Running to rich...

[Guest]

Hi,

I have a gs 550 such a nice bike !!!

She was running rough so decided t clean the carbs and jets...now much smoother however even with new spark plugs after 5 mins there is a black carbon build up on the plugs, indicating she is running to rich.

What is the best way to reduce the amount of fuel going to the spark plugs ?

Will opening the air screw improve this ?
Or should I take the carbs apart and drop the pin down into the main jet to reduce the flow ? I have one more position to drop down.

Would balancing the carbs improve this?

What about timing ?

I would imagine this has been posted before but can't seem to find any information.

Any help will be received with thanks

Cheers

[Octain]

Welcome!
Turning the mix screws in(clockwise) will lean the mix.


You dont mention, you running stock airbox?

[Sexysuzi]

Thanks for quick reply. Yes I could do that... Do you make the changes with the bike running? I really struggled to fit my hand and screwdriver between the engine and carbs to tweak the mix some gave up! Any suggestions ?

She's running k&l pod filters.

[Octain]

Be careful not to bugger those screws.
CV carbs? What year is your 550?

[Steve]

CV carbs? What year is your 550?

Because there was mention of dropping "pins" into the "main" jets (both are incorrect terms, by the way* ) I would guess they are VM carbs from a '79 or older bike.

Sexysuzi, you need to do plug chops to see which carb circuit is running rich, but you might have to start with basics. You say you cleaned the carbs and jets. How did you clean them? If you dropped the float bowls and spritzed some carb cleaner around, you did NOT clean the carbs. You need to strip the carbs down to their bare components and dip the bodies and brass pieces in carb cleaner dip for about a day each. Re-assemble with an o-ring kit from cycleorings.com. Be sure you set the float height correctly, that can impact how rich it runs.

When you get the carbs together, and before you put them back on the bike, set the pilot fuel screws to 1 turn out, and the pilot air screws out about 2 turns. This is only a starting point, you will tweak the air screws once the bike is running and warmed up.

Let us know how it goes from there.


* those are the jet needles and needle jets.
The MAIN jets are on the bottom.

.

[BassCliff]

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BassCliff

[1_v8_merc]

Check the floats

Check the air screw

Check fuel screw(on bottom)


It's very common to acquire a bike and realize the PO didn't know what he was doing, and messed all the carb settings up.
I think every bike I've owned had this problem from the PO.

[Sexysuzi]

Will check all three.how do I adjust the fuel screw whilst on the bike ? Find it very hard to access with a screw driver ????

[hampshirehog]

Will check all three.how do I adjust the fuel screw whilst on the bike ? Find it very hard to access with a screw driver ????

Use a screwdriver bit and wear asbestos gloves - it gets hot in there.

You need to know where she's running rich - pilot, slide, needle or main circuit. If you don't know where she's out you'll be chasing our tail.

Plus adjusting the carbs is the last job - check valve clearances and ignition timing first.

[Octain]

Because there was mention of dropping "pins" into the "main" jets (both are incorrect terms, by the way* ) I would guess they are VM carbs from a '79 or older bike.


.

Kinda what I thought too. BUt then I though, perhaps it's been re-jetted?

[Steve]

Will check all three.how do I adjust the fuel screw whilst on the bike ? Find it very hard to access with a screw driver ????

If you have a good bit, you might be able to use a 2" driver bit, but it is rather awkward holding it and turning it AND trying to count the turns.

Motion Pro makes a right-angle screwdriver that works well.

.