Carb advice for a very ignorant new owner!

[samp615]

Hello everyone-

Just got a gs1100gk. I replaced the stator and charging system now works. I've been riding around and the bike runs best when choke is on and takes a while to warm up. Once on the highway for a while I can take choke off and it runs well, but still a rough ride when accelerating and backfires when accelerating.

I know very little about about engines. When I bought the bike it was rough looking but appeared to have had carbs recently cleaned. The man I got it from said they weren't balanced. Could this be my issue?

The boots seem new to me and one carb is a different color from the others. When getting an old bike running, what should be done in terms of the fuel and carb systems?


Thanks

[samp615]

For got to mention-

The bike accelerates pretty good with choke on but awful without.

[keman]

Welcome to the site. If you look around the site some, you will find all sorts of information without even having to ask. A great place to learn just about anything you need to know about the GS bikes is from BikeCliff's site, http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/

Needing the choke on to run sounds like a classic air leak to me.

Make sure all those boots and such are good, and sealed. A major point of air leak is between the carb manifolds and the head. There are o-rings there that get hard and nasty letting all sorts of air in. Also, look at the inside of your air box, box covers... etc...

A can of starter fluid (or WD-40 in painch) can be used to locate air leaks too. Warm the bike up, and shoot a little around the carb boots and the intake where it meets the head. If your idle goes up, you found the leak. Just be cautious spraying highly flammable stuff around a hot bike...


Carb sync is a must do.
Valve adjust is a must do.
Fix air leaks,
Carbs Must be clean on these bikes. (If you don't know when they were last cleaned, clean them. ) There's a great tutorial on BikeCliffs site. http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/

Did I mention BikeCliff's site?? http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/

[hampshirehog]

Ditto above - symptoms are of an airleak on the intake side OR muck in the carbs somwhere (there's 'cleaning' and there's cleaning). For checking if you have an airleak I prefer to use a gas torch - one of the cheapo ones plumbers use, less chance of a fire. Waft the gas around the carbs and see if the revs increase.

[snicrep5]

dont know about "less chance for fire" when wafting flammable gas aroung, but it sounds like a good method just no smoking or open flames.