Unsure of what to do next to fix problem.

[Guest]

Hey guys, I have a gs 450l that I've slowly been trying to get into good running shape. Have torn apart carbs and cleaned, performed valve adjustment, and replaced seals and gaskets on airbox,exhaust,intake,carbs. The problem I'm having is the bike seems to run good for first 10 minutes or so then starts to sputter out and run like crap before eventually dieing the next stop I make if I don't keep the rpms up and not restarting. I've noticed at times a little gas leaking from left carb, any ideas of where I should start first?

[greg78gs750]

how's the petcock? have you checked out the top ten mistakes thread?

[GS-cafe]

Have you synced the carbs and set the float level to the correct height, and make sure they dont stick

Also indeed check fuel flow when dying

[kylemanley1]

Carbs are bench synced, havnt messed with petcock much, just assumed it's working cuz of the few times I've ran low on gas and switched to reserve it worked

[Stuarth]

Have you tried popping the gas cap and running it? If the vent is clogged the bike may run fine for a bit, but then will run out of fuel due to vacuum in the fuel tank. If it runs fine when you loosen the cap, it's a bad vent.

[kylemanley1]

Hey thanks, where do I find that thread On top ten mistakes?

[kylemanley1]

Havnt tried the gas cap thing, I'll give that a shot thanks

[tom203]

"I've noticed at times a little gas leaking from left carb, any ideas of where I should start first?"

if this left carb is the one that has petcock vacuum line stuck on it, start with testing petcock. It might be dribbling fuel down flooding out that cylinder.

[Cyrano]

Carbs are bench synced, havnt messed with petcock much, just assumed it's working cuz of the few times I've ran low on gas and switched to reserve it worked

Maybe not part of your immediate problem, but bench sych is a good way to get it running while vacuum synch on a running engine is a good way to get it running well.

[kylemanley1]

Took tank off and no fuel is leaking out of petcock when petcock is on. Also i took off carbs today and float height was a little off so I adjusted it. Put carbs back on, fired it up and it's still starts leaking fuel when on kickstand, hard to tell where exactly it's coming from. It beads up where the bracket meets the float bowl and drips, also noticed fuel leaking where the exhaust pipe on same side meets the motor.

[tom203]

"Took tank off and no fuel is leaking out of petcock when petcock is on. "
OK, but when motor starts, engine vacuum turns petcock "on" and then it's up to fuel needle seats to restrict flow or carbs will overflow. You could have float height perfect, but if the o-ring on needle seat leaks, excess fuel will enter bowl.

[Cyrano]

"Took tank off and no fuel is leaking out of petcock when petcock is on. "
OK, but when motor starts, engine vacuum turns petcock "on" and then it's up to fuel needle seats to restrict flow or carbs will overflow. You could have float height perfect, but if the o-ring on needle seat leaks, excess fuel will enter bowl.

/\/\/\/\ This... I had that problem on my 850 and fixed it by replacing the fuel tap with a new unit and replacing the o ring seals on the valve seats. Too much fuel means running too rich, means fouling the plug, means poor running engine.

Kyle, check your oil level. If you have fuel leaking past the carbs it could end up in the oil (that's were mine ended up). Remove the oil filler cap and smell for gas. You really don't want to run your engine like that.

[kylemanley1]

Hard to believe the o rings could be shot only because I just recently replaced them. I did notice that the float on the side that leaks had some gas sloshing around inside of it, not much but some. I wonder how much that matters

[BigD_83]

The float itself had gas inside it? That can't be helping as it would make it denser and not "float" up as much as gas fills the bowl.

EDIT- try switching the floats around to see if the problem follows

[gustovh]

There should be nothing inside of your float but air, if there is, replace it, it will only get worse.

V