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Greetings all,
Running (original owner) a 1980 Suzuki GS400ET. (GSX400ET in the UK, and in the US, GS450ET (in the US case a slightly different engine, but same chassis/frame construction and parts).
So, two weekends ago,, I took the motorcycle out for the first time since I had put it into self storage a couple of weeks before (I live in Nova Scotia, and with winter coming, I put the bike in a nearby, heated, self storage business, so that through the winter, I can walk over and take it out when the weather is good and the roads are salt-free]. About 10 minutes into the ride, though, the bike started feeling very sluggish – very little response to throttle input – so I turned back toward base, hoping that I would get there before the engine completely failed (fortunately I made it.)
I had a sneaking suspicion as to what the cause might be but first when I got the bike back to storage, I removed the battery and saw that there had been a significant boiling off of the water in the electrolyte. (I had topped it off during the summer, and for the first many years of this bike, it seemed that I would only have to top off the electrolyte once a year, and then only the slight amount between the upper and lower fill levels – this time, and at least once before in the last couple of years, I get surprised with a significant dip in the electrolyte. In this case of the six cells, three were below half full, one was down by about 25%, and only two were as high as the lower fill level. The battery had already been putting out borderline voltage at the start of the summer, but I guessed – correctly – that it would get me through the season, but seeing those levels, decided done was done and replaced the battery with a fresh unit.
But this was coincidental to my suspicion (and it has to be said battery-wise, that the bike started up without any hesitation on that last ride). The last time I had symptoms like this, though they were more severe, it was a case of the diaphragm perforating in the petcock. On that occasion, the flooding got to the point of the engine actually only firing on one cylinder, but while the engine is still firing on both cylinders, this time, (at least so far), when I took out the plugs, while the right hand plug looked fine, the left hand – on the side of the petcock – was fouled and smelled of gas. I installed the new battery and fresh plugs, and ran the bike in the parking lot for about a half hour, during which it seemed to run fine – I had to leave immediately after shutting down, so I haven't had a second look at the new plugs yet, but I'll check this weekend. If the left-hand one ends up looking fine, I'll probably run it in place for another half hour and check again before risking taking it on the streets and potentially getting stranded.
But after all that preamble (thanks for getting this far), I have a couple of requests of your expertise.
First, do any of you know of, or have you encountered, a situation where a weak battery would result in insufficient ignition on one cylinder, but not the other. I seriously doubt the chances, but if this is a possibility, and both plugs look fine on next inspection, perhaps there's hope.
Then, assuming the battery isn't the cause, and that I have to get a new petcock, do any of you have suggestions for a source. Naturally, the original Suzuki petcock, and the designated replacement (44300-44170 and 44300-44172), are both out of production, and when I use their part numbers to try and find a substitute, I get nowhere (I expect because those parts have been out of production for so long). As much as I'd like to think that the mounting for petcocks is as universal as the threads on spark plugs, I know that isn't the case, so if any of you have done a replacement on this model (or even if you haven't) and can make suggestions of someone who ships to Canada, I'd really appreciate it. (I've also seen diaphragm repair kits, but I don't know if my mechanic has ever done anything like that, and I expect just replacing the petcock would probably be the best bet – not to mention the fact that the various repair kits seem to have a varying number of parts included in them, and the one I can find for my model doesn't even include a replacement gasket between petcock and gas tank.)
Thanks for any input,
Running (original owner) a 1980 Suzuki GS400ET. (GSX400ET in the UK, and in the US, GS450ET (in the US case a slightly different engine, but same chassis/frame construction and parts).
So, two weekends ago,, I took the motorcycle out for the first time since I had put it into self storage a couple of weeks before (I live in Nova Scotia, and with winter coming, I put the bike in a nearby, heated, self storage business, so that through the winter, I can walk over and take it out when the weather is good and the roads are salt-free]. About 10 minutes into the ride, though, the bike started feeling very sluggish – very little response to throttle input – so I turned back toward base, hoping that I would get there before the engine completely failed (fortunately I made it.)
I had a sneaking suspicion as to what the cause might be but first when I got the bike back to storage, I removed the battery and saw that there had been a significant boiling off of the water in the electrolyte. (I had topped it off during the summer, and for the first many years of this bike, it seemed that I would only have to top off the electrolyte once a year, and then only the slight amount between the upper and lower fill levels – this time, and at least once before in the last couple of years, I get surprised with a significant dip in the electrolyte. In this case of the six cells, three were below half full, one was down by about 25%, and only two were as high as the lower fill level. The battery had already been putting out borderline voltage at the start of the summer, but I guessed – correctly – that it would get me through the season, but seeing those levels, decided done was done and replaced the battery with a fresh unit.
But this was coincidental to my suspicion (and it has to be said battery-wise, that the bike started up without any hesitation on that last ride). The last time I had symptoms like this, though they were more severe, it was a case of the diaphragm perforating in the petcock. On that occasion, the flooding got to the point of the engine actually only firing on one cylinder, but while the engine is still firing on both cylinders, this time, (at least so far), when I took out the plugs, while the right hand plug looked fine, the left hand – on the side of the petcock – was fouled and smelled of gas. I installed the new battery and fresh plugs, and ran the bike in the parking lot for about a half hour, during which it seemed to run fine – I had to leave immediately after shutting down, so I haven't had a second look at the new plugs yet, but I'll check this weekend. If the left-hand one ends up looking fine, I'll probably run it in place for another half hour and check again before risking taking it on the streets and potentially getting stranded.
But after all that preamble (thanks for getting this far), I have a couple of requests of your expertise.
First, do any of you know of, or have you encountered, a situation where a weak battery would result in insufficient ignition on one cylinder, but not the other. I seriously doubt the chances, but if this is a possibility, and both plugs look fine on next inspection, perhaps there's hope.
Then, assuming the battery isn't the cause, and that I have to get a new petcock, do any of you have suggestions for a source. Naturally, the original Suzuki petcock, and the designated replacement (44300-44170 and 44300-44172), are both out of production, and when I use their part numbers to try and find a substitute, I get nowhere (I expect because those parts have been out of production for so long). As much as I'd like to think that the mounting for petcocks is as universal as the threads on spark plugs, I know that isn't the case, so if any of you have done a replacement on this model (or even if you haven't) and can make suggestions of someone who ships to Canada, I'd really appreciate it. (I've also seen diaphragm repair kits, but I don't know if my mechanic has ever done anything like that, and I expect just replacing the petcock would probably be the best bet – not to mention the fact that the various repair kits seem to have a varying number of parts included in them, and the one I can find for my model doesn't even include a replacement gasket between petcock and gas tank.)
Thanks for any input,
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