Idle/stalling

[Trolleywire]

Hi I’m new to the forum! Glad I found it, I just picked up a 1980 GS550E. I got it started with the choke on and would stall immediately once pushed back in (or keep reving it) Pulled the carbs and sprayed some carb cleaner into the jets and put it back on and same thing. Pulled them off again and pulled the plugs off the pilot jets to access them (what are those plugs for?) took them out and inspected them for clogs, looked fine. I really don’t want to put them back on again until they are done right. I’ve ordered a carb kit and waiting until they arrive before I do anything. Is there something that typically causes these symptoms? Thanks!

[Rich82GS750TZ]

See top 10 Newbie mistakes thread linked in my signature. Give that a good read-through. Lots of good articles on BikeCliffs website, including an excellent tutorial on how to properly clean and rebuild BS (CV) type carbs.

welcome to the forum.

[epytus]

Best of luck with the carb rebuild kit. I haven't had much luck with replacing the jets themselves with 3rd party ones, usually it doesn't deliver the exact same amount of mixture.

Have you tried adjusting the fuel/air mix screw? Or the idle adjustment screw if it requires throttle to keep it alive.

[allojohn]

Hi I’m new to the forum! Glad I found it, I just picked up a 1980 GS550E. I got it started with the choke on and would stall immediately once pushed back in (or keep reving it) Pulled the carbs and sprayed some carb cleaner into the jets and put it back on and same thing. Pulled them off again and pulled the plugs off the pilot jets to access them (what are those plugs for?) took them out and inspected them for clogs, looked fine. I really don’t want to put them back on again until they are done right. I’ve ordered a carb kit and waiting until they arrive before I do anything. Is there something that typically causes these symptoms? Thanks!

Spend a couple of weeks (minimum) reading this forum. Learn about your bike before laying a hand on it. A 40 year old bike needs a fair bit of maintenance and a number of parts replaced, there are known problems with all these bikes and known fixes. Please do not ride this thing without doing the maintenance.
Carb kits are close to useless! Clean your carbs and the jets, etc. using the tutorials, you only need to replace the o-rings..
And one other thing .... the PO is a liar!!! Good luck.

[tom203]

Yes, forget the carb kits.....except for the o-rings, stock jetting stuff will be fine. Your carbs need to be thoroughly cleaned, i.e. dismantled, and dipped/soaked. Otherwise you’re wasting time.

[timebombprod]

A carb rebuild will do you good, all internal parts are interchangeable between carbs but you will need to number or atleast be able to distinguish carb 1-4 so they are out back on the rack correctly. Dont use the rebuild kit just get a good clean on these ones, but the rubber rings could definitely be replaced.

Also, valve adjustment, very important for these bikes, and actually very easy too.
Bike uses shim valves so all you do is change out a shim for the corresponding size, and actually to replace it, all you need is a ziptie and tweezers (excluding getting the valve cover off). Get a valve cover gasket to be safe, if the last valve adjustment was done right and recent enough, you might be able to reuse it and hold onto the new one, and you might even get lucky and not have to adjust any valves.


Hope all goes well, I wish that's all I had to do for mine!