Signs and Symptoms That my GS550 Is Overheating

[Guest]

Hi I know I have been asking quite a free questions lately, but I have been trying to work the bugs out of my 82'GS550.

I was setting mixture screws in my garage with a fan in front of the engine, I cracked the throttle open and I finally got it running the way it should I let it idle for another minute and then all of a sudden it stalled. Went to restart it nothing, it catches for a second then immediately stalls. Did it overheat?

I have had this happen before as well over the summer it would start fine cold then I would let it warm up for a minute to two but it stalled, waited a bit and it started right back up, and ran fine.

I put it to coils and bought two new coils and haven't and a problem till today.

I guess I'm just wondering if the bike did overheat would it stall then not restart for a bit?

[curtie94]

I just went and the bike fired right, so it is a heat thing.

[eil]

Almost hate to suggest this, but are you sure it can't be fuel starvation? Float bowls emptying? Every time my engine has stalled unexpectedly, it was because I ran out of gas.

[tom203]

"....I have had this happen before as well over the summer it would start fine cold then I would let it warm up for a minute to two but it stalled, waited a bit and it started right back up, and ran fine."

this is is not enough time for anything electrical to heat up and crap out, (and then recover) so I'd be suspicious of petcock not delivering enough fuel at times during idling. Like eil was thinking, maybe not enough fuel in tank/ gummed up tank filter or some such.

[curtie94]

I just tried a spark tester and I'm not getting a spark with the tester on any wire but it does spark when I use a plug.

Its funny you say fuel level and petcock because I didnt even think about it but it started stalling when I switched the petcock to res. from prime. There isnt much fuel in the tank.

[GSCafe]

If you left it in prime, maybe you have the opposite of too little fuel.

[curtie94]

Well I guess it is fuel. I put it on prime and it stayed idling for over 20 minutes before I shut it off. So I'll fill the tank and see if that's all it was.

If it still stalls when the tank is full what could it be?

[GSCafe]

I agree with tom203 and eil. Check the petcock for obstruction. I went to longer transparent fuel lines on mine when I was troubleshooting this kind of thing so I could see what was happening and relocate the tank out of the way of the carbs.

[curtie94]

I just took the petcock apart and nothing looked bad. the screen was clean, there was no crud inside it.
The diaphragm was good. I sucked on the port and the diaphragm held vacuum for as long as my tongue was on the port.

So it must have been just low on fuel.

Unless I missed something in the petcock?

[GSCafe]

Sounds like you got it sorted. If it runs in the run position full of good gas, that was it...and eil for the win.

[tom203]

Petcock might not function well/consistently in reserve spot when idling (fewer intake pulses)- if this problem repeats, just get new petcock and eliminate it as potential culprit.