Engine troubleshooting....

[Gizmo1952]

I recently became the owner of a 1980 Suzuki GS850G... Its in relatively good shape. One problem is the bike doesn't want to stay running. She starts pretty much okay, but after it warms up the engine gets real sluggish, no power and wants to stall. For the short time it does run, it pops quite a bit thru the exhaust...Any suggestions ???? I have ben advised a list of problems, head gasket, carbs, ignition, ???????

[Nessism]

How about some maintenance? Clean the carbs and replace all the internal O-rings, replace the intake boot O-rings, change the plugs, clean the airfilter and seal the air box if the foam has deteriorated, adjust the valves, vacuum sync the carbs. Do some maintenance or you are just gambling on when the bike will break down next.

[Gizmo1952]

Rule out gasket prob?

Thanks Nessism for your reply. What would be indicator for bad head gasket?

[Nessism]

Thanks Nessism for your reply. What would be indicator for bad head gasket?

Leaking oil.

[TheCafeKid]

Thanks Nessism for your reply. What would be indicator for bad head gasket?

Lots of oil leaking all over the place..

These motors dont quite work like a car does. When you have a bum headgasket in a car, it can cause all kinds of problems. Depending on where the headgasket went bad on these bikes, its generally just an oily mess, that CAN cause running issues, but not necessarily.

HOWEVER, Nessism is ABSOLUTELY correct. The symtoms you describe sound more to me like poor previous maintainence. The valves on these bikes need to be checked/adjusted every 3-5000 miles. The carbs could be gummed up and dirty from sitting. There are tiny passages in them that MUST be clean or it simply wont run right. Checking the charging system to assure not only that the bike is charging properly, but that you're also getting good power to the coils to fire the spark plugs (which occassionaly need new plug caps,).. there are many many things that can cause the symptoms you describe, and can be a combo. Its best to start with the basics, at the begining, and make sure all those are good to go before assuming that the head gasket is bad.

1.Adjust the valves
2.Replace Intake Boot Orings
3.Replace/Repair airbox boots and assure that the airbox is sealing propperly
4.Disassemble, dip, clean carbs, replace all orings, and reassemble
5. assess charging system, and repair or replace, including bad or corroded contacts in wiring loom.


thats just the begining. There are no shortcuts, or easy ways out of taking care of these things to have a RELIABLE, and SAFE motorcycle. If you dont want to do these things, or try to skimp out, you'll end up frustrated.. But, everyone here is here to HELP. Use your search function, the normal things listed above have been detailed repeatedly on this board, and will be easy to find in a search.

Also, be sure to say hi to BassCliff, and ask him to direct you to his amazing website that details alot of these proceedures..

Good luck!!

[D.T.]

Leaking oil.

We were working on a 850 yesterday and a very little bit of oil was coming out of the exhaust flange on the LH side cylinder. Could this be a bad head gasket?

Also there was oil leaking from the tach cable where is screws into the front of the head, bad cable?

[Nessism]

We were working on a 850 yesterday and a very little bit of oil was coming out of the exhaust flange on the LH side cylinder. Could this be a bad head gasket? Unlikely

Also there was oil leaking from the tach cable where is screws into the front of the head, bad cable?

Sounds like a bad seal in the tach drive gear housing, or the band seal between the housing and the head.