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GS750E hard starting

  • Thread starter Thread starter Robinhood
  • Start date Start date
R

Robinhood

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First of all, I'm new to this whole forum thing. So please be patient if possible. So my issue is this, I bought this 82 750 for $400 on Craigslist. In it he said it was cold blooded. I figure I can handle that right? Well, being new to bikes it was a little more complicated than I thought. With a whole heck of a lot of starting fluid and some extra juice it'll start after 10-15 minutes of cranking. I pulled apart all the carbs, cleaned them thoroughly and put them back on. No difference. I just pulled apart the valve cover and discovered nearly all the valve shim clearances were too small for my .04mm feeler gauge to get into. I've been reading how important that is so I'm sure it hasn't been done in quite some time. It also has a bit of a "dead spot" about half way up the range. I've searched and can't find exactly what I want to know. My question is what other General maintenance should have been done that the previous owner may have forgotten such as the Valve shims? I apologize for the long-windedness! Any help is very appreciated
-Robin
 
If the valve clearances have closed up it will run poorly and be difficult to start (and if they have been like that for a period of time then it may have burnt valves). So, get them into spec first.

A new set of spark plugs will probably help a lot as well.
 
I have new shims on their way. I should also mention it makes no difference whether the choke is on or off(yes the choke is fully engaging, no slop in the cable). It also has air pods instead of an air box and 4-1 exhaust. Don't know if this makes a difference with the hard starting but throwing that in there as well. Thank you for the help.
 
"It also has a bit of a "dead spot" about half way up the range. I've searched and can't find exactly what I want to know"

the carbs were not likely rejetted for the pods/ exhaust setup. You'll need to pull them again and find out . Get valve clearances correct.
the "choke" system feeds extra fuel up a little tube in side of each fuel bowl- make sure this is not gunked up. Just how "thoroughly" did you clean these carbs?

did you see this regarding common issues?

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/images/GSR_Greeting.html
 
The '82 750 shouldn't have any shims. The last GS 750 with shims was in 1979. Show us a picture of the engine?
 
Sorry, this is the only image I have. I might be wrong on the year but that's what I had been told. But it would make sense considering the front brakes are round pads.
 

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That is definitely from a 1979 or older. What's the VIN and what's the engine number? Could be a bike that sat at a dealer until 1982, could be someone swapped engine and brakes for some reason, could be a completely fraudulent bike.

But yeah, getting the valve clearances right is the most important thing, as having then too tight like yours will cause the valves to burn.
 
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Should be on the neck of the frame, just below the handlebars on the left side as you sit on the bike.
 
How can you buy shims if you don't know which sizes you need? You should first take each shim out, measure it and put it back - move to the next. BTW there's a shim exchange club on this forum.
 
Well I made the mistake of just assuming they could only go down to .00 but I got to thinking, maybe it could be in the negative? So I'm going to take the thinnest shim and put it in place of the others so maybe I can get a measurement? Let me know if my thinking is flawed. Learning as I go. The plus is I only ordered 2 shims.
The VIN is GS750E-32408
 
Robinhood said:
Well I made the mistake of just assuming they could only go down to .00 but I got to thinking, maybe it could be in the negative? So I'm going to take the thinnest shim and put it in place of the others so maybe I can get a measurement? Let me know if my thinking is flawed. Learning as I go. The plus is I only ordered 2 shims.
The VIN is GS750E-32408
Click to expand...

Shim sizes range from 3mm down to the low 2's. As you cannot read a gap at the moment, buy one shim on the low end put it in each bucket and get a reading. You have to find out where you are before you can fix this. Email Steve to get an .xls spreadsheet to aid the math. You have to do this correctly!!!!!

Edit: Search for Steve (yes, that is his username) in the members list.
 
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Your bike is not an '82. It's a '79 or earlier.

Please check the newbie mistakes thread linked in my signature if you want to know some of the common problems to look out for.
 
Also, stop using the starting fluid.

If you search the forum you will see many unfortunate accounts of those using starting fluid with serious engine damage. (If I remember right it washes the oil off pistons and they seize)
 
Hi Robin, first of, ditch the starting fluid, do the mentainance on the valves/shims,sounds like you have the carbs sorted, the flat spot could be simply due to, to much oil in your air filter iv to keep mine almost dry with only a trace, try your bike with the filter dry and for the Hard Starting could well be bad connections and low voltage to the coils. Check for partially burned connections below the tank, if necessary replace, do the solder crimp and double shrink seal, check the voltage at the coils and if it's low take apart the kill switch and the ignition switch to check connections. If you have found the voltage to be low I'd strongly recommend you do the coil relay mod. It's all simple stuff and in great detail on the forum. Hope this helps, Stephen.
 
Thank you everybody for all the help and advice. Finally got the old ugly thing back together today(if I had I picture you'd probably agree:D) and a few things I noticed. Before, I needed a metric butt load of starting fluid to get her to finally start(after about 15 minutes of trying). Now that I have all the valve shim clearances in spec, it took about 10 minutes with no fluid at all. HUGE improvement in my book. I should also mention it's only about 35?F here in Montana right now(way above average right now). It also looked like I was getting some leakage from one of the gaskets where #1 carb (if you're sitting in it, going left to right) connects to the motor. I should also invest in a new valve cover gasket just in case. I did not test voltage anywhere while it was running so that's next. I've already been through the entire bike checking connections. They all looked great. It has iridium(I believe?) plugs. On my short ride after the bike had warmed up I also noticed the dead spot about half way up the range appeared to be gone. Once it was warmed up I could shut it off and it would start on the first kick. I've looked into Polaris side by side r/r's just to keep myself busy looking for more to work on. If I want to invest in coils, what do you all suggest? (21 years old, just got married and bought a house, keep that in mind. I don't have all the money in the world) and what else does everybody suggest?
 
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