Skilled mechanic needed for my GS1000 in Sacramento area

[Anonymous]

After talking to various shops (including dealers who do not work on the older bikes), I cannot find someone to diagnose and fix a fuel leak coming from middle carb(s). Only leaks when key is on. The tank is spotless inside. I am leery of trying to fix myself and don't want to screw something up. Bike runs great, but a leak can cause a fire.
This bike is new to me and in excellent all original condition with 9,300 original miles.
I would even consider taking off the carbs and sending to a shop/person for cleaning/rebuild. If I go this route, is it fairly easy to adjust/tune carbs?
Thanks to all and appreciate this great site!
Jim
jimmc100@yahoo.com

[earlfor]

Re: Skilled mechanic needed for my GS1000 in Sacramento area

The ignition key being on or off has no direct connection to your problem. There is no electro mechanical relationship. With the bike off, it does not leak fuel because your engine activated vacuum petcock is working properly. Engine not running, ...no vacuum available to open the petcock valve, hence no fuel flow. When the engine is running, vacuum opens the petcock valve, fuel flows and fills the carb bowls until the floats reach the shut off level. at which point the float rise and press the fuel inlet needle down which seals off the fuel inlet passageway into the float bowl. There are only two possibilities.
Both are a simple fix. No jet removal, jetting adjustments, or carb synchronizing work is required.

What year is your bike. Float setting is different depending on whether it has CV or VM carbs. Let me know. Its easy to do, and should take you all of about 5 minutes to fix once you have the carb rack off the bike.
The only parts you will need are two fuel inlet valve "O" rings which any suzuki dealer should have in stock and should cost about 50 cents each.

PM me if you answer and I dont reply (I sometimes miss a thread I'm trying to keep up with).

edit................an afterthought. There is a fuel supply "Tee" between the 2 and 3 carbs. (the one the fuel line hooks to) The ends of this Tee that fit into the 2 and 3 carbs have two "O" rings on each end. If these are dried out, you could also get a leak underneath the 2,3 carb area. Can you tell if the fuel is leaking from a carb specifically, or is the whole area between wet? In any event, the expense is only four more "O" rings. These can also be replaced without altering any of the carb tuning/setting adjustments or synch.

Earl

After talking to various shops (including dealers who do not work on the older bikes), I cannot find someone to diagnose and fix a fuel leak coming from middle carb(s). Only leaks when key is on. The tank is spotless inside. I am leery of trying to fix myself and don't want to screw something up. Bike runs great, but a leak can cause a fire.
This bike is new to me and in excellent all original condition with 9,300 original miles.
I would even consider taking off the carbs and sending to a shop/person for cleaning/rebuild. If I go this route, is it fairly easy to adjust/tune carbs?
Thanks to all and appreciate this great site!
Jim
jimmc100@yahoo.com

[Anonymous]

carbs....

Ear, a sincere thank you for your help. Bike is a 1980 GS1000GL model. Owner's manual says carbs are Mikuni BS34SS. How do I know difference of CV or VM?
Thanks, Jim

[earlfor]

Re: carbs....

1980 should be a CV carb model. The CV carb tops are square, held in place with four screws and have a (looks like) small, round upside down pot shape to the top. VM carb tops are rectangular, about three times longer than they are wide and are held in place with three screws.


I would not think the float heights would be any different for a G model than they would for the chain drive model. However, I would prefer someone with a G model say what the correct float setting is for the bike.
all my references are for chain drive bikes. Shouldnt make a difference, but you never know and its always the little thing that will get you. :-)

Earl

Ear, a sincere thank you for your help. Bike is a 1980 GS1000GL model. Owner's manual says carbs are Mikuni BS34SS. How do I know difference of CV or VM?
Thanks, Jim

[first timer]

you have the cv's, bs's are called cv's because they use a constant velocity air stream design to operate the slide, vm carbs use a mechanical push pull design.

vm's were used on bike's built before 1980, 1980+ used cv carbs (bs)

-ryan

[KEITH KRAUSE]

Is the leak coming out of the float bowl overflow line (the line underneath the bowl)? If not, can you see with a flashlight if it's wet where the main fuel line connects to the carb fuel inlet? Is there a clamp or at least a tie strap around the main fuel line? Any cracking of the fuel line? If the leak seems to just drip all over the bowl area, have you tried tightening the 4 bowl screws with a stubby screwdriver?

[Poot]

if its not something simple, like a leak at the fuel inlet "t's" or vent "t's"

(refer to your manual, or to carb cleanup series posted on teh homepage to see pics)

then I'd probably take the carbs off the body...

they shouldnt really need to be cleaned out based on milage, but it has been 25 years now..... I'm right in the middle of it on my'80 850L (same exact thing, pretty much) and it was pretty easy to get them off, and apart. at least with the help from this site.

good luck


poot

[daveo]

If you get stuck, or want a hand...I'm in Carmichael, drop me an e-mail