1st bike... need some help...

[MetalAbrahm]

I bought my very first bike last week. An 81 gs650l. 16k miles. Sweet love it... love it... love it... Anyway. The bike starts up and runs fine, but idles pretty high. Almost 3000 rpm at times. All this was during the cold weather, maybe that had something to do with it. I ordered the service manual on ebay, and it hasn't arrived yet. The fuel switch thing... (You'll have to excuse my technical jargon) It has "On", "Res" and "PRT". Now I figured PRT meant "off" and turned the switch that way to put it up for winter. My dad calls me the next day and told me that the bike was leaking gas. Is PRT off or something else?

[Billy Ricks]

PRT is actually PRI, meaning prime. You likely have fuel in the crankcase. PRI is only for when the bike has sat for a few days and the bowls need to be filled before starting. If the bike sat any length of time you need a good carb cleaning to start with and replace the o-rings. There's a good how to linked on the homepage of this site. You'll need to change the oil before trying to start it again. See if by removing the oil fill cap you can smell gas in the crankcase. If so you definitley need new o-rings on the float valve seats and maybe a new diaphram in the petcock. Also once you start it again if the idle is still screwy try spraying WD-40 around the carb boots to see if the idle surges. If so you either have cracked boots or bad o-rings on them.

[xDUKEx]

PRT is actually PRI which means prime. this will let the fuel flow freely into the carbs. just leave the "PETCOCK" in the on position. the engine is set up to only draw fuel when it is running. there should be a small round knob right in the middle of your carbs that will allow you to slow the idle down. you have to reach up under the carbs to find it. turn it counter clockwise to slow it down. do this after the motor is good and warm. i like mine idling at abot 1100 rpm. hope this helps ya out !!!

[bradleymaynar]

Welcome aboard! I've got nothing to add with what the others have already stated, so I don't need to add anything there. But I will give just a few other suggestions, in case you've not considered them already. Make sure the tank isn't rusty inside. This can lead to some problems later on with rust clogging the carbs. Also, make sure the tires are in decent shape. If they're old you'll want to replace them. Their life is generally only a few years. The battery, if you've not replaced it, can also lead to some issues. And most importantly, a MSF course is highly recommended.

I also invite you to check out the meeting place. There's going to be a group of us meeting up in Brown County, IN later this year. We'd love to see you there.

Brad tt

[argonsagas]

You said the bike starts and runs fine, and acknowledged that it is during cold weather. This suggest that perhaps you should check the choke setting to be sure it is going fully OFF when the lever is returned to normal position, as a faulty setting or sticking cable would lead to high RPM's, and the bike would appear to be running well at that time, but wouldn't do so once it was fully warmed up.

[MetalAbrahm]

Thanks for the advice guys. I put it in the on position after reading this, so hopefully I won't run into any troubles. And Billy, if the O-Rings and/or boots are bad, is this a serious problem? And any idea how much it would cost to repair?

[Billy Ricks]

If you can do the work yourself the o-rings might run you $2.00. You have to be carefull removing the pins from the float towers. Break one of the towers and you have big trouble. The manifolds would probably set you back $60-70 for a new set.

[Evil Hobbit]

As stated in an earlier post the idle setting is in the middle of the carbs. before you go ajusting that thing there is a couple things to remember. get the bike nice and warmed up and make sure the choke is off. Then, the motor is HOT! A good pair of leather gloves will protect your hand when you stick it in there to adjust it. Now you may say DUH! but i found that I needed to leverage my hand to tweek it on the case and yes I am stupid enough to have burned my hand the first time and the third time. I'm a slow learner.
One other thing I found was that my GS1100E was very cold blooded and took forever to warm up. This is not the case anymore. The shop where I bought it put the wrong plugs in it before I bought the bike. The right plugs fixed the problem and increased the power, a lot. The machanic may have done this in order to save my life as I had not ridden in 20 years and the 1100 is FAST. Good Luck.