Weird idle, dying shortly into ride

[FatmanGS]

hey guysim having some problems with my 1980 gs550e and please excuse my bad explanation. this is my first bike and i just started learning about general mechanics. i got it in poor condition missing many of its stock parts like the airbox which i replaced with pod filters. it had no fuel line i replaced that with 3/8 line. it was sitting for about 8 months b4 i got it ive had it running well once now its acting strange. i get it idle set to 1.5 rpms which ive been told it should be and when it warms it jumps up to 3.5 then when im riding its about the same. second when i get going its running some what right but then it loses power can barely run then slowly loses all power till it dies, it tend to happen about ten minutes into riding then wont run anymore. i think it might have something to do with my spark plug wires positions cuz ive heard the order several different ways. i got them set Lh 1-4 RH2-3 sorry again if i was confusing or im doing something simply idoitic (probaly am lol) but i hope someone will help me solve my problems thank you for being patient

[Steve]

Did you re-jet the carbs for the pod filters? I'm guessing not.

3/8" fuel line is WAY too big. Even 5/16" is too big, but it can at least be clamped into place. At least it won't cause your problems. The best hose to use is OEM, which is 7mm. Pushes right on, does not really need a clamp. It looks prohibitively expensive on the parts fiche, but you have to realize that you get about six feet of it and you only need about one foot per bike.

I know that you mean 1.5k RPM, meaning 1500, but even that is too fast. Should probably be closer to 1100, but you will not get that until you clean the carbs and adjust the valves to assure things are working the way they should.

Your increasing idle problem is due to an air leak between the carbs and the engine. There are o-rings between the intake tubes and the cylinder head that will deteriorate over time. Chances are that they have never been replaced, and it's way past time. New o-rings are available, along with stainless hardware to hold the boots in place (the originals are junk that will probably be destroyed when you remove them) from cycleorings.com. Carb cleaning is pretty much a rite of passage, especially if the bike has been sitting for, what did you say? 8 months?. No need to buy "rebuild kits" for them, just get a set of o-rings from cycleorings.com and a can of Berryman's Carb Cleaner Dip and clean them yourself. There is a guide in the Garage section found on the GSR home page, and the same information is found on BassCliff's site.

Your placement of the plug wires is correct.

.

[FatmanGS]

thanks

thank you steve any idea way its losing juice and dying?

[tkent02]

It could be a lot of things, coils failing when they get hot, fuel tank vent clogged, valve clearances too tight, lots of other possibilities. Start in the beginning, make sure everything is working as it should. Go through all the things on Cliff's list, all of it.

Your first motorcycle is no place to have a bunch of mechanical problems due to neglect.

[FatmanGS]

intake boots?

i cant seem to find any can give me a site i went to just about every site on cliffs list

[Steve]

Check these sites.

Find your bike, look under the "Cylinder Head" fiche, it's part #23.


Alpha Sports
Babbittsonline
Bike Bandit
BoulevardSuzuki.com
Carolina Cycle
Cycle Parts Nation
CYCLE-RE-CYCLE
Full throttle
G&S Suzuki
Motogrid
MR Cycles
PartShark (formerly Flatout)
Ron Ayers
Z1 Enterprises

.

[Nessism]

Here is a link to Basscliff's site. The "list" as mentioned by Tom refers to all the basic maintenance needed to keep a 30 year old bike safely on the road - Cliff usually dolls that out along with his welcome message to all the newbies. Short cuts are long cuts when it comes to doing over due maintenance.

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/images/GSR_Greeting.html

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/