Rule #11

[andtheacademics]

This sh!t makes you feel good don't it?

Heck yea! It feels great to learn new stuff & fix broken things! Now if only there were some way to get all the parts for free!

When I spin the engine I'm assuming I have to take off the cover and turn it with a ratchet much like BikeCliff's valve tutorial? Or can I just jam on the kickstarter a couple times - I'm guessing the latter with shoot oil all over...

[MisterCinders]

Heck yea! It feels great to learn new stuff & fix broken things! Now if only there were some way to get all the parts for free!

When I spin the engine I'm assuming I have to take off the cover and turn it with a ratchet much like BikeCliff's valve tutorial? Or can I just jam on the kickstarter a couple times - I'm guessing the latter with shoot oil all over...

Yes, remove the right hand ignition cover and use a 19mm wrench to turn the engine by hand. Unless you were born under the red sun of Krypton and draw your powers from our alien yellow sun, you'll need the bike in neutral.

Only rotate the engine forward (clockwise). If you go too far to line up a cam, then keep going and line it up on the next rotation.

[andtheacademics]

Alright, I may not have been born under the red sun of Krypton, but I'm beginning to suspect that many members of this forum have psychic abilities...

I pull out my oil plug and lo and behold, my oil may as well have been gas! I'm pretty sure, prior to this thread, my gs750 could have been employed to mix fuel for weed whackers and chainsaws.

Anywho, ran down and got some 15w40 rotella (on sale $12.99!) and am replacing that whole situation right now however - I'm currently spinning my motor with the spark plugs removed and nothing is coming out! am I doing something wrong?

Also my #4 spark plug is SUPER DARK - coincidentally the fuel pilot on that cylinder was cranked out three turns from bottom while the rest were closer to one.

Also I forgot to mention that none of my carbs have springs on the fuel pilots... only on the air pilots.

Also My petcock is behaving very well now HOWEVER one of my symptoms of fuel leaks was the bike would slow/ stop leaking over night, and when I pushed it out into the sun to work on it, it would beging leaking again. I thought it was because of whatever I was doing to the carbs... but allow me to submit this hypothesis;

(HOT SUN + BLACK GAS TANK) -> (Expanding fuel & air in gas tank) multiplied by (worn petcock) = slow gas leak that may be undetectable on a rainy 55 degree day!

[MisterCinders]

You aren't spinning that motor without oil in the crankcase though. Right?

Dark can be two things. If your plug is dark and dry (sooty), rich cylinder. No surprise there if the fuel screw is 3 turns out. If dry and wet like fresh black nail polish, that is oil-fouled. Symptom of a problem in the head, valves piston rings, etc.

Your hot tank theory makes sense to me, but I am pretty dumb. When the petcock leaks, is it through the vacuum line? Also check the venting near the gas cap. There should be a small hole there to prevent vapor lock that would block your fuel flow. See if it's clogged.

You can also test this and your petcock theory by loosening the gas cap while your bike is in the blazing San Francisco sun :-D. If the leak goes away or diminishes with the cap loose or off, then your theory might be good, and you need to sort out the tank venting. Otherwise, you'll get fuel supply issues after riding a bit. If the leak continues, then your petcock leak theory may falter.

HTH

[andtheacademics]

You aren't spinning that motor without oil in the crankcase though. Right?

...... is the bike totaled now?

Plug is dark and sooty, phew.

My hypothesis is that the petcock leaked through the vacuum line AND the main line while the bike was sitting. Since I had gas leaking constantly from a bike that was not turned on - something I now know shouldn't happen with a vacuum petcock. If that's not it then I'm getting fuel in my oil via a blown gasket or valve ring?

I'm going to run the bike right now from a funnel of gas and I suppose I'll test the tank vent - however I think I will go the route of "replace petcock, no questions asked" per Bike Cliff instructions.

[andtheacademics]

$17 to ship a petcock! DeLand Suzuki, I was born at night, not last night!

[MisterCinders]

...... is the bike totaled now?

Plug is dark and sooty, phew.

My hypothesis is that the petcock leaked through the vacuum line AND the main line while the bike was sitting. Since I had gas leaking constantly from a bike that was not turned on - something I now know shouldn't happen with a vacuum petcock. If that's not it then I'm getting fuel in my oil via a blown gasket or valve ring?

I'm going to run the bike right now from a funnel of gas and I suppose I'll test the tank vent - however I think I will go the route of "replace petcock, no questions asked" per Bike Cliff instructions.

I wouldn't turn the engine without oil, though your hand cranks with the residual oil probably didn't hurt.

You will do the oil before firing up the engine with the funnel though . . .

Also, if you are going to idle the engine standing still for more than a minute or so, put a fan in front of the bike. A cheap box fan will do, but remember that you have an AIR COOLED engine. Hence, you need air to flow over it.

[tkent02]

The gas tank is supposed to vent through the gas cap, check it.

[andtheacademics]

The gas tank is supposed to vent through the gas cap, check it.

Yeah I was going to say - I didn't see a vent in the tank - how do I check if the cap is venting?

[MisterCinders]

If opening the cap makes a hissing release sound or improves operation, you probably have a venting problem.

