No lever on petcock?

[MidnightRider]

If the notch is up and down it is on prime. Back and forth is run. It doesn't matter how many times you spin it around it is what it is.
For these petcocks on run you need vacuum on the petcock for the gas to flow at all. On prime you need to put a hose on your vacuum line of the petcock and suck on it and release and it will flow all day. Or just try to start your motor and stop to open up the prime flow. In other words prime still needs a second of vacuum to work at all.

What he said. You would probably need to carry an extra hose too, or pull the gas tank part way off to get at the vacuum hose.

[dpep]

Here is some clarification ... to my knowledge ALL of the 1980 GS's had leverless vacuum only petcocks, and 1980 was the only year that Suzuki did this.

I can tell you that '80 850s had petcocks with levers. Those petcocks and levers are larger and much easier to work than the smaller ones on the '82 models.

[Planecrazy]

I can tell you that '80 850s had petcocks with levers. Those petcocks and levers are larger and much easier to work than the smaller ones on the '82 models.

Are you positive that your 1980 850's have OEM petcocks, Don? I had an '80 GS1000G for a short time (the famous pink bike) and that one also had a leverless petcock. I don't remember exactly where I saw it, but several times over the years I've heard that all stock '80 GS's had leverless petcocks.

See you in August, if not before ... Regards,

[GS850_Coug]

I can tell you that '80 850s had petcocks with levers. Those petcocks and levers are larger and much easier to work than the smaller ones on the '82 models.

Not true. If you look at t he factory drawings at bikebandit.com, you will see that the OEM petcock for 1980 had no lever. I can assure you this is the case. I just replaced the original petcock on mine and it had no lever, neither did the new petcock I received from Suzuki.

[DanTheMan]

I can tell you that '80 850s had petcocks with levers. Those petcocks and levers are larger and much easier to work than the smaller ones on the '82 models.

Nope, no lever on the petcock on 80 850's. Mine still has the original petcock.
Sea Foam when used needs to have the whole tank run through before it cleans completely, then the bike should run well, unless there are lots of chunks in the carbs. Mine didn't idle worth a cr@p for a while, then straightened right out. Runs great now, did the SeaFoam thing last spring. :-D

[eastern]

Hmm...there seems to be a couple differing views on the position of the slot.

CHEF: If the notch is up and down it is on prime. Back and forth is run. It doesn't matter how many times you spin it around it is what it is.

PLANECRAZY: I haven't looked at my '80 550L in a while, but I'm pretty sure that the normal running position for the "slot" is vertical (which makes sense when you consider that if the petcock DID have a lever it would be positioned vertically to be in the normal "run" position). Some people have told me that turning the slot doesn't do anything at all, but I'm by no means certain of this.

Now when I purchased the bike the slot was vertical. Who knows how long it had sat like that since it had not been on the road since 2005. Now after I had taken the tank off and cleaned the petcock then reattached the tank and tried starting her the carbs began to leak. So I switched the slot to horizontal. I assume this indicates that vertical is prime and horizontal is run? Or that the drain screws are simply leaking from the corroded and worn out o-rings which are in need of replacement.

[DanTheMan]

Don't know, I rarely ever touch mine (petcock), I'll have to look and let you know how it's positioned.:-D

[KGB]

My 1980 GS1000S.........horizontal--side to side=on
Up and down or vertical is prime.

[bgmart450]

Here is some clarification ... to my knowledge ALL of the 1980 GS's had leverless vacuum only petcocks, and 1980 was the only year that Suzuki did this. It was not a space issue, because many models that had plenty of space for a levered petcock did NOT have one. The following year they all DID.

Both our 80 450's have levers and list them as such on the stock schematics.

No prime position, just on/res. Of course the twins are always a lil off from the other models.

[DanTheMan]

On mine, vertical is on, horizontal is prime.

[eastern]

So I guess the position on the leverless p/c models is not a universal application. How would I go about checking whether the "on" setting is horizontal or vertical on mine then? I guess pulling the tank and sucking on the vacuum line and if it flows even when I stop sucking then I assume it is on prime?

[bradleymaynar]

Yor previous post seems to shed of bit of light on the correct position for your bike. Though you didn't mention if changing the postition from vertical to horizontal stopped the overflow.

Brad bt

[eastern]

Well considering that the drain screws are leaking as a result of squished 27yr old seals I am not quite so sure anymore. The gas was never coming from any overflow tube...just the drain screws. This is driving me nuts...and I haven't even tried taking the intake boot screws out yet.

[chuckycheese]

Popular subject

As Chef1366 correctly pointed out, space was definitely the issue in 1980 and the error was corrected in 1981. If you do some searches, I think you'll find that the '1980 petcock caper' is one of the very most popular subjects discussed on the forum.

Do a search for 'Pingel' and you can find out how to deal with it....and end up with a reserve, to boot!:-D

[KGB]

According to the factory service manual 99500 39001 03E
section 15 1980 GS1000E/ST page 29
shows the petcock horizontal or side to side is ON
vertical or up and down is PRIME