New Member, Thought i would say hello! and maybe could use a little tech help :)

[Guest]

Hi my name is Kyle, and I'm a Suzuki GS owner... When and where is the meeting?

Jokes aside, I've been buying, rebuilding and riding motorcycles since I was 20 (Now 36). Its been about 6 years and I finally decided to get back into riding. Recently I picked up a 1980 GS850GT that the owner decided to make into GS850GL with pull back handle bars and added a fairing. The fairing has been sold, the luggage rack will eventually be removed and Daytona style handle bars will replace the current ones.

When I picked up the bike two weeks ago, the first thing I did before even starting it was to pull the carbs, disassembled them, soaked each one for 24 hours and rebuilt them with new kits and butterfly shaft seals. Yesterday evening was the first time the bike was started. I changed the oil, drained and flushed the gas tank. It took a little bit of turning over and finally started. After a minute of running I noticed it wasn't firing on number one and two cylinders. Took out my laser thermometer and verified the header pipes were cold on those two cylinders. I originally thought it wasn't getting fuel so I cracked open the drain screws and gas came out. Next I checked the spark plug wires and found the wires were just sitting on the plugs and not seated. So I changed the all 4 plugs, fired it back up and still the same thing.

I'm guessing I fuel washed those cylinders since the original plugs were soaked. Back to the basics of engine 101... Any suggestions, tips, advice or a good stern disappointing look with shaking your head of "How Dumb Are you?" would be appreciative.

[roeme]

That 1 and 2 don't fire is weird (as you surely know 1&4, and 2&3 are fed by the same coil, respectively).
You did most of the things I can think of (not much since I'm still a noob), except...hmm...are the intake boots OK, i.e. not brittle, nor cracked? Did you replace the intake boot O-Rings? (And not with generic O-Rings?)

Also, might be a good idea to check compression?

Edit: Welcome!

[Kjpeter]

I did not change the intake O-rings. After fiddling with it for most of the evening I had to put it away. It was mosquito hour and running out of daylight. Tonight I plan on removing the plugs, inserting some oil in each cylinder, and turning over with the coils disconnected and plugs removed. Then check compression. I know the coils are wired correctly and also they are working since 3 and 4 were running good. I also managed to shock myself when I put the ignition wires back on while running.

As I type this I am thinking to myself, I should know better than to grab plug wires while an engine is running!

I will also try running it again and spraying around the carb boots to see if the engine changes pitch. After that I will repeat the process and leave the plugs out for the night just in case there is still gasoline in the cylinders.

[steve murdoch]

Hopefully it is something simple with your plugs and/or wires.
If not, it sounds like a thorough job on the carb clean but have a quick read through this how-to adn see if you missed anything.

http://zeus.mtsac.edu/~cliff/storage/gs/Mikuni_BS-CV_Carburetor_Rebuild_Tutorial.pdf

Welcome to the site, Kyle.

[azr]

It's just a matter of fuel, spark and air to get her running, sounds like you're on your way to figuring it out . Welcome to the site.

[Kjpeter]

Well I hope i figured it out. Compression was good in all the cylinders so i started it up and sprayed carb clean around the intake boots. Cylinders one and two were leaking bad where the o-rings sit. Three and Four were good.

A new set of factory o-rings are ordered. Now just have to wait a week for them to get here and try again.

Thank you for the tip Roeme!

[Kjpeter]

Quick update and one more question.

After I installed the O-rings between the head and boots, I now have another leak between the boots and carbs. So $120 later, I ordered new boots that come with the O-rings I just installed. It will be next week before those get here. Hopefully that will be the end of air leaks. After that I will pull the valve cover off and check valve clearance.

The question I have is in the new rebuild kits, they all seem to come with an o-ring that I cannot figure out where they go. I have read all of the tutorials and no one seams to give a description of that o-ring.

P1050461a.jpg

[Wingsconsin]

That may be the enricher (choke) o-ring.
Unless your carbs are a real mess you could re-use the jets after a good cleaning.
Buy the o-ring kit needed for your bike from Robert Barr ( http://www.cycleorings.com/ ).
New float bowl gaskets from Z1 enterprises and you are all set.
Z1 also sell the rubber plugs in sets of 4 .
Just a perhaps more economical way to go and all your o-rings will be labeled

[Kjpeter]

Two months later and it is finally on the road.

After I replaced every piece of rubber from the air filter to the head, it still ran the same. No combustion on one and two. Last week I decided to pull the carbs off for the 4th time, Strip and dip for the 2nd time and also replaced the wires, plug caps boots and plugs. Took out the K&L jets and installed the factory jets.

I finally have combustion on all cylinders and running good.

[steve murdoch]

Congrats on getting it running.
A lot of people do not like K&L bits.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?206837-Carb-Rebuild-Kits-(K-amp-L)-Are-they-really-bad