New to me GS550 won't run without choke

[Steve]

Do you have the air filter/box installed? If you don't, it is hard to get much above idle, let alone being able to ride around the block.

You soaked the slides in chem dip? Hope the diaphragms survived. Generally speaking, NO RUBBER in the dip.

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[Isoparmesan]

Do you have the air filter/box installed? If you don't, it is hard to get much above idle, let alone being able to ride around the block.

You soaked the slides in chem dip? Hope the diaphragms survived. Generally speaking, NO RUBBER in the dip.

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Previous owner installed velocity stacks and rejetted accordingly. I do not have the original airbox.

As far as the slides, I don't believe there's any rubber in the slide assembly on these VM22ss's. Unless I'm missing something. I didn't put any rubber in the chem dip.
Screen Shot 2019-08-21 at 3.33.48 PM.jpg

[Big T]

Previous owner installed velocity stacks and rejetted accordingly. I do not have the original airbox.

As far as the slides, I don't believe there's any rubber in the slide assembly on these VM22ss's. Unless I'm missing something. I didn't put any rubber in the chem dip.
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Steve is incredibly knowledgable, but he does skip a beat on VM carbs

You are correct, VM carbs have no diaphragm, just some O rings.

Velocity stacks can be troublesome, so it's hard to know if they were actually jetted correctly

Did you inspect the jets for their sizes?

[Isoparmesan]

Did you inspect the jets for their sizes?

I definitely inspected them, but like the amateur I am, I forgot to note the sizes. Since there’s no airbox, they’re easy enough to pull off, so I’ll check next time I’m working on it.

[Big T]

Be sure to check for the Mikuni symbol, so you know how the numbers correspond.

[Steve]

Steve is incredibly knowledgable, but he does skip a beat on VM carbs

True and regrettably true.

Yes, it was mentioned early on that it's an early 550, and was even mentioned somewhat recently in reference to some other carbs, but the 550 had VM carbs and BS carbs, depending on the year, so I lost track of which ones he had.

You still don't want to dip any rubber, though.

I don't know if velocity stacks need jetting any different than pods, but the critical thing is that there is SOMETHING on the inlet of the carb that smoothes out the air flow going in. A stock airbox has boots that go to the carbs. If you look on the inside of the airbox, those tubes are actually velocity stacks that just happen to all breathe filtered air in a common chamber. Most of the better pods also have some sort of radiused edge where they connect to the carb. Smooth airflow through the carbs is about as important as feeding the correct amount of fuel to the incoming air.

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[Isoparmesan]

Just inspected and adjusted the points. Timing was spot on, but the gap for cylinders 2-3 was way too small. After adjusting it ran very well, didn’t pop on choke, or bog on hard throttle. I actually rode it around the block for the first time. This bike is super fun!

still going to do the valves. It sounds like there’s a hissing noise coming from the cam cover, which I’m assuming there shouldn’t be.

[Isoparmesan]

Just inspected the valves. They are mostly in spec. Some aren’t, and I discovered how necessary the shim removal tool is. I will order this before proceeding further.

I did did notice a lot of oil pooled up around the tappets on the kickstand side. Is this normal?

[cowboyup3371]

The oil pooling up is normal and okay. You can also use a zip tie - instructions can be found on Basscliff's site http://members.dslextreme.com/users/...ol_zip_tie.pdf

I also did a video of how to use it - https://youtu.be/DhmGBkje-dY

[Isoparmesan]

The oil pooling up is normal and okay. You can also use a zip tie - instructions can be found on Basscliff's site http://members.dslextreme.com/users/...ol_zip_tie.pdf

I also did a video of how to use it - https://youtu.be/DhmGBkje-dY

That’s pretty ingenious! I’ll give it a try.

[Isoparmesan]

Ok. I’ve finally finished adjusting the valves. It took four attempts, the first two were without the valve tool. I ordered it, was able to replace some of the shims, but needed one more thicker one. Ordered that, replaced the remaining one, buttoned it all up with new gaskets and...

now it won’t run without choke again. Did the carbs get gunked up because it sat for a couple of weeks? It was running well before, so now I’m totally stumped.

The one thing that is different is that when I start it with choke, it idles extremely high, even cold. I can remove some choke to get it to 1000rpm, but it rasps and dies if I give it throttle.

[cowboyup3371]

The running on choke is normal and is needed no matter the air temperature. Let it run for a bit while you gear up then slowly shut it down. Do not try to touch the throttle while the choke is on as you are defeating its purpose. Remember, the "choke" is a fuel enrichener not a classic choke like you may remember cars having.

[Isoparmesan]

I understand the purpose of the choke, but to my knowledge it isn’t supposed to idle at 4K rpm on choke. And it won’t run without choke even when it’s warm.

[Isoparmesan]

Looks like it was just a kink in the fuel line due to the filter I installed. Installed a new line without the filter and now it runs again!

rode it around a bit, and it seems like it dies unless after a while unless I set the petcock to prime ever so often. Is there a problem with riding around on prime?

im assuming this has something to do with the vacuum line (which I’ve replaced).

After I had rid it around a bit, I started getting some white smoke coming from around the carbs. I’ve done some searching and it sounds like this could be due to a whole host of issues. There is no crankcase breather hose currently since it’s running pod filters, but the smoke didn’t look like it was coming from the top of the engine.

EDIT: Video of smoke https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N-a...w?usp=drivesdk

[Big T]

Where do you have the vacuum line connected?
One end on the petcock and the other?