Sluggish throttle - float valve?

[lucifuge]

Greetings everyone,

I'm new the forum as well as to motorcycle maintenance - so bear with me. I've looked around to find similar problems but I figured I might as well explain my situation first. I've owned my 1978 Suzuki GS550E for a little less than a year, but have a done a few common services to it just to get to know the bike better. Of the bigger things I did was a carb. cleanup a few months back after the bike sat for the winter season. I dismantled the carbs, cleaned them, and reattached them to the bike.

Now when I start the bike, it takes a almost a minute for it to start using the electric and kickstart (whereas before, I just clicked the electric starter and it turned on). This part isn't so much annoying as the extremely sluggish throttle response I now get. I used to be able to ride on the freeway easily at 70-75 mph, which sadly I can't do now. I'd say top speed I can get now is in the higher 50s, mid 60s. When stopped at a red light, I usually have to crank the rpms to just get it off the line. I can ride the bike around town, but it just doesn't have that punch it had before. I called a dealership and he said I should change the float valves because they may be sticking. He said a carb. sync. is not needed because that's for idle. Any suggestions? Any links that can explain this specific problem? Although I can ride the bike, it's incredible bothersome that it's not performing like it was. Thanks in advance.

[greg78gs750]

welcome to the forums, there should be a mega-welcome arriving at some point that will have a metric s***ton of info in it for you. you say you have done some maintenance, have you adjusted the valves? this is commonly overlooked and an easy fix for a lot of common problems, including hard starting. replaced the orings in the carbs, not just clean them? despite their reputation for being cold blooded, all the gs's i've had roared to life in less than a second.

wherebouts in michigan are you?

greg

[SqDancerLynn1]

You still have a carb or air box problem... DID you dip the carbs or just spray them ?

[lucifuge]

Thanks for the quick replies. I'm in Wyandotte, Michigan - about 15 minutes south of Detroit. And yes, all the extra information and tips will be extremely useful for me! I'm a stubborn man, and not being able to fix something myself is highly annoying.

As to things I've tried, well...I did boil the carbs once they were apart and sprayed them (not in that exact order). I changed the air filter with a K&N replacement (I did not do any modifications to it). I'm just hoping somewhere in this process that I did not mess something up.

I did NOT adjust the valves. Is there a good tutorial of this somewhere on youtube or a website (I'm a very visual person)? Also, I did look at carb rebuild sets, but I suggested against it as all of the parts when taken apart seemed to be in good order. Should I just bite the bullet and buy a rebuild kit or just replacement rings?

[tkent02]

I called a dealership and he said I should change the float valves because they may be sticking. He said a carb. sync. is not needed because that's for idle. Any suggestions?

Here's a suggestion, don't take it there for any kind of service, he hasn't got a clue.

All of your answers are somewhere in here:

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/

Especally the part about cleaning the carburetors.

[tom203]

If you can't get above 60 mph, I'd first suspect you got two non firing cylinders- yeah, you should clean your carbs properly, but first check to be sure all plugs are firing in case you got ignition (points/condensers/plug wires) problems.