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Hi all, I'm new here, just got a 1983 GS550ES and this has been the best (almost only) source of info I've been able to find. Great site! I was especially thankful to find BikeCliff's website, a goldmine!
So here's my story; I was wasting some time on our local Kijiji classified site and ran across the GS for cheap. Sent an email out and went to look at the bike. Turned out it was an older lady whose husband had passed away a few years ago and she was cleaning out some of his stuff. It looked great, other than the two missing pieces of front fairing. He had bought the bike new, and it had been sitting in the barn under a tarp since 01, only 18,000kms (that's what 11,000 miles?) We had a bit of a fight to get it started that first time, but it sounded great when it finally caught. So I bought the thing for $800. Then the trouble starts, as I'm sure you can imagine with a stock GS that's been sitting for almost 10 years. I drove it around a bit, short trips from home to work, worked great except one episode where it stalled at a stop sign and wouldn't start. I had just given up and called a truck when it finally caught, then was fine. Then Friday I took it for a little longer drive, drove it in the yard, shut it off and it's never started since.
It turns over great, has spark, not the best spark I've ever seen but should do the job. The plugs have white ash on them, and don't seem to be getting fuel, but the carbs looked great, and always have fuel in the bowls when the drains are loosened up. I managed to get it to start today, by taking out the air filter and spraying gas mist in with a old cleaner bottle. Once it gets started it will run. My best bet is the intake rings are bad and I'm not getting enough vacuum to draw the fuel in at the slow rpm of the starter motor, does this sound plausible to anyone else? If anyone has a better idea of what's going on I'd love to hear it!
So here's my story; I was wasting some time on our local Kijiji classified site and ran across the GS for cheap. Sent an email out and went to look at the bike. Turned out it was an older lady whose husband had passed away a few years ago and she was cleaning out some of his stuff. It looked great, other than the two missing pieces of front fairing. He had bought the bike new, and it had been sitting in the barn under a tarp since 01, only 18,000kms (that's what 11,000 miles?) We had a bit of a fight to get it started that first time, but it sounded great when it finally caught. So I bought the thing for $800. Then the trouble starts, as I'm sure you can imagine with a stock GS that's been sitting for almost 10 years. I drove it around a bit, short trips from home to work, worked great except one episode where it stalled at a stop sign and wouldn't start. I had just given up and called a truck when it finally caught, then was fine. Then Friday I took it for a little longer drive, drove it in the yard, shut it off and it's never started since.
It turns over great, has spark, not the best spark I've ever seen but should do the job. The plugs have white ash on them, and don't seem to be getting fuel, but the carbs looked great, and always have fuel in the bowls when the drains are loosened up. I managed to get it to start today, by taking out the air filter and spraying gas mist in with a old cleaner bottle. Once it gets started it will run. My best bet is the intake rings are bad and I'm not getting enough vacuum to draw the fuel in at the slow rpm of the starter motor, does this sound plausible to anyone else? If anyone has a better idea of what's going on I'd love to hear it!
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