A step away from Wit's End......

[Rocketman]

I actually hope I never hear the dirt hit the casket, otherwise somebody fugggged up REAL BAD!

I will clean and blow out the carbs to the point where they are surgically clean. And I will try to find all electrical connections & grounds, and clean the crap out of them.

Arie, I'm really looking forward to getting together. Everytime I bring the bike home it runs great, until it gets really hot after about 1/2 hour, and then craps out at idle. So I am working on it daily. Even if I can't fix it, I'll push the damn bike behind you on 231, so at least we can say we rode together. It may run like crap now, but it sure looks pretty. Kind of the opposite of having a wicked ugly girlfriend with a great personality!



Larry

[chef1366]

Nice bike, but I'm partial because it looks alot like my 1100L

[Rocketman]

Funny thing is, I bought my bike brand new out of the crate in '83 as an '82 leftover for $2800, and paid for it on two Visa credit cards. Would have bought the 1100L but couldnlt afford the additional $300. Wish I had a time machine and could go back shopping then, with today's money!

[Arie]

Gosh,

I wish mine were still that pretty. I guess not riding it has it's benefits.:-D

One day I want to work on the bike and make it look better.... otoh, I'd rather ride...

[HammerHead]

Hey Rocketman. Try changing the plug wires first. They may be your problem. If their not copper centers, they brake down with age, kinda
like me.
Beautiful bike, beauty and the beast........

[fast eddie]

Ditto. Change the plug wires before getting too heavy into anything else; it's easy and cheap and if it doesn't fix the problem, well you still have nice new plug wires.

Had exactly that problem with my Honda 650 Nighthawk (the '84, sweet bike!). Start up and run fine, then once it got hot (15-20 mins or so) it would sputter and cough and die on me. Sometimes after sitting for 10 or 15 minutes (during which time I could think up new ways of cursing out the bike) it would run fine. Guy at the local shop told me to change the plug wires, which I did, and PROBLEM SOLVED!

[Clone]

I really think you should try things 1 at a time until you find the source of your problem. That way you will know exactly what is causing the grief next time and can go straight to the source. I find that if I do too many things in search of one problem and it is fixed I am never really sure what was the cure. Does anybody know if plugs that have built up resistance would get to be more of a problem as they get hotter?

[Arie]

Its not so much the plugs building resistance; its the plug wires. They have to carry a lot of energy, and when they go bad cannot do so.

ditto u on the 1 ata time.

[bonanzadave]

Does he have molded in wires ? If so, does he need to change the coils too ?

[Rocketman]

I currently have the stock Suzuki 25 year old white coils with molded in plug wires. Had the mechanic rebuild carbs for 2nd time, and should have them back today or tomorrow. Would have gotten them back sooner, but he ran out of o-rings, and did not want to use the old (new) ones he just put in a few weeks ago, as they were apparently not tight enough.
Once I get the bike put back together, I'm bringing it back to him to install Accell coils with new wires, caps, etc. He says these put out something like 40,000 volts, and are much better than replacing with OEM coils. Price installed is about $200, which is the same as OEM coils, wires and caps for parts alone from Flat Our Motorcycles, where I've been buying parts from.
He says carbs are perfect and has ruled out fuel problem-leaning towards ignition problem which reflects heating up issues. Already installed new Dyna S, and that should finish ignition issues. If that doesn't work, electrical shorts and bad connections is the next step, mostly anything near the engine that heats up. Again, bike runs wicked strong at any speed and has no issues getting up over 80 mph+. Just when I stop after bike is warmed up, idle drops from normal of 1000-1100, to 400-500 and stalls immediately on acceleration, but starts right up. Process of elimination will most likely yield the culprit, and I appreciate everybody's help and patience.
And yes, Arie, I'd much rather have a real ugly dirty bike that runs well, then what I've got now. But hopefully, soon I'll have both a looker and a runner.

[Arie]

>>I'd much rather have a real ugly dirty bike that runs well, then what I've got now. But hopefully, soon I'll have both a looker and a runner.<<

Crap.

Mine is definitely no longer "pretty" , but it was nice riding to work today. Maybe next week we'll put a ride together

[argonsagas]

I just read all through this thread. It appears that you are on your way to getting the bike up and running, but I am surprised the following (excepted from your original post) received no comments:

" Weird thing is, at idle, if I pull plug caps off plug #3 or #4, bike shuts off immediately. When I do the same for #1 or #2, no change in idle, no nothing. "


Cylinders 3 and 4 are maintaining the engine at idle.
Cylinders 3 and 4 operate on separate coils

Obviously cylinders 3 and 4 are doing most of the the work in keeping keep the engine running at idle, so the problem is NOT electrical; it is fuel-related.

The carbs have been cleaned twice, but there is little said about their set-up, except for needle and jet adjustments..

I would suggest a simple approach for repair. It takes a bit of work, as the carbs have to be off, but what you basically need to do is visually set up each butterfly valve while the carbs are off the bike. They should all open and close at the same exact moment, and visually you can get very close.


Edit:

When you do this task, be sure to back off the large idle screw completely.

If the butterflies are unbalanced, then no amount of adjustment to needles/jets will make much difference, and your problem will continue.

[flyingace]

I asked you a while back if you read your plugs when the idle dropped - did you? If you find one black/sooty plug and the rest OK, you've found the problem. I won't go into fixing it until you confirm.

[NOS]

This could be a longshot, but have you tried checking the gas level in the carb bowls. If your floats are not set right you will run with little or no gas in the bowl, and in turn not get any gas through the carb. ( if someone already suggested this I'm sorry for wasting this reply )

Take care and ride safe

[Rocketman]

As I am not an ace mechanic, most of the serious work has been done by my mechanic who has been rebuilding Suzukis for many years. He came highly recommended by a racing frined of mine, and I think he's doing a fine job so far. The 2 carb rebuilds were complete with all new parts, completely disassembled and cleaned. New jets, needles, o-rings, and synched. Spark plugs were dusty white, and idle mixture was adjusted to richen, as he says these bikes run inherantly lean. Just picked up carbs yesterday, and have to re-assemble bike over the weekend. Back to mechanic on Tuesday to install Accell coils, then we'll see. Mechanic says fuel isn't the problem, and he's leaning towards ignition, but with new coils, wires & caps & Dyna S, that pretty much ends those issues. We'll see by mid next week. And BELIEVE ME, I really appreciate everybody's input. Each of you has had, or heard of a similar problem, and everyone has their opinion as to how to fix it. Wish I could have one big-ass GS party at my house on Long Island and I'd supply the beer & burgers. I'd have all you guys rip my bike apart, and I'm sure it would be up and running in a day, but as you're all over the planet, I have to place my trust in my mechanic for now.