1982 gs 450 L won't start but was running saturday

[diablo_ogre]

Ok first the stats on the bike. its a 1982 GS450L with 16,00 miles on it. I got it from a delta mechanic that had purchased a 1100 cc bike to go to work on a year ago and had parked the bike in his garage. When I bought the bike it started and ran but at all the stop lights it would conk out and had to wait like 30 minutes before it would start again. When I got it home I put some carb cleaner in it and some higher octane gas and it seemed to clean up and run a lot better but the weird thing is every couple of days it would not start at all, just turn over and over and then after trying for what would seem like hours it would just kick over and start running fine again. It was running saturday night because I drove it around the yard and into the garage. Sunday it wouldn't start at all. No matter how much I tried it just would not kick over. I called some people and they said the carb was probably clogged. I would have taken it to a shop but every shop has told me they don't look at bikes over 10 years old. I took the carb off and cleaned it off I also took the float bowls off and cleaned them really good and put the carb back on the bike. I have a hose I know I must not have connected right because it runs from the bottom of the air box and I don't know where it is supposed to go and when I have the fuel switched on it would leak fuel on to the ground. This was not a problem before I took the carb off but that aside the bike would keep trying to turn over but never would kick over it would just turn. Just like before I took the carb off. I tried again today to start it but I guess I tried to start it to much because all it does now is make a big *click* sound . I think I might have burnt out the starter motor. I don't know anything about bikes. I got this one to learn on but it may cost me more to fix it than to go buy another one I would rather fix this one because if you have any suggestions but you can email me .

[diablo_ogre]

Oh and one other thing I just thought of I did take the spark plugs out and clean them at the same time and when trying to start it yesterday I heard a PFFFFFT sound every now and then like the sound of the piston compression I checked and the plugs are in tight, but then again if might be compression building up but never actually getting start .

[Steve]

Sounds like a valve adjustment is about due. If the valves are too tight, the engine will not start well, or at all.

AND, please don't think that higher octane gas will do anything to clean out the engine.

Quite the opposite. Since your engine is probably not hot-rodded to the point that it requires higher octane, it will not completely burn the higher octane gas, since it burns slower. This creates deposits, it does not clean them.

Once the valves are adjusted, it sounds like you need to do a little more cleaning in the carbs. If you have only pulled off the float bowls, you have just barely begun. Here is your guide on how to clean the carbs.


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[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.

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) - just trying to give you a realistic estimate based on personal experience. In the end you'll have a reliable machine for a fraction of the cost of a new bike.

[diablo_ogre]

update

The bike is now running. Not on the road yet but getting there. As far as it not starting I swapped out batterys and was still getting a click so I decide to overide the starter to see what has happening by jumping the solonoid like I used to in my old chevy nova. when I did that I still got that grump *click* sound but noticed it sounded like it wanted to turn but then just clicked.

After reading some more threads I went out to the garage with a rubber mallet and banged the side of the engine where the starter was and then tried it and sure enough it started to turn over.

next step I decided to check out my spark so I checked the plugs and tried cranking it and I was getting plenty of spark. I let it sit for a couple of days without touching it. I was reading some more threads and people were talking about the same problem I had with the gas coming out of the air box.

I talked to an engineer at work and told him about the carberatuer and he said there was a good chance when I put the float bowls back on the float could be stuck if that happens I wouldnt be getting any type of fuel and when I had it on prime it might back into the airbox and drain onto the ground.

well sure enough if it didn't fire up tonight I let it sit long enough to evaporate some of the bad stuff out and messed with the floats and shes firing up on just barely the touch of a button.

My last thing to do before a test ride is to get that darn throttle cable on there right. the shop manuel had me disconnect it first and said that it will be the last thing I connect but I can't seem to get my fat hand in there to put it on right. I will try sunday afternoon if anyone has any tips for this I would appricate. I have been trying to get it on there but its a bugger! guess going breake out the needle nose and see what happens.

thanks for all the advice.

[chef1366]

Clean out those carbs and clean the starter brushes and connections on the solenoid and battery. Use dielectric grease and fine grade sandpaper.

http://www.thegsresources.com/gs_carbrebuild.htm

[Nessism]

Clean out those carbs and clean the starter brushes and connections on the solenoid and battery. Use dielectric grease and fine grade sandpaper.
http://www.thegsresources.com/gs_carbrebuild.htm

Yup! :-D Smacking the starter with a hammer may have gotten the bike started but the problem will come back unless you fix the bike right. Same goes for the carbs. You obviously have some problem and things like that just don't go away.

[Ludeykrus]

The throttle cable should be connected to the carbs before they are mounted to the head/airbox. It's a piece of pie to connect when the carbs are loose, but it's a major pain when they are installed.