85gs550e starting issue

[c0okiez]

I recently got my carbs back from my friend who owns a bike shop. they are in perfect working order. however, when going to start the bike, it will not fire on its own without the help of starter fluid. And when it eventually fires and starts, there is a strong smell of gas coming from the pipes. When it does start and run it only turns for a few seconds, will rev but then bog out and die. Making it seem like there isn't enough fuel delivery.
Just curious, do you think there isn't getting enough spark? or the fuel being delivered. Because i'm stumped right now.

[cowboyup3371]

Were the carbs ever synched to the bike while ON THE BIKE? If not, you will need to redo that part. Hopefully, he cleaned and replaced all the orings correctly.

[BassCliff]

Hi,

When you received your "mega-welcome", did you read the link with the proper, correct way to service these carbs? Did you friend do it exactly like that? If not, you've wasted time and/or money.

See: Top 10 Newbie Mistakes

See: READ ME

I'm not trying to bust your chops. I'm just letting you know that it all has to be done right, according to tried and true procedures that have been used for decades. You'll save a lot of time, money, and frustration doing it right the first time.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[JEEPRUSTY]

I recently got my carbs back from my friend who owns a bike shop. they are in perfect working order. however, when going to start the bike, it will not fire on its own without the help of starter fluid. And when it eventually fires and starts, there is a strong smell of gas coming from the pipes. When it does start and run it only turns for a few seconds, will rev but then bog out and die. Making it seem like there isn't enough fuel delivery.
Just curious, do you think there isn't getting enough spark? or the fuel being delivered. Because i'm stumped right now.

Check the routing and fucntion of your throttle cable.
Check your petcock to assure fuel is flowing.

One assumes your mech made no mods to the factory jetting.

[tom203]

I recently got my carbs back from my friend who owns a bike shop. they are in perfect working order..

No, they are not! How were they working before? and lose the starting fluid ASAP- it tells you very little! If you smell gas when it does run, it probably has too much gas.

[c0okiez]

trust me, the mechanic who rebuilt and cleaned knows what he's doing. He's been working on bikes for 30-40 yrs. ill check out the throttle cable and it could possibly be the petcock as well.

[cowboyup3371]

We aren't saying he doesn't know what he's doing but you cannot synch these carbs without them being on the bike. All we are doing is asking the proper questions in order to help answer yours...have they been properly cleaned AND SYNCHED with your bike?

[c0okiez]

Were the carbs ever synched to the bike while ON THE BIKE? If not, you will need to redo that part. Hopefully, he cleaned and replaced all the orings correctly.

Gotta have the bike idle before i even consider syncing the bad boys.

[cowboyup3371]

It sounds like they were never benchsynched properly or at the very least fully dipped for 24 hours PER carb not just sprayed.

Honestly, this is why several people here say to do it yourself. I would suggest you at least take them back off the bike, verify the floats are at the proper measurement, properly bench synch the carbs, set your mixture needles to 3 turns out, and then start tuning from there.

[Nessism]

Your guy may know how to clean a carb but does he have all the various O-rings necessary ready at hand? cycleorings.com sells kits for our Suzuki bikes, plus they sell the intake boot O-rings which are mandatory to replace.

Another thing is to make sure the airbox is installed and sealed on the carbs. GS bikes don't take kindly to open carbs unless you rejet.

[JEEPRUSTY]

Gotta have the bike idle before i even consider syncing the bad boys.

I would remove the float bowl drain plugs and put it on prime to assure fuel is getting to both carbs.

If so turn the petcock from pri to on. fuel flow should stop.
To check that fuel will flow in the on position I would simply attach a line to the petcock vaccuum pipe and suck on it to see if fuel flows and stops normally.

Make sure you put it back together and make sure the vaccuum lines are attached.

I think you are not getting fuel to the carbs and your use of starter fluid is complicating the issue. It would seem to me that starter fluid along with the gas being drawn in is ultimately flooding the engine.

so long as the guy did not separate the carb bodies or fiddle with the adjuster then they should be as mechanically synched as they were prior to cleaning.

[JEEPRUSTY]

Yes good golly that airbox better be installed or it will never run properly.

[JEEPRUSTY]

oh and the internal o rings can be hateful
the needle valve seat has an o ring and if this is marginal then fuel will seep past it and bascially flood the carbs with fuel

I dumped a whole tank overnight last summer when mine finally lost their seal. They were hard and falt and uselless new one salved that problem.

[c0okiez]

thanks for the information guys. as you can see in another thread i spoke about the broken beyond repair airbox. so that's definitely not helping me at all. I suppose ill just have to sit back and figure out a fix for the airbox/rejet before i start trying to diagnose problems based on possible issues.

[JEEPRUSTY]

thanks for the information guys. as you can see in another thread i spoke about the broken beyond repair airbox. so that's definitely not helping me at all. I suppose ill just have to sit back and figure out a fix for the airbox/rejet before i start trying to diagnose problems based on possible issues.

Do yourself a huge favor and buy that ebay airbox
you will have a sound starting point for any mods you may wish to make

I dont think there are pods that will fit the oval throat of the carbs