My GS450.

[Guest]

Hi all,
I have been having some trouble with my GS450E lately. It was working fine (not perfect, but good enough for everyday use) and then one day it developed this problem: it will only run with the choke all the way open, during which time it idles anywhere between 3,000 and 5,000 rpm. If I start to close the choke or give it any throttle the engine dies. A couple days after this started happening I changed the oil, because it was time to anyways, and after doing so I noticed oil leaking from the head gasket (I'm fairly sure it is the head gasket). Maybe it was leaking before I changed the oil, but I probably would have noticed. Until I noticed the oil leak my plan was just to take of the carbs and completely clean them out. What would you guys say to do? Thanks.

[Gorminrider]

You can try re-torqueing the head with a torque-wrench, but cross your fingers it works and don't overdo it. Follow the shop manual's procedure.
a leaky head gasket is too obvious to ignore.
The choke is not a choke really.There's no butterfly valve closing... It's an enricher that draws its gas from the carb bowl with the engine's vacuum. Given that your engine sucks well enough to do that, it indicates you have some compression. You didn't mention smoke from exhaust so I assume it doesn't. You may have an air leak at carb manifold rubber collars. or several other issues inside the carb.
go here and look for what you need. There's a lot of great stuff.

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