Found reason for poor idle

[GSX550]

Hi All

I was admiring/showing off the GS in my father in law the other day and I noticed a slow drip, drip, drip from the intake side of the right hand carby (these 550's have the siamese carbs). I catch a drip and sure enough it is fuel.

Having read here numerous times that a leaking petcock is a common enough issue, I pull the vacuum tube and plug it and set the petcock to prime. The bike started to act like it was running lean. I tried to give it a fastest idle tune (which never worked before) and sure enough it would now tune fine. I had to turn down the idle speed screw about 4 turns by then end of the tuning process. It now starts great (although it did start great before) and idles smooth as silk. It also returns to a steady idle soooo much faster now.

I tried to see if I could 'suck' any fuel through the petcock vacuum port. No liquid came through but I definately had the 'taste' of fuel in my mouth.

SO now I guess I need to find a new petcock.....Anyone know of a good supplier in OZ that wont break the bank?

For now atleast I just need to remember to turn it to prime to run and to run to stop....Makes perfect sense!!??

[Guest]

You can buy kits for them . Ray at Suziparts in Adelaide will have them but they won't be cheap . Try your local Suzuki dealer , you never know .
I run my 'S on prime all the time and have blanked the vacuum line at the "petcock" (I still imagine that to be a perverted animal of some kind) AND at the carbs . You just need to get into the habit of turning your tap off after shutting the bike down . Use your trip meter to work out when you need to refuel .
Let us know how you get on .
If you google Alphasports (in the US) , you'll be able to get exploded parts diagrams for your whole bike , prices and availability . I get a lot of my bits from there . Postage is about $50 (ok if you buy lots at one time) and you'll get them in a little over a week .

Cheers , Simon .

[GSX550]

Thanks Simon.

It is already a different petcock. I looked it up and it is from a 90's GSX600....I have blanked everything off, but it is the remembering to turn the petcock off to run or reserve that is bothering me.

[Guest]

Yes, I've found suziparts to be helpful but prices vary depending on what you're after. I've found price & postage from partshark.com to be the best for OEM parts delivery to australia.

I usually go to z1enterprises.com first.

And for regular gaskets (not head), oil seals and cables local suzuki dealer prices are generally reasonable, and are often next day delivery.

[SqDancerLynn1]

Even when it is turned to ON without the vacuum The petcock can still leak !!!