot fuel screws.

Putting your carbs in Pinesol at room temp won't do much. You've had the tutorial on how to clean your carbs in post #3, yet you ignore it over and over again.

And you wonder why it doesn't run correctly. You're taking short cuts that prevent you from getting the job done. Go read the Top 10 Newbie Mistakes list. 53 posts of doing things the wrong way
 
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Hi Matt

It's good that it's running, it mainly looked like fuel starvation - crap in the tank, faulty/blocked petcock plus the fuel filter would not be helping.

You will have an issue with that bottle you have rigged if I am not mistaken - there is no breather on the bottle which means a vacuum will build up in the bottle preventing the proper fuel flow from happening.

Besides giving the carbs a more methodic strip/clean (I used Berrymans carb dip) of the carbs you really need to test out the tank/petcock and once you can see a good fuel flow get it back on - search the forum and it will tell you how to do this

It doesn't sound far away from running properly

Keep at it!
 
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