Almost There! (idle issues with gs650glx)

[Guest]

Hey everybody.

I GOT MY M1 THIS TUESDAY!

Anyhow, I am super stoked to get out riding, but that's another thread.

I put fresh gas in my bike in december, and added fuel stabilizer. I'd been starting it regularly, and it had been fine. Idled fine on and off choke, and revved SO sweetly. Nevermind the valve tap, that's also another post.

Now, I'm trying to start it. It did go a few weeks without starting, due to some kinked polyurethane fuel line. (Replaced for free by Turtleface from here). I noticed that my fuel was low, and I put fresh gas in today. I figure plenty evaporated, and I burned a lot starting it.

**Here's the problem:

Numbering from my left leg, when on the bike, Cyl 1&2 have a smooth, sweet, consistent purring idle, which I can feel in the exhaust.
# 3&4 however, do not. The bike turns over (choke on), and the exhaust pulses are farther apart, but not a complete miss. IMHO that means weak output from 1 cylinder or more.
Pulled #3's wire and bike wouldn't turn over at all. Pulled #4 (all others on) bike turned over and caught, but idled like hell warmed over.

I think the most likely issue is a slightly fouled plug on #4. Once it cools off, I'm putting in my new NGK copper plugs. The plugs in it are the plugs that came with the bike when I bought it.

Anyone think it's anything else? Also, I'm asking because 1) I'm waiting for it to cool off and 2) On my volvo 4-cylinder, pulling #4's wire means the car runs like junk, pulling #3's means next to nothing. Anything like that here?

Thanks,
William

[Nessism]

William,

Dude, you a student? I went to cal poly Pomona and (unfortunatley) graduated almost 25 years ago - dang, time flys. I tried to get into SLO but they rejected me.

Anyway, you need to learn to use the search function. There are about one billion posts in the archives instructing people like you to bite the bullet and clean and rebuild the carbs as a matter of course. You have an OLD bike there and the polymer O-rings inside those carbs of yours, and on the intake boots, are sure to be deteriorated unless you have changed them latey. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Get an O-ring kit from cycleorings.com and get busy. Think about this as motorcycle 101, you can't move to 201 until you complete the basic course.

Good luck and keep going...

[WilliamGLX81]

Hey, thanks for the response.

I could have included more history: The carbs were rebuilt before I picked up the bike. I'll move on to that if the new plugs don't help. They weren't specific about what they did to the carbs, so they may need a full rebuild.

I'm a student, I go to the junior college out here, and I got rejected by cal poly SLO too, heh. It's all right, there were like 10,000 applicants to 44 openings


In fact, I look forward to rebuilding the carbs and going over everything (and I'm sure EVERYthing needs going-over). I just want to get myself mobile at the moment, and I would hope the carbs wouldn't get this bad in two weeks.

Bike's not quite cold yet, and I've already learned my lesson with changing plugs on a warm engine. Thread inserts into the head are NOT fun

[WilliamGLX81]

Changed the plugs - started in one crank. Idle was more even and exhaust pulses were identical both sides.
Old plugs were filthy.


Uh... So. Since it had been a while since the bike was run, I put maybe .5-1 teaspoons of oil into each spark plug hole, since there was essentially 0 oil film. I let it sit a few days.

I'd bet that there's still plenty of that oil floating around in the cylinders...
The bike warmed up pretty damn fast, but it started blowing smoke after it warmed up. It also started running like crap again.


Uh... so. Now how do I get my geniusly introduced oil OUT of the tops of the cylinders?
Keep on crankin it over, cooling it off, cleaning hte plugs, wash/rinse/repeat?

Thankee

[BassCliff]

Hi,

The oil should burn out quickly. It's probably not your issue. Starting a bike in a garage every few days and letting it run for a few minutes over the winter is generally a bad idea. You need to get it out on the road for a good long ride (a half hour or more), perhaps several, and ride it spiritedly (as to your skill level). If your gas tank was not full over the winter it is possible that it got rusty. Check it.

Feel free to check your "mega-welcome" again for the maintenance lists included therein. Clean carbs, new O-rings, properly adjusted valves, sealed air intake system, functioning charging system, new fluids, new filters, etc, are all necessary for a solid, reliable, fun machine. There really are no shortcuts. Every system must be checked, cleaned, repaired, adjusted, replaced, etc. Keep us informed.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[WilliamGLX81]

All right, I give up, I'll clean the carbs. I've cleaned one before, but my only experience was with a Suzuki TS-200 2-stroke bike. I cleaned it and then... put the floats in upside down. This will require many photos

Cleaned the plugs this morning and gave it a shot. They didn't foul out when I started it, and weren't too bad when I cleaned them.

I wouldn't be so hesitant to clean the carbs, if it looked straighforward to pull them. It looks like it's going to be tetris, but there's probably an explanation in the manual. Or is there a good one online? I have to go to work, but I'll check back on here later.

Thanks for the help.
William

PS Already changed oil+filter, plugs, planning on doing: clean carbs , rebuild carbs, new brake lines, fluid, pads, new wheel bearings with tires, checking fork fluid levels, probably new rear shocks, new seat, new speedo cable, new tach, helmet lock, and more. Also planning on a new rectifier. As I understand it now, that will regulate all 3 of the coils(?), but I'll check deeper into it. I'm planning on this maintenance catch-up spanning a few months, and I want to get riding like... NOW. My car has a blown headgasket and I can't leave town in it, but I can get groceries and go to work.

[Nessism]

Carb clean up series here... http://www.thegsresources.com/gs_carbrebuild.htm

New O-rings here... http://cycleorings.com/

Make sure you replace the Intake boot O-rings while the carbs are off.

When driving out the float pins you need to support the posts or they may break off. See photo below on how to support the post to avoid problems.