1983 GS 550L owner officially lost

[Guest]

Two friends gave me a 1983 Suzuki GS 550L as a wedding gift. The bike was given a basic tune up by a mechanic before it was given to me. I rode it once before it broke down. There was a minor wiring issue, which has since been fixed and another issue, which I originally suspected was related to the carburetors. I have since cleaned the carburetors twice myself and had them professionally cleaned and checked out by a friend and small engine mechanic. I have also removed and cleaned the fuel tank, replaced the petcock as well as all of the spark plugs. The bike struggles to start, chugging without turning over. The few times I have successfully gotten it started it has run for a minute or so before spewing gas out of the air filter box. Since I have done all I know how to do plus some with the carburetors I am officially at a loss on what to do next. Any help or answers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Connor

[Steve]

Sounds like you need some carburetor help, for sure. When you "cleaned them twice", what all did you do to them? If you just dropped the float bowls and spritzed some cleaner around, they still need a LOT of work. "Professional" cleaning comes in a wide variety of qualities. Keep in mind that "professional" does not mean that you got a good job, only that they got paid for it.

You obviously still have problems, but they might not all be carburation related. Cold starting issues are a classic sign of mis-adjusted valves. If you don't know when they were adjusted last, it's time to do them. That is a regular maintenance item that should be performed every 3,000 miles or so.

Where are you? There is a chance that one of us is not too far away, possibly able to lend a hand. Feel free to update your profile to show at least a general location (my own location only specifies one quarter of a state ) and maybe even generate a signature that mentions your bike, so you don't have to remember to mention it every time you ask a question about it.

Oh, yeah,

.

[Crankthat]

Everything Steve said is great advice and should be done.

A common problem with bowl floats not being set correct, bad petcock, and sometimes just sitting on prime, is gas flow out the carbs down to your cylinders past your rings and into the case.
The fuel will mix with your oil and sometimes burp up past your carbs leaking out your airbox.

Look to see if your oil level is high.
Open oil filler cap and smell for strong gas smell.
If you do have gas in oil do not panic.

Do a complete oil change, run for 25 or so miles and change oil and filter again.
You should make sure of what is causing problem before doing this though so it will not happen again.

And follow Steves advice!

[JEEPRUSTY]

How do you notice the gas spewing?
You running without a filter?

[chuck hahn]

You should have the siamese CV carbs. Basics apply all,across the board for CV style carbs..soak the bodies for 24 HRS each in Berrymans Carb and Parts Cleaner, clean and poke all the holes in all the jets, check for pin holes in diaprams, set float hts, etc etc.

Scroll down on the right side and find there are two carb rebuild tutorials..VM and CV. Peruse them and learn the steps and choose which is best for your application.

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

And heres a handy chart for setting them up and checking whats stock and so on..

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/images/carbspec_float_height.html#A01

And finally, heres your bikes service manual...

http://www.mtsac.edu/~cliff/storage/gs/GS550E-ES-L_1983.PDF

[GEEZER]

Hello all! Another "Newbie" to this forum, but certainly NOT new to motorcycles. I too recently picked up an 83 GS550L in pretty good running condition. As per my usual process when getting a "new" (in this case 39 yrs old) used bike, I kinda go thru a bunch of the usual things like checking the plugs, changing the oil & filter, new fork oil, etc. etc. In this case I also cleaned the removed & cleaned & inspected top & bottom of both "dual" carb bodies. They really didn't need it, but there's only one way to find that out! If anyone out there has a "how to adjust" procedure for the 2 pilot screws available on the top of each body it would be appreciated. I have them set to 1-1/2 turns out from a soft seat condition right now & the bike starts & runs pretty good.

Now to my suggestion for the this guys hard-starter! On my bike, I mistakenly gapped the plugs at .035" (based on nothing but old past experience). Later found the correct gap to be closer to .025" so I reset them properly & it made world of improvement. Bike starts crisply every time now! I've noticed it is quite sensitive to slightly low battery voltage also.

As for spewing gas out the air box: Per your set-up using a gravity feed aux fuel system, the only way for fuel to overflow is for the float valves to be failing. Maybe the floats are not adjusted properly. Maybe the valves are not seating properly. Even with an overflow, I would think the fuel would run out the overflow tubes & be dumped out under the bike. What magic makes it flow backwards against normal air flow into the air box is a mystery to me...... maybe leaking intake valves on one or more cylinders, but that's a bit of a reach. I like to go for the low hanging fruit first & that fruit is likely in the carbs where everyone has had the fingers in the pie.

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Geezer, welcome to the forum.

You’re offering suggestions to someone who is no longer a member, on a thread that died 7 years ago.

Sounds like you know a thing or two. I suggest you go to the GS Owners forum and start a new thread. Introduce yourself and your bike(s).

we like pictures.