Hard Starting

[Guest]

I have a 1980 GS 550 L,bike starts up cold,took it for a ride runs great.But when you shut it off for oh 10 minutes or so the only way to get it started again is with a shot of starting fluid, then again it runs great. Carbs were just rebuilt by Wired George. Sounds like its flooding,or maybe I have that stupid petcock set wrong.Any help would be great,Thanks

[Dave8338]

It does sounds like it is a flooding condition.

Have you adjusted the valves?
Gapped the plugs correctly?
Is your choke releasing fully?

[tkent02]

Where did Weird George set the float levels this time?
Is he still claiming he synchronizes and adjusts the carburetors on his test engine?
What about the mixture screws, did he claim to adjust them too?

Or have you adjusted and synchronized the carburetors correctly on your bike?

What other maintenance have you done on the engine? What are you doing with the throttle when you start it up after 10 minutes?

[dennis]

I haven't done anything to the carbs other then install them,i assumed he set them correctly. I haven't done anything else to the engine,other then new plugs,when I try to start it I open the throttle a little,when it dose start it runs great.

[dennis]

I set the plugs to what the Clymer manual says,i haven't adjusted the valves, and the chock is releasing all the way

[tkent02]

I haven't done anything to the carbs other then install them,i assumed he set them correctly. I haven't done anything else to the engine,other then new plugs,when I try to start it I open the throttle a little,when it dose start it runs great.

The answer is in here someplace. Start reading.

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

Your carburetors can't be set on someone else's engine. It just doesn't work that way.

[JTGS850GL]

I haven't done anything to the carbs other then install them,i assumed he set them correctly. I haven't done anything else to the engine,other then new plugs,when I try to start it I open the throttle a little,when it dose start it runs great.

Lots to do still. Nobody can sync the carbs to YOUR engine so that's needed for sure. Before you do that you need to make sure the valves are adjusted correctly. You'll also have to adjust the mixture screws. Like stated above... Do some reading and get everything adjusted correctly before you tare up your engine.

PS: Quit with the starting fluid.

[Steve]

First thing to do is STOP USING STARTER FLUID.

Even if that's the only way the bike will start. You need to FIX the bike, not Band-Aid it into running.

Sorry that you fell victim to Wired George. I do believe that the solution to your problem is to tear the carbs apart, clean them properly and put them back together with the proper o-rings (from cycleorings.com).

Since the bike starts when cold, there is less suspicion about mis-adjusted valves, but they should be checked anyway.

Just in case you didn't pick up on it, George makes some wild claims about synchronizing your carbs on a bike that he has there just for that purpose. Well, it simply does not work that way. It is possible to get them close, but not exact. You can do the same thing with a "bench sync" at home. It has been a while since I have seen what claims he is making now, but I seem to remember that his fee is not all that reasonable, either. There are several of us here on the forum that rebuild carbs for a LOT less than he charges. And we do it with FAR fewer complaints.

.

[dennis]

Thanks for the repy

[dennis]

Thank you so much for your advice

[jbthomp]

Check the voltage at your coils before you tear the carbs apart again. My 550 did that too and it was because the voltage was low at the coils when everything started heating up.

Sometimes i have to give mine some throttle when hot to get it to fire up. I don't really perceive that as a problem because it runs great any other time.

[dennis]

wow thanks for the info

[dennis]

one more question,well a couple more,im assuming voltage at the coil should be 12 v,what do you gap your plugs at ?

[jbthomp]

0.6-0.7mm, or 0.024-0.028" on the plug gap. The voltage at the coils should be within 0.5v of battery voltage or so. If it is more than a volt less you have a problem for sure. Be sure to check after a short ride to get accurate results because the voltage usually will drop when the engine and wiring start getting hot if there is corrosion somewhere. Do a search for "coil relay mod" and that will tell you how to rewire the coil power wires. Basically all you are doing is hooking the original power wires up to a relay and using them to switch a relay on which in turn powers the coils straight from the battery.

[dennis]

Thanks so much