80 gs850g idles rough, dies after few minutes

[Guest]

hello!
As stated, I bought a custom 1980 Suzuki GS850G (my first bike).Was not running, however thanks to BikeCliff's Website, she's rough.

Choke fully on, starts. Properly lower choke as needed and after 3 minutes or so, I still have to leave choke on maybe 25%. Can lightly throttle, rpms rise well enough (to my untrained ear, never worked on a bike before) while too much throttle kills it (as I've read, usual since it's not a true choke).After a few more minutes the bike requires MORE choke as the bike begins to die out.

Sparks are all new. Was told the carbs need to be further adjusted by the previous owner and that the carbs had been recently cleaned. Tachometer is not attached, as well as many other electricals, however that's on the to do list.
Thanks for any and all help offered. Really want to get riding before it becomes too cold






Edit: I notice the engine is warm.. overly warm? for only running about 5 minutes. Could that be an issue?
Petcock has been set to PRIme and left that way for a while.
Motor runs MUCH better when gas tank is tilted back
Far left exhaust pipe is cold, middle two are scorching, far right began cold, became hot (maybe? on the far right one)

[Steve]

Sounds like it's time for some basic maintenance.

Forget what the PO told you about "carb cleaning". Unless you were there to see it happen, it probably didn't. Even if something was done to the carbs, it probably wasn't what should have happened. They need to be taken COMPLETELY apart, dipped in carb cleaner overnight (yes, it takes several days to do them all), then re-assembled with new o-rings from cycleorings.com. Then, you won't need to have it running for 5 minutes or so to "warm it up".

Sounds like you also need to verify your hose locations. If you have a vacuum hose on the #2 carb that goes to the petcock, you need a new petcock. If you don't have that hose connected, that could be part of your problem.

While you are doing the "maintenance" thing, be sure to check valve clearances and adjust them, if necessary.

When you are done, you can set the "choke" to about 1/2, then give the starter a stern look to activate it (it won't seem to take much more than that). After a few SECONDS of monitoring the engine speed to keep it under about 2,000, you can put your helmet on, hop on the bike and RIDE. By the time you get out your driveway and into about third gear, turn the "choke" OFF and enjoy the ride.

How much time do you have before it gets "too cold"?
You live in North Dakota or Miami?

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[Busbis]

I'm trying to find all the threads I can about a "basic maintenance". I've done a lot, but I'm sure there's a lot more.

I was sort of assuming that to be the mindset I should have with the carb cleaning. I'm afraid to jump to cleaning the carbs, lot of scary words for a mere grasshopper of the motorcycle arts.

My vacuum hose does go from the petcock ..nipple? to the vacuum nipple on the #2 carb, ALTHOUGH I now realized the roughness was a misfiring spark plug. The first thing I did was checked the plugs when I got home due to the exhaust pipe issue..#1 plug was fouled up! Carb cleaner took it right off!
Any ideas as to why that fouled up so quickly? If it fouls up again I'll more seriously look into it. Anything to be careful of while setting up electricals?
THANK YOU!

I will follow your riding guidelines soon (hopefully). and I live in the Northwest Suburbs of BlizzardNation.

Chicago*

[Steve]

You are not too far from my old stomping grounds, Brookfield, LaGrange, Hinsdale.

If you think the carbs will be beyond your abilities, there are a few of us here that will rebuild them for a modest fee.
I happen to be one of them. Click HERE, you can see my thread that shows what I can offer you.

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