GS550L Won't run after carb work

[OldVet66]

I just looked at a diagram of your carburetors. Am I correct that you have two two-barrel carburetors instead of the more common rack of four? If that is the case from the exploded view of the carburetors I looked up, they seem just a wee bit more complicated to work on than what most of us have on our bikes. Unless you have a pictorial rebuild tutorial on those carburetors I can see how it would be easy to make an assembly mistake if you are just shooting from the hip. Throw away that starter fluid before you destroy your rings and get some pictures up so people can see what you have. I know your carbs have been discussed, but you need to talk to the ones with hands on experience with that particular carburetor.

[JEEPRUSTY]

I choose a bad petcock.............
I knew a girl once wanted to sing from her diaphragm.

[chuck hahn]

I knew a girl that swallowed from the petcock...she never needed a diaphram!!!!

OK maybe over the top but i just couldnt resist.

[JEEPRUSTY]

Yeah hell I should have finished that post.
It was a bad ref to Steve Martin.

So wtf is wrong??

[elrico]

Air induced through an opening between carb set ends (outlets) facing engine and intake header stubs.Loose clamps,holes,cracks,splits in rubber boots etc possible.More possible is large O rings between intake stubs and cylinder head worn/shrunken now undersize,no longer sealing and preserving the vacuum : disruptioning a marginal vacuum by allowing large amounts of air into cylinder intake valves.A short circuit effect is created by this:air enters before any gas mixture from carbs can arrive due to broken vacuum effect when throttle is cracked the air is sucked in first(at intake valves header stub area) and the gas never arrives.Motor may start up and run but with even with full chock on the motor will stop as soon as throttle is even slightly cracked open due to air intrusion breaking up the marginal vacuum,The cylinders are full if air then, no or little gas to sustain combustion process.Air not combust by itself.need gas in the cocktail mix.Find the air intrusion and fix problem,My Siamese twins advised me on this.Good luck!

[barnbiketom]

no where in this thread do I see that you DIPPED and soaked the carbs properly..

you mentioned in your first post that you removed the "easy" stuff.

that means to me that you did NOT dis assemble the carbs including the emulsion tubes etc and dip them ???
or am I sleepy and don't see this?

Here we go again, ASSUMING the carbs were cleaned properly....

[tom203]

no where in this thread do I see that you DIPPED and soaked the carbs properly..

you mentioned in your first post that you removed the "easy" stuff.

that means to me that you did NOT dis assemble the carbs including the emulsion tubes etc and dip them ???
or am I sleepy and don't see this?

Here we go again, ASSUMING the carbs were cleaned properly....

He did it the "easy way" twice (at least), maybe the third time will be charmed!

[elrico]

scott808 When you remove the carb set it is a good opportunity to change out those 4 large O rings at intake stubs/cylinder head. You will avoid removing the carb set for a second time.If the O rings haven't failed already believe me they surely will..and off come the carbs again.Do it properly and all will be good..Best to You!

[rslade274]

This sounds like a petcock problem to me. I Have a 1982 Suzuki gs550l and the same thing happened to me. The stock petcock can be tricky if it gets dirty. try running it on prime and see if anything changes. just sounds like its not getting gas to the bowls. Doesn't always have to be the carbs.

[scott808]

It still won't start. I pulled and disassembled the carbs. Dipped them and followed all the procedures in the guide. I replaced the O rings and checked for air leaks. I get plenty of gas if I pull the fuel line off the carbs so it is not the petcock or filter. There is fuel in the carb bowls. The bike will only run if I use starter fluid and then quits. No gas smell. Plugs are dry. It does not seem to be getting gas into the cylinders. Help Please.

[chef1366]

Float heigth or you have no compression to pull gas.

[scott808]

Starting Over

OK Here is the history:
I had the bike a few months and it ran fairly well.
The bike seems to run out of gas with two gallons in the tank.
The bike died at freeway speed suddenly, and would restart on after sitting for a long time.

I did a half ass carb cleaning and the bike would not start
I got grief from all you guys.
I did a by the book carb cleaning and found very little.
Bike did not start. Would only run on starting fluid.
Replaced O rings and checked for leaks.
Increased float level. Bike starts ocasionally but quits at idle then won't restart. But this is the first time it ran without starting fluid.
Checked gas flow by removing the bowl plugs. I get plenty of gas flowing.

What else can I do? Thanks

[nejeff]

OK Here is the history:
I had the bike a few months and it ran fairly well.
The bike seems to run out of gas with two gallons in the tank.
The bike died at freeway speed suddenly, and would restart on after sitting for a long time.

I did a half ass carb cleaning and the bike would not start
I got grief from all you guys.
I did a by the book carb cleaning and found very little.
Bike did not start. Would only run on starting fluid.
Replaced O rings and checked for leaks.
Increased float level. Bike starts ocasionally but quits at idle then won't restart. But this is the first time it ran without starting fluid.
Checked gas flow by removing the bowl plugs. I get plenty of gas flowing.

What else can I do? Thanks

You need a lifeline badly my friend. Whatever is wrong is going to be simple but it may take a fresh set of eyeballs on it to see it. You mention carb, carb and carb. From the first I heard I thought it was petcock. Have you tried a gas bottle or aux tank? What exactly have you done to diagnose the petcock?

You need gas, air & fire to start a motor. Assuming you have the spark & air properly taken out of the equation then that leads us to gas. If you have done carbs properly you should have gas unless you are having flow restriction, broken or clogged petcock. Have you removed the petcock from tank ever to take a look at it?

[dark7068]

same thing is happening to me on my 85... I soaked and rebuilt the carbs, new oring kit from cycleorings, adjusted everything to spec.. installed new orings on intake boots, installed carbs, primed carbs, used an aux tank, and it fired right up, idled great, rev'd great, ran till I shut it off.

Now it wont start no matter what I try.. not even with ether.. Maybe my problem is the same as yours... Hopefully one of us can figure this out and get our bikes running. Never give up hope,, its gotta be something simple were missing.

Rick

[nejeff]

same thing is happening to me on my 85... I soaked and rebuilt the carbs, new oring kit from cycleorings, adjusted everything to spec.. installed new orings on intake boots, installed carbs, primed carbs, used an aux tank, and it fired right up, idled great, rev'd great, ran till I shut it off.

Now it wont start no matter what I try.. not even with ether.. Maybe my problem is the same as yours... Hopefully one of us can figure this out and get our bikes running. Never give up hope,, its gotta be something simple were missing.

Rick

Will it still start on the bottle though or is this with bottle on now that it won't start?