Newbie, experiments and mistakes... Need Advice

[b1ackd3ath]

So, I am a new rider, no mechanical experience and I recently bought a 1982 GS 1100 G. Everything seemed to be in good shape including gauges, tires, rust, etc.

A little while later I noticed that there was a backfire on engine braking.
I've been reading on this site since a while before I bought the bike and
figured it must be a lean condition. I didn't really do anything yet but was
looking for a mechanic that would take a look (anyone know any in CT?).
The bike then started running really rough at lower rpms. It was hesitating
and bucking until it was around 4000 rpms or higher. It wasn't starting
right away and eventually I had to put the petcock to prime to get it
to start. I also had to set the idle higher so that it wouldn't stall
out at lights (idle at like 1700 rpms).

I haven't found a mechanic I can trust or that would work on these types
of bikes and ended up buying the shop manual off of ebay and decided I
would try some minor stuff on my own. I went and pulled a plug (which
I had never done before) and it was white indicating lean. I bought
some colder plugs as a temporary fix. I then went to change them out
and found that the other three were sooty black... went back and bought
the normal plugs and replaced all of them. While doing this one of the
spark plug wires had been disconnected from the spark plug cap and I
thought I completely hosed things and drove home on 3 cylinders. I
read a thread on the site and cut back a tiny bit on all 4 spark plug
wires and then the cylinder came back.

I also bought some carburetor/injector additive at pep boys after talking
to some of the guys that worked there. I asked them about ratio and
they said I should be able to put the whole thing in a tank. I did
this and am fairly confident this has to be b.s. The label said that
it could handle a 25 gallon tank. It was running really rough for a
while and I figured that the gas just wasn't burning well now so I ran
the bike at really high rpms to eat the gas and run this mixture through
the carbs. The bike is now starting up at the normal petcock position
but still runs very rough in the low rpms possibly because of the fuel.

So this is where it is at. Finally I am now at about empty. This bike probably sat in a garage for an extended period of time. I think that
its the carbs (safe assumption?). I am not ready to go the distance
of taking the carbs off and cleaning them (am way to new to this). I
want to put a glass container under the drain bowl screw of each of
the carbs and drain them and then spray in some of the 'carb cleaner'
type stuff you can buy at an auto supply store.

Is this an okay idea? Where would I put the petcock and is there any
thing I should be sure to do with this situation? Are there any other
things I should do/try that don't require tons of experience?


Thanks a million!

Tony

[KGB]

can you drain the float bowls?
Simple enough to do. There is a nut on the bottom of the carbs, one on each carb, brass colored usually.
Some fuel will drain out, like a dixie cup worth.
Next drain the tank, completely. and start off with fresh fuel.
You may have some rust or junk in the petcock, or fuel valve.

You're starting in the right direction!

is this your first bike?

[russellGS78]

Tony,

Sounds to me like an air leak somwhere. My suspicion is between the carb and the head. I had a similar situation awhile back and some new rubber fixed the situation. Before you go pulling the carbs apart I would get four new inlet rubbers and some decent hose clamps if yours are old and go from there.

Good luck!
Russell

[b1ackd3ath]

can you drain the float bowls?
Simple enough to do. There is a nut on the bottom of the carbs, one on each carb, brass colored usually.
Some fuel will drain out, like a dixie cup worth.
Next drain the tank, completely. and start off with fresh fuel.
You may have some rust or junk in the petcock, or fuel valve.

You're starting in the right direction!

is this your first bike?

Hey KGB,

This is technically my second bike. I had a Honda CB 750 for a couple
of months. It ran okay but some of the gauges weren't quite right and
it had been beaten on some and I really had wanted a suzuki gs so I
sold that one and happened upon this one. I really love it, just want
to get it to where it can be.

I will drain those bowls out first by removing those nuts. How would I
completely drain the tank?

Tony

[b1ackd3ath]

Also,

The petcock is really difficult to turn. Does this imply there might be
some junk in there?

[lord1234]

to drain the tank, first remove it from your bike, take the petcock off, and drain it...not very complicated at all...sounds like rust buildup, which means you need a kreem/por15/etching/whatever job done...you can do it all yourself...its not hard.

[Unclesol]

Vacuum lines kinked?

Tony,

Sounds to me like an air leak somwhere. My suspicion is between the carb and the head. I had a similar situation awhile back and some new rubber fixed the situation. Before you go pulling the carbs apart I would get four new inlet rubbers and some decent hose clamps if yours are old and go from there.

Good luck!
Russell

I would also check the condition of the vacuum line running from the carbs to the back of the petcock. My 83 GS 750ES was running lean, and eventually got to the point where it would be starved for gas and unable to run without the choke wide open. It turned out that the 23 year old vacuum line had lost it's flexibility and had actually gotten kinked, closing off the air flow. This created the starvation problem. Brand new hose... problem is gone. Good luck!