850G Slow after sitting for 4 Days

[Anonymous]

I just bought a 1980 GS850G for $1000. And have been riding it 80 miles a day for the last week. The last time I was driving home from work I rode it pretty hard 75-80 MPH for forty mins. I just went out for a cruise ( four days later) and it felt incredibly slow. It backfired a little more then usual, it had no power at any RPM, It stuttered 1200 to 3000 (and everytime I attempted to accelerate). I am a newbie to motorcycles but have a basic understanding of engines. So if anyone has an idea what is causing this problem I would appreciate any suggestions.

Ben

[Anonymous]

did a bird build a nest on your air filter?

[Anonymous]

i had a yamaha xj650 that was experiencing the same problem. if you were really romping on it you might have messed up the fuel system by causing it to suck debris from the bottom of the tank. also check your timing on your cylinders and carbs.

[Anonymous]

Would there be any harm running for a short while without airfilter less then 5 min
Ben

[Anonymous]

I took off the Airfilter and assembly and now it has power until 2300 then it smells and feels like it is running way to rich. Is there and fuel thing other then choke that controls rich and lean controls
Ben

[Anonymous]

there should be adjusting screws on your carbs alongside the bowl...

[Anonymous]

Is there any forsure way of telling if it is too rich/too lean and how can i adjust it. And does this website have a list of good mechanic shops in the madison wisconsin area.

[bjrehill]

To tell if you are running lean or rich you will need to read your plugs. Do a search in the forum to find out how to do this. Did you change the plugs whenyou got it? How did they look if you did? These bikes are very particular about the air they get. They like the stock air box. It provides alot of restriction. If you run without the air box you should be running very lean.

[SqDancerLynn1]

Before you start Fuc&%$# with the carbs make sure the petcock is working & that you have plenty of gas in the tank. You may need to clean the carbs? Pull the plugs & see what they look like first. I run my 850
around 6K all the time, that's around 80mph

[zilla]

did a bird build a nest on your air filter?

Just dug one out of the 850 I bought a while back. Now I have to figure out what is causing my MAJOR bog when I try to apply the throttle.

[mark]

It could be a lot of things but start with the easy stuff. My 79 850 liked to drop a cylinder once in a while when I first got it, and when it did that it ran just like you described your bike. Turned out to be a new set of spark plug caps that did the trick. Put in new plugs. Feel your exhaust pipes when you start it and make sure they all warm up. Make sure all your plugs are sparking etc. easy stuff like timing, point gap. Make sure the bike is getting enough gas etc. Just make sure you try one thing at a time and be patient. I"m no expert but just a few things to check.

[Anonymous]

I dont know how I fixed it but I did.

This is what i did
1. The littlier of the two fuel lines was disconected.
2. Took apart the carb took out floats made them all look the same
3. found debry in one of the float bowls (wiped out put back)
4. Third spark plug was barely finger tight (tightend)

Thanks for the help
Ben

[Redman]

1) The "littler of the two fuel lines" (on petcock) is not a fuel line. Is a vacuuum line from cyclinder inlet to the petcock. It is needed to open the petcock. Dont know how it ran at all with this disconnected, unless you had petcock on Prime (which isnt good idea to leave on Prime). If that line was only partly on, mostly off, then that probably was the major problem, maybe not on well enough for it to keep the petcock open all the time..

[Anonymous]

Definitely #1. And like Redman says, if it was running with that tube off then you probably have a problem.

My guess is that your petcock is going bad and was allowing fuel to flow even with the vacuum disconnected. I think you can get OEM petcocks for the '80, but not sure.