[Big T]

You aren't spinning that motor without oil in the crankcase though. Right?

Hand turning the crank without oil will not harm the engine in the least

You can run the motor for at least 5 miles without any oil in it (AMHIK)

[andtheacademics]

Alright - well I've done the carb clean/ oil + filter change. I set my air screws @ 1-1/4 turn and my fuel pilots at 1 turn. Sat the bike on the trickle charger annndd! Nothing - now she won't even come close to catching on! Doesn't my motorcycle KNOW how hard I've been working? Just turn on already! What is your problem Betty?!

Here's a little picture of the carb innards:


Here's a picture of the plugs 1-4 left to right (As I mentioned #4 had a pilot screw out three turns!)


Here's the bike in the driveway (It's an instagram photo, intentionally blurry)


AND if your interested in a laugh - here's my two-video petcock test series. Video evidence that I am, in fact, a bit dense.
Petcock Test #1 | Petcock Test #2
[if you consider three minutes of your life valuable, maybe don't bother!]

You can see a few other pictures of the clean up on my blog @ http://ramblam.tumblr.com/

I set my floats at 24mm I'm getting drip from #3 still, should I raise them to 26mm or wait till I get it running?

Should I change the spark plugs? (After I cranked the starter for a minute the plugs are WET so that leads me to believe I'm getting no spark? or bad compression? Could the engine still be mad at me for having gas in the oil? What is the next step in getting this b!tch turned on?

[allojohn]

Kill switch on? I've fallen for this one.

[MisterCinders]

New plugs are cheap and worth doing, but you should at least give those plugs a good scrubbing and clean off the carbon with some carb spray.

When you first install the carbs, it can take a bit of prodding to get her started sometimes. It's hard to get the idle screw turned to the right spot to start. Too far out and she won't have enough throttle opening to start. Too far in and she will leap to 3,000 RPM because the idle is too high. I start at about 2 turns out from closed and turn the idle screw in a bit if it won't start at first, to try and ease into the right spot.

When I have trouble starting after a rebuild, I usually fiddle with choke and idle screw to see if that helps. After a couple tries, I let the bike sit a few minutes to ease off the battery, check things out and make sure that gas isn't building up in the cylinder such that it will start with a BANG.

Do you have a float measuring tool? Setting the floats with the caliper is good, but using a gauge helps confirm where the float levels actually sit. If you are dripping from a carb, it could be the float is too high, or a slow leak into the bowl. The level gauge will help figure out the height. You can also pull the rack, remove the bowl from the offending carb, and run some fuel through the line. Watch how the gas flows out from the "bottomless" carb and use your finger to lift the float gently until the fuel stops. If you see fuel continue to flow or drip/dribble from the carb, you have a fuel source that is bypassing the needle, and overloading that carb.

To check for spark, just pull the leads off all four cylinders and remove one of the plugs. Reconnect the lead to that plug and ground it to the outside of the engine block. You can let it rest on the head (but away from the plug hole just in case), or hold it against a grounding point on the head or the frame (insulate your hand). Then turn on the ignition and hit the starter to see if the plug sparks. If so, switch leads and repeat to check the other cylinders.

Spark failures usually in pairs because each coil powers 2 cylinders. If one cylinder gets no spark, then that plug or lead has a problem (fouling, bad wire or connection). If 2 cylinders fail (either 1 and 4 or 2 and 3), then you should explore the coil and/or ignition points etc. for that pair. If a mismatched pair fails (1 and 2) or (3 and 4), that's probably two individual problems in the leads or plugs. If all the plugs fail, then you probably have a broader power issue -- e.g., a weak battery, bad power connections to the coils (rather than from the coils), etc.

The wiring path for these bikes has some goofy routing. A lot of people like to use a relay to shorten the electrical path for the coils. The stock layout runs current through the handlebar switches and back to the coils. A coil relay sets up a shorter path that still responds to the kill switch but delivers stronger voltage to the coils for ignition. There are several guides on coil relays here and on BassCliff's site, and adding one to your bike is dead easy to do. Takes about $10 in materials and 20 minutes to set up.

HTH

Edit: Is that a fuel filter in the picture? You have a filter in the petcock and inline filters frequently bog down and cause fuel starvation issues. These bikes don't have fuel pumps and your fuel system may not be able to overcome the resistance of an inline filter.

[andtheacademics]

MC - THANK YOU!

Is that a fuel filter in the picture? You have a filter in the petcock and inline filters frequently bog down and cause fuel starvation issues. These bikes don't have fuel pumps and your fuel system may not be able to overcome the resistance of an inline filter.

I was wondering if that little bugger was supposed to be there... whenever i hit the start button and the engine starts to crank the filter makes a sound like someone sucking up the very last bit of soda through a straw. Maybe it wasn't so restricting with several pounds of gas in the other end of the line? but a few ounces in a funnel...

I'm back to Betty tomorrow & Sunday so I'll get some more info & pictures then...

EDIT: I'm making a buy-list (I don't think I can afford the valve adjustment just yet b/c the shim kit is $140) but does anyone know where I can buy the tappet depressor tool? I searched "tappet" on Z1 and was returned zilch.