2nd Stupid question listing ..

[Wingsconsin]

I have been working on renewing a 1983 GS650 L .
It sat a long time but was well protected.
I did a complete carb clean and rebuild following the directions to the letter. All new orings and cleaning in carb dip AND Ultrasonic.

I changed all the fluids- rebuilt the calipers and cleaned the MC's for the brakes...
Here is some 30 + years old brake fluid...




New rubber -- Shinko Tour Masters


Moly 60 on the splines - new brake fluid - oil change - etc. etc.

The only thing left to do was to try to start it....
That is where things went poorly....

[Wingsconsin]

Poorly ..continued...

New battery - Fresh gas - Carbs rebuilt to carefulness that is bewildering...

NO START - Not even a pop...

I am at a loss....

But I was hoping someone could check and confirm ( or correct) the spark plug wires placement...I am not certain the previous owner had them correct...I am not sure I have correct...

I BELIEVE the cylinders are numbered from the left as facing forward 1 - 2 -3 - 4 .

Here are pictures of the wiring...
Left side...


Here the wires are labeled 1-3 & 2-4 I have them 1 -3 on the left most cylinder which I think is #1 and the next one has 2-4 (#2) ...

Right side...


Left side of right hand pair (#3) is 1-3 wire and outboard right is (#4) is 2-4 wired....

No pop...

Confirmed spark from every plug by grounding on engine block.'
Battery is NEW today with full charge.
Fuel is fresh and carbs are clean and bowls are full...
Air system is closed tight ...
Choke works as designed - idle mixture screws 3 turns out right now...

[BassCliff]

Hi,

You might want to edit that post and include your question.

You didn't mention valve adjustment, or airbox sealing, or air intake repair, or electrical connection cleaning, but so far you're on the right track. Keep up the good work.

EDIT: I see you were still posting. Sorry. Normally the left coil fires #1 and #4, the right coil fires #2 and #3.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[Wingsconsin]

Update in progress...

Thank you Mr. BassCliff
Based on that information I believe I have the wires correct...
It also did fire while I was posting..
My son (helper) walked out with his girlfriend and decided to give it a try...It ran for 10-15 seconds them he shut it off...It startled him...so I guess I am making headway...

[Steve]

You are correct on your cylinder numbering.

The firing order (not that it matters here) is 1 - 2 - 4 - 3.

Did you prime the carbs before trying to fire the bike?
Depending on how you are trying to fill them, either turn the petcock to PRIme for about a minute, then use full "choke" and NO throttle.

It is quite possible that the idle setting is not correct after rebuilding the carbs, so, while it might idle OK on "choke", it will die or race when you ease it off.

.

[Wingsconsin]

Tomorrow is another day

I am using an aux tank that gravity feeds the carbs directly. We turned on the petcock of that aux tank and fuel flowed thru the new filter to fill the carbs.

The bike fired briefly but I was not there to know exactly what happened...should
I turn in the idle mix screws 1/2turn or just keep trying ....as it is ...

Sign me

Confused, frustrated but optimistic

[BassCliff]

Hi,

Fuel filters are generally not needed or recommended. If your tank and carbs are clean there's no need. Get it idling. Get a box fan or two to blow on the engine as you are making adjustments to the main idle screw and pilot screws. You'll also need to vacuum balance the carbs once the engine idles well enough. You should make all the final adjustments when the engine is up to full operating temperature (choke off).

Mr. Steve likes to do it this way: If the pilot screws are all 3 turns out you can, one at a time, slowly turn them in until you hear the engine idle start to slow down. Then turn it out 1/4 turn. Reference the "Idle Mixture Adjustment Methods" page on my little website.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[Steve]

Mr. Steve likes to do it this way: If the pilot screws are all 3 turns out you can, one at a time, slowly turn them in until you hear the engine idle start to slow down. Then turn it out 1/4 turn. Reference the "Idle Mixture Adjustment Methods" page on my little website.

I have heard rumors that Mr. Steve has a new 'favorite method'.

Since mixture adjustment is usually done about the same time as a carb sync, he leaves the gauges connected and tweaks the mixture screws while looking for the highest vacuum level on all four carbs.

The principle is that, if you can increase the engine speed (by using a better fuel mixture) without moving the throttle butterflies, vacuum will go up.

If there is a broad range where the vacuum does not go any higher, turn the screws in slowly until you see the vacuum level drop a bit. Turn the screws back out about 1/8 turn to get the vacuum level back up, move to the next carb.

While tweaking the mixture screws, the balance should not change across the four carbs, all four vacuum levels should move up and down together.

Keep in mind that this is only a rumor, we'll have to wait for Mr. Steve to confirm this.

.

[SqDancerLynn1]

I'm not sure reading your post? The coil on the left sitting on the bike -- Goes to plugs 1 & 4 Right coil goes to cyl 2&3

[Wingsconsin]

Morning update

Here is the thing...
AFTER the bikes sits for a while....it will kick in and run for 3-7 seconds...then... quits... and will not pop again...
I do not know what if any adjustments to make from this..?
It has done this 4 times over the past 10 hours...
I have the new battery on a tender and it shows 12.5 volts. The battery I bought has like 330 cca and the engine spins well.

Any suggestions on what to try ...

[Wingsconsin]

I'm not sure reading your post? The coil on the left sitting on the bike -- Goes to plugs 1 & 4 Right coil goes to cyl 2&3

I have double checked the wires and it looks correct now..

[Wingsconsin]

Would this make a difference...?

Thinking this through as I made my way to work today I remembered that while I was disassembling and cleaning the carbs I removed the Idle adjustment screw...

It MAY be not turned in far enough ..?

That would make some difference ...right...?

I will try that tonight

[eil]

If you're not sure about the state of the idle adjustment screw, it may be worth it to remove the carbs and do a bench sync again to make sure your stating point is good.

You probably know that the throttle simply opens and closes the butterfly valves. Well, the idle adjust screw does the same thing. It basically sets the the "bottom" of the throttle movement. When you turn the idle adjust screw, you should see the throttle linkage on the carbs move ever so slightly. Clockwise slowly opens the butterfly valves more, counter-clockwise closes them.

Everything else that happens inside the carbs is magic, as far as I'm concerned.

[tom203]

Are you sure you poked and blew out that little hole in bottom of each fuel bowl (and the mating tube)that feeds the "choke" circuit?

[Wingsconsin]

Are you sure you poked and blew out that little hole in bottom of each fuel bowl (and the mating tube)that feeds the "choke" circuit?

CERTAIN - I blew carb cleaner through each circuit - then poked them clear with a fine strand wire - then did 2 circuits in the ultrasonic cleaner -then a dip in fresh water followed by another dip in a second fresh water bucket - then dryed via air pressure from the compressor & air blow gun...

I was as thorough as possible because I did not want to have to do it twice...

The weird thing is how it will start to run ...for a few seconds..then quit and not fire again...while that gives me hope it is also frustrating..