Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

My personal GS sob story

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    My personal GS sob story

    I guess I just wanna complain a little bit.

    So in march I bought my first bike. I bought a 79 Suzuki gs850 for 1000 dollars. I went and got my learners permit and sold a bunch of xbox games to have money to buy a helmet (I'm a 19 year old barista, I don't make much money). I learned to ride on that bike and rode the hell out of it all the way until the middle of june.

    One day in the middle of June I was in Sumner, pulled up to a stop sign and when I pulled away it started running really odd. Almost non-rhythmically (I'm not a mechanic, can you tell?). It seemed like one cylinder was firing real low. Well as long as I kept the RPM's high It was okay so I rode it home and parked it.

    I checked my gas tank, petcock, etc. The easy stuff I knew to check. Well that didn't do it so I checked with shops and no one could fix my bike within the next two weeks and I met a guy here on the forum who would help me clean my carbs. Well clean them we did and the bike was still running poorly. I told the mechanic I had found previously and he said it still seemed like it was my carbs and that if I didn't blow them out with compressed air, then I didn't do it right so I had him clean them again.

    He said he found stuff in there and so I hooked them back up and the bike ran better, but still not good enough to ride. It didn't idle well and didn't accelerate from a stop without way too much clutch as well as not being able to get above 5,000 rpms and losing power uphill with the throttle all the way maxed out.

    Well I took it back to the shop in Enumclaw and did my two weeks of waiting before the guy could look at my bike. He went over everything. He checked plugs, swapped out coils, cleaned the carbs AGAIN, but he couldn't get it right.

    So he checked compression one cylinder running at 90 with the others at 120ish but they would switch up so sometimes a cylinder that was at 120 would go as low as 75. So he put some oil in there and the compression got much healthier which he says means the rings are probably bad.

    So he estimates it at a grand or more to fix a motorcycle I bought for a grand. I can't afford that much to fix the bike and the mechanic said fixing it would be akin to beating a dead horse anyways. But then he rode it around to see if I could ride it home at least and not have to borrow a truck and a trailer and he said (and I quote) "Well ****, I don't know what to tell you. It seems to be running alright now." He said maybe I can ride it around and just keep a spark plug wrench and an extra plug on me for a season or two while I save money to buy a new bike. So my bike is just haunted by a malicious ghost I guess.

    Now I'm bored, out a bunch of money and I don't even have skyrim anymore since I sold it to buy a helmet.



    End of complaining
    Last edited by Guest; 08-17-2012, 05:21 PM.

    #2
    Did YOU replace the intake manifold O-rings yet? Do that, at least.
    Also add an ENTIRE 15 ounce can of Berryman's B-12 Carb/injector cleaner to a tank of fuel.
    See if those improve things.

    Eric

    Comment


      #3
      I did both of those things. I bought the carb O-Ring kit and the intake boot O-Rings you guys recommend on here as well as run berryman's through, although not a whole can at once.

      Comment


        #4
        Wait. (Bear with me, I'm not mechanically inclined) Are the intake boot O-rings and manifold O-Rings different?

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by DevanJones View Post
          Wait. (Bear with me, I'm not mechanically inclined) Are the intake boot O-rings and manifold O-Rings different?
          Number 17 here: http://www.boulevardsuzuki.com/fiche...1979&fveh=2141

          If you have not already changed them, get the O-rings and bolts from www.cycleorings.com

          Eric

          Comment


            #6
            I got the O-Rings and bolts from cycleorings and put all the new o rings in on the carbs and the boots from the carbs to the engine, but not from the airbox to the carbs.

            Comment


              #7
              Are the carb to airbox boots intact and in good condition?
              Try an ENTIRE can of the Berryman's in your fuel tank. ($3.25 ish, everywhere auto parts are sold including Mao-Mart)

              Eric

              Comment


                #8
                All my boots are more rubbery than hard plastic-like. I'll grab a can of berryman's.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by 7981GS View Post
                  Are the carb to airbox boots intact and in good condition?
                  Try an ENTIRE can of the Berryman's in your fuel tank. ($3.25 ish, everywhere auto parts are sold including Mao-Mart)

                  Eric
                  Just to add...I like a whole can of Berrymans when your tank is about 1/4 full or less. We are trying for optimum concentration here. Hope it works!

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by nejeff View Post
                    Just to add...I like a whole can of Berrymans when your tank is about 1/4 full or less. We are trying for optimum concentration here. Hope it works!
                    I run bike's on it in its pure form to get them started after being parked...



                    Eric

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Keep at it, you will sort it out sooner or later, I agree with Eric, I don;t think you have shot rings, well not to the extent that they would make the bike unridable.
                      If the rings were that far gone, it would smoke something terrible.
                      Have you tried doing plug chops, plugs are great story tellers.
                      Ride it and when it is playing up, shut it down, pull the plugs and see what they look like, if you not sure what you are looking for, take pics of them and post here, the guys will soon decipher the story for you.
                      Chin up, it is not as bad as it seems, part of owning an old bike is the maintenance it needs, give it that and they really are great bikes.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        I'll try the plug chop tactic and post pictures, since I have no idea what to look for.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          I don't have any advice for you, except to not give up and try to do as much work yourself because you will save a ton of money.

                          Best of luck.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Originally posted by sammy123 View Post
                            Best of luck.
                            Thanks, Sammy.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              I don't have a ton of experience, but if you need a hand, I'm pretty good at figuring stuff out. At the very least, you wouldn't be the only one stumped

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X