Weird Running 85 GS550

[Hogan]

Hey, I originally posted this is the wrong forum, so my bad, now it's the right one. Thanks for any help.

Hey everyone,
So, here's a little background. I got an 85 GS550L for free, from a guy from these boards, a guy named Navi, really nice guy, I feel dumb cause I keep losing his number, I should have it somewhere, I need to get a title... anyway.
He said all it needed to run was a battery and a carb cleaning, it had been sitting for a while. So, I got the battery, cleaned the carbs (a bit, not completely) and put the petcock on prime, and hit the start button, and after some cranking, it did start up, idled for a second, then the RPMs started creeping up, and up, and up, and goes to about 5000, sits there for a few seconds, then drops back down and the engine shuts off... Now, this is phenominal for a cold engine that had been sitting there for awhile, so i adjusted the carbs for a bit, still did it. And for some reason the choke wasn't working, and it kept falling down, so i held those up and started it, and it did the same thing. Also, the engine smells like burning engine, and theres some smoke coming out of the exhaust, could this be because it hasn't been started in awhile, or a combination of that and then being reved up so quickly? Or something all together?
Now, I'm having the carb rebuilt soon, should this fix the problem, or is it something more serious.

Anyway, thanks a lot guys, and nice to meet you all, I'm sure I'll have some other questions. And if Navi sees this, thanks again for the bike man, I am making progress, so don't worry, and I'll dig up your number, and figure something out about the title. Thanks.

[rapidray]

When you turned the petcock to prime, was this AFTER you put FRESH gas in the tank , or was it with the old VARNISH still in the tank? If you filled the carbs with the OLD gas, most likely, that is the problem. Drain the old gas, flush the tank a little, put NEW gas in the tank, re-clean the carbs, (making sure you can see CLEARLY through the holes in the pilot jets) & reassemble the bike & start it up again! Let us know how it goes, Ray.

[Hogan]

It was after, there wasn't much gas in the tank anyway, and I put new gas in, and cleaned the carbs. But it's still doing it, I have no idea what's going on with it.

[LeeGS550E]

Leaking carb intake boots is a likely cause for that creaping idle. Buy some new ones from an online dealer like bikebandit or flatoutmotorcycles. Then clean the carbs.

Then spend about $400 on other random crap, and she'll be running like a champ. (That last bit was said with a mix of sarcasm and cynisism.)

[Hogan]

Haha, awesome thanks a lot, I'll check that out to see if it makes a difference. Thanks guys.

[gremlin]

carb 101. clean clean clean, check all boots and orings. then try the carbs. cuss up and down clean the screen in the tank. reclean carbs. runs fine.

once you have done a carb cleaning. you learn every thing about the carbs and can clean them in no time flat. dont sweat it. onec you get cleaning the carbs down pat the bike will give you a new problem.

[nabrams]

OK, here comes my "speech to the newcomer restoring an old bike":

I think you need to see the big picture besides tackling your immediate/first problem.

Regarding the creeping idle: I'm assuming this is after warm-up, with the choke off. If yes, then air leaks are almost certainly the cause - discussed to death on this forum - do a search.

Having said that:
Instead of going about the restoration process piece-meal, why don't you search for the many posts on this forum (some by me) that list the many "sanity-check" steps/verifications needed when restoring a bike that's been sitting (based on what you've said, you definitely should consider your bike as belonging to this category) - and then actually DO the checks.
This will save you MANY hours of frustration and TONS of money.
If you're a beginner (in terms of mechanical skill) you're looking at between 30 and 60 hours of work and a couple of hundred dollars for purchasing tools you'll need (besides whatever parts you need for the bike). In the end you'll have a reliable machine for a fraction of the cost of a new bike.

[Hogan]

That's actually not the case. It's almost immediately after the bike is started, and don't worry this isn't my first project, or first time working with anything mechanical, I have a 1971 Triumph, an 84 VW Rabbit project, and my GTI is a bit of a project itself. I just saw this chance to get a free bike that could be a fun fairly simple project, so I do have a plan with this bike. But thank you for the advice. I'm just comparitivly new to Suzuki 4 cylinders (have some experience with the singles as well), but I figured you all would just know more about it than me, so I thought I would stop in and ask, but thank you for the advice, I appreciate it.

[Hogan]

Oh, and I just wanted to add, that I have realized that there are surprisingly few problems with this bike, although it was sitting, it was sitting indoors, and so on, to the point where to condition really isn't too bad, and I have decided that most of the problems are probably stemming from the carb, and there is an easy way to figure out if thats true, clean it/rebuild it, then go back from there.

[FIREMAN]

Carb Therapy

Hey im right in there with you. no advice except that when i was going thruogh the carbs on my 81 550lx. It became like a zen thing and it really paid off. So if you can get in that zone,clean the crap out of them and youll be cruising in style in no time. And on a personal note Gumout carb cleaner makes one hell of an aftershave!

[Hogan]

Awesome, gotta love multi-tasking, I think thats what I have to do, just clean the carbs until they are good as new then give it a shot, hopefully that will help. Thanks guys.

[skreemer]

Hey im right in there with you. no advice except that when i was going thruogh the carbs on my 81 550lx. It became like a zen thing and it really paid off. So if you can get in that zone,clean the crap out of them and youll be cruising in style in no time. And on a personal note Gumout carb cleaner makes one hell of an aftershave!

Gumout carb cleaner aftershave? owie...

The creeping idle is usually a sign of bad boots and or o-rings... (usually the o-rings)