First bike, need some assistance.. please

[tonyL]

So, i now own a 1980 GS1000L. Has a V/H pipe and dynojet stage 1 kit in it, all sorts of new goodies on it, really nice bike, neadless to say, it hauls ass. What is troubling me is that i could not get it to pass emmissions, they guy i bought it from said i needed to 'tune down the screws', not only do i have no idea what screws he is talking about, but when i went to get my carbs balanced, the guy said 2 of them were almost unresponsive and i would have to take them off and re-clean them (even though the guy i bought it from already did this a little while before he stopped riding it)

If i run seafoam through the bike and ride it hard, will this unclog my jets, thus making it run less rich, and allowing me to pass emmisions? i dont care to spend 500 dollars to have some wack job mechanic look at my bike and say its too old or whatever... i am semi-capable of cleaning my carbs myself. i just want to know someone elses opinion on seafoam.

2 of my carbs are cold, and 2 run hot, the idle is turned up to about 2500 rpms, and they all get hot, but i need it to not be cold when the rpms are put back down. can anyone give me some imput??

[cowboyup3371]

Welcome to the site. Unfortunately, your carbs were probably never cleaned properly by the PO and you'll want to redo them if you want it to run properly. Additionally, there will be a lot of other maintenance you'll need to ensure is done (valve adjustment, clean connectors, brakes, etc) before trying to get your emissions done. Additionally, none of us have had good luck with "mechanics" since they don't like working on these old bikes so do the work yourself.

But, don't fear. This is nothing new and we have a great individual (Basscliff) who has put together a wonderful website chocked full of goodies. To start with, put your location in your profile as there might be someone close by to help. Then, go to Autozone or Oreilly's or your favorite parts house and pick up the gallon can of Berrymans, order orings from www.cycleorings.com, and start reading the carb cleaning guide at http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/ (more info to come from him later).

Welcome again.

[azr]

Seafoam in your tank isn't going to clear clogged carbs. Cowboy up gave some good advice. You're on the right track about mechanics looking at your bike...don't let them. Do it yourself, it's not that hard. Go to the site Cowboy gave you, 'bikecliff' and you'll be able to download a manual for free and you'll see how to adjust your carbs. If two of your exhaust pipes are cold on start up but then warm up, it 'could' just be an adjustment, if your real lucky. but you might as well start with the easy things first. Get the manual and you'll see how to adjust the screw. What do your plugs look like?

[tonyL]

Well, this bike is in really good condition, my 3 and 4 cylinders are not responding at idle, their temp is aroun 100, and then my temp on 1 and 2 is aroun 200. my carbs are completely cleaned, i went and took them apart last weekend. doesn't seem to make any sense to me. didn't bother with seafoam. my cables coils and plugs are all brand new, so its none of that, in fact they get pretty good spark too. still dont know what it is..

[850 Combat]

So what part of Phoenix do you live in? What did you inspect when you looked at them? Did you remove the pilot jets and the pilot screws?

It sounds like classic symptoms for a dirty pilot circuit. cleaning the jet may well not fix it. There is no way to determine that all the passages in the pilot circuit are clean through a visual inspection. The pilot circuit is fed fuel from the main jet, and air from the pilot air jet. It is metered into the carb through the pilot air screws and a couple progression holes. Please look at page 301 of the Hi Res GS850 manual on Cliff's web site. There is a fairly clear diagram on that page. If you remove the pilot air screw, there are three openings you can fit the tube from a can of carb cleaner into. You need to verify that it spews out of all of them when you spray into each one of the three you can reach. Clogged internal passages can be stubborn. Since you have a jet kit, it is highly likely that the covers are already removed from your pilot screw. My brother George lives in the Phoenix area and has smogged his GS1000 and 850 a number of times.

I had the carbs off mine on and off about 4 times in a morning once before I figured out that there was a clogged internal passage. I don't trust air for blowing out the passages. I want to see something come out. The holes I call progression holes are at the butterly and you really cant tell if they are clear unless you see something spraying out of them.

Cliff will be along soon with his mega welcome and links to what you need to know.

[spyug]

Welcome.

A couple of thoughts but questions first:

What emissions are you having to pass and what do you mean when you talk about the carbs not responding at idle and their temperature is around 100? Sorry but I don't follow. Are you saying the 3 & 4 cylinders are not coming up to temperature or are lower in temp than the 1&2 cylinders? If that is the case 3/4 are lean and likely not getting fuel or too much air.

Whatever you are telling us, the bottom line is that the 4 carbs are not running the same. That can only be a result of them not really being clean and or air leaks due to failed o-rings.

Now not to beat you up on it but you say:

my carbs are completely cleaned, i went and took them apart last weekend

How do you know they are completely cleaned. Just because they look all shiney doesn't mean they are clean. There are passages that you can't see that could be clogged. Did you do the work or did someone tell you? Do you know if the o-rings were replaced? They do wear out and crack allowing air to get in where its not wanted or needed and that affects how things work. If the airmixture screws are set differently that too will cause issues. It is also quite common for these screws to get jammed in their passages and I've also seen carbs with the screws in but missing their tiny o-rings. Did you check these? I'm not being glib here. I myself have cleaned carbs, had them run fine for awhile then act up, pulled them off and check them and would have sworn on a stack of bibles they were spotless. Put them in dip again and lo and behold more crap comes out.

Basically I'm saying, your issues can only be carbs and the only way to sort this is to strip them, dip them, blow out all the passages with air and clean all the holes in the jets and emulsion tubes with wire, then reassemble with fresh o-rings yourself. The tutorial is easy to follow but you need to be thorough and do it right.

I would never fully trust the PO about having cleaned things, unless you watched him you will not know if he did it right. I have a situation right now with a set from a friend's bike. He just paid $300 to have his ultrasonically cleaned and they are not clean and won't run. I am going to do the job for him now just as per the tutorial. I guarantee they will be clean when I'm done and you can do this too.

A good piece of advice about working on old bikes is "to do (it yourself) is to know".

[allojohn]

Tony, do yourself a favor - dip your carbs, get an o-ring kit from Mr Barr and say good-bye to your carb problems!

If you don't - you won't!

[tonyL]

first of all, thank you all for your responses. second, i didnt go too in depth, kinda stopped at the jets.. had an issue with a screw on th egang plate being stripped, so im gunna go home after work, disassemble my carbs again and clean them out comepletely, ill get the o-ring kits as well, hopefully this solves my problem and allows my bike to pass epa.

the PO said before he put on the exhaust pipe, and dyna jet kit that it passed emmissions, and ran just fine, so maybe he just let it sit for too long.

Thank you everyone.

[tonyL]

and the temp of the exhaust pipe itself is what i was measuring. the emmisions are for the license plate.