GS650 won't run without choke.

[Busafied]

I just picked up some carbs screws from my local bolt shop.

Those buggers get tight as mentioned even with a perfectly fitted screwdriver they can give & strip..\

The carb tops are 4mm screws, also the needle shims are 2mm washers.


GL,
Ron

[houldsworth1]

Replace your intake boot o-rings while you've gone this far! Get them from me or someplace else but as long as you've got the carbs off the bike and are going to the trouble to rebuild the carbs there is no sense in not fixing this common problem at the same time. (4 Viton o-rings, stainless allenhead cap screws, split and flat washers $7.5 mailed in the US)

/\/\ac

Just PM'd you.

[houldsworth1]

I just checked out the excellent carb rebuild pages - wow! Someone sure put some work into that.

Anyway, here is my lazyman thinking. Those pages show how to completely disassemle everything, clean it all up and rebuld it. My question is that the bike will run so I am thinking there has to be a lazyman's way here.

In the past I have left the 4-carb bank bolted together and just removed the float bowls and pulled all the jets out. A quick clean (or replaced) and then put it all back again replacing gaskets or o-rings as a precaution.

Is there any reason why I can't do this in this case? Time is something of a luxery right now and the less I can get away with doing the better.

TIA

Barry

[duaneage]

If your not sure about the bike fnancially or if your of limited means mechanically with few tools I would just try and clean them out with spray cleaner (see my earlier post) and get it running.

Yeah dipping is the proper way, you should do all those carb things but that is easy for someone with experience, a shop, and money for parts can say.

You do have choices here. I would just get it running so I could decide if it was worth my time and money first. Remove them take off the bowls and slide covers and spray through the passages and jets (wear goggles to protect you vision) and put them back on. Spray off the outsides and see what happens when you get them back in.

[DimitriT]

The way I look at it..

if you plan on keeping the bike and if you are going to take the trouble to take the carbs off and doa partial cleaning/rebuild, why not spend the extra time and money and do the job properly.

if you are not planning on keeping the bike then your idea is good.

[houldsworth1]

The way I look at it..

if you plan on keeping the bike and if you are going to take the trouble to take the carbs off and doa partial cleaning/rebuild, why not spend the extra time and money and do the job properly.

if you are not planning on keeping the bike then your idea is good.

A valid point but...

Do I plan to keep it - who knows? I could keep it for years or I might find something else that takes my fancy tomorrow. I suspect that it will stay around for at least a year or two, but not forever. Bare in mind that I did say it has 75k miles on it. Does that mean I should do the full job or the partial job?

More importantly, there seems to be an assumption that if I only do part of it then the bike will not run properly. If it doesn't run properly then I will re-do it with a full cleanup, if it runs fine then I would leave it alone. The big question is...what is the chances of it not running properly if I only do the quick option? I suspect that, since I am more of a bodger than a qualified mechanic, there is as much risk in taking apart things that might not need it as there is in not doing the full job.

And so you see the dilema. But I think I have a solution. I will take off the bank and see how they look. If they look mucky then a full clean is on the cards, otherwise it will be a clean/replacement of a few jets and away we go.

All the best!

Barry

[ccratin]

Doubt if you'll need to replace any jets unless something has damaged them. That is relatively unlikely. Just make sure you spray carb cleaner throughout the pilot circuit where you are having trouble and that it comes out with equal force from all four carbs. There can be slight restriction in the pilot circuit causing your problems, or they may be stopped up altogether. Also, where the pilot jet screws in, that tube acts as a pickup for fuel. There is a very small pinhole in that tube for fuel to enter. Be sure that it is clear. The last set I did had the pickup clogged and it was causing a similar idle problem.