GS850, still trying

[max]

Hello again guys, I'm back with a new set of problems with my trusty old Suzuki. After taking the inline fuel filter out of my fuel line, and expanding the line to 5/16 width, I took apart the carbs and did a partial cleaning. I didn't get too far into it but I sprayed up the floaters and jets and stuff with carb cleaner, hoping that would do the trick and whatever was starving the engine before would be washed away.

Put the whole thing back together, and was really pleased when she pretty much fired right up. However that initital success was overshadowed by the fact that it idled pretty high (about 3500, which may have been me accidentally messing with the idle control screw), ran pretty rough (sputtering and backfiring) and wouldnt run above 6000. I thought I'd take it around the block anyways and almost did until I noticed that the exhaust pipe from ports 3 and 4 were glowing red hot! I turned it off right away and sat down and drank 5 beers.

As a side note I think my induction coils are getting a little old, as my spark is pretty weak, however they are obviously strong enough to run the engine so I'll leave that for another day.

From working on my car I know that lean burns hotter than rich, could this be an indication of clogged or miscalibrated jets? I thought I cleaned them out pretty well but maybe its time for a rebuild. I really wanted to restore this bike myself, but I don't know enough about them to do a carb rebuild, anything else I should check for before I take the carbs to a professional?

THanks

[chiphead]

I turned it off right away and sat down and drank 5 beers.
I gotta tell ya, that made me LOL!

You have an exteme lean condition there. Don't run that thing until it's fixed. Search these forums for carb rebuilding tips, read them twice, then take them apart. Pay particular attention to float height and pilot jet removal and cleaning.

[beby99]

I turned it off right away and sat down and drank 5 beers.

Cracked me up too....only because that's what I do when sh*t happens.

Have you checked out the carb rebuild page: http://www.thegsresources.com/gs_carbrebuild.htm

[Jethro]

Drink 5 more beers and it will run just fine...

-jk

In my opinion you cannot clean carbs well without a total disassembly, mainly due to the float needle jets and filters. If you are sure there are no air leaks in the boots for #2 and 3, then get an o-ring kit from www.cycleorings.com , a bucket of carb dip and a few cans of compressed air (unless you have a real air compressor) and go to town.

You should also get a synch tool and synchronize the carbs for vaccum.