My gs1100L wont make it down the street. Please help.

[Guest]

So I Just bought this bike. Since buying it, i have soaked the carbs in pinesol and completely cleaned them, putting them back together. I set the fuel mixture screws two rotations from seated for each cylinder. After doing all of this, my bike is running the same as before. It idles great, revs good, but when I put it in gear, it bogs down until it stops and i have to pull the black sooted plugs.

I also noticed that theres oil leaking from one of my head bolts. It isnt loose, so that has me worried too.

I'm not sure what to do next, but I dropped my gas tank by accident and destroyed the new paint on the bike, and it dented too. Today sucks.

[Crazy_Russian]

have you done a compression check?

[7981GS]

What sizes were the jets that you found in it?
Pilot, air and mains? Did the jet needles have a nice sharp taper on them or were they dull tipped with a broad point?

Eric

[yoshisakan]

I am changing the head gasket now. It was leaking a lot and I believe the problem to be compression related. The service manual says to torque the head nuts to 29ft lbs. That seems kind of light to me. Can anyone confirm this?

[silverramsrt]

I would trust the manual...

[tkent02]

I would trust a Suzuki manual, the others not so much.

[ChicagoRob]

My manual (Clymer) says 27 lbs.

Remember, these are steel bolts going into alloy so be _very_ careful and stick the to recommended torque because it is very easy to strip the alloy. This goes for the cover and cam caps as well.

[7981GS]

PM RapidRay.
He has suggested higher torque specs in the past.

Eric

[yoshisakan]

I'm gonna go with 29ft lbs this time around. I finally got the head off. The cylinders were coated in a light layer of oil. Good news is, the cylinder walls look brand new. No scoring or anything. I think the gasket failed because of a loose exhaust at the head and a leaky valve cover in the same spot.

Now to see how to set my timing back!

[Nessism]

You better pull the cylinder off next and replace the base gasket and corner seals. Big risk with taking off the head and not doing the base gasket at the same time. Also, do the valve stem seals. Consider this your warning.

[yoshisakan]

You better pull the cylinder off next and replace the base gasket and corner seals. Big risk with taking off the head and not doing the base gasket at the same time. Also, do the valve stem seals. Consider this your warning.

Wish II had known this before putting it all back together. The base gasket looks good and dry though. What is the risk of not changing both at the same time?

[MisterCinders]

Wish II had known this before putting it all back together. The base gasket looks good and dry though. What is the risk of not changing both at the same time?

The risk is that you will find out that the base gasket is bad after rebuilding the head. If you have to tear it back down again, especially if you have run the engine, ridden the bike, etc., that head gasket will have lost its bounce, seal, etc. So replacing the base gasket will require another new (and expensive) head gasket.

Basically, once you are doing anything that requires a new head gasket, your best move is to inspect and freshen up everything else in the top end. Valve oil seals are cheap, and won't survive removing the valves for inspection, so grab some of those. Once you pull the valves, even if they are clean and straight, lap the valves/seats to freshen that up.

Base gaskets are not too pricey, so swap that out too. Pistons and rings cost more, so you might inspect them first before tearing into that, honing the jugs, etc.

[yoshisakan]

Well I wish I had known. I guess I may have to tear it down again in the future.

It's all put back together now and turns over but makes a strange clicking noise. I think I messed up the timing. I followed the manuals but the pictures of the crank timing mark were different that what I saw on my bike. When I adjusted the crank to the position that I thought they reccommended, I noticed that all pistons were at an even height in the middle of the cylinder. I am pretty positive that I got the chain lined up correctly with each cam. My sprockets were clearly marked with 1, 2 and 3.

The last time I did timing, I set cylinder 1 to TDC, but I figured that bikes might be different?

[yoshisakan]

Found it. http://bwringer.com/gs/tdc.html Mine is the electronic ignition one. The manual only has the mechanical.

[ChicagoRob]

Methinks that's the sound of piston hitting valves. I wouldn't try starting it again.

Your first instinct was correct. You time to TDC of #1 or #4.

What year is that anyway? You may want to add that to your sig.