Starting for the first time in 7 years or so - No Gas in Bowls

[pvtschultz]

All necessary parts are in and the bike is put back together. I'll detail that in my other thread in the GS discussion forum later. I put 2.5 gallons of gas in her, pulled full choke and tried to get her to start. Holes 1 and 4 have real good spark and all electronics are working (even the gas guage). After a couple tries I sniffed the tail pipe and nothing. I removed one of the drain bolts on the carb bowl and nothing came out. No wonder why nothing happened! At least I hope that is the reason. I turned her to prime and nothing came down.

So, is there any trick to this that I should be aware of? I'd really like to breathe life into her tonight, but I need fuel in the carbs first.

Oh, '82 GS850G.

[marvinsc]

If Fuel didn't flow on "Prime" I'm afraid You have a Petcock Issue.:?

[brveagle]

Try just "jumpstarting" the fuel flow by filling the bowls with a funnel down the supply line.. Plug the vaccum line. Then start the bike...

This also is useful in working on the bike, you don't have to keep putting on and removing the tank.

[pvtschultz]

Please don't say that...are they cleanable?

I do need a fuel system for synchronizing the carbs I suppose...

[kurifu]

Yeah dude, if no fuel is coming out when you are on prime it probably means that it is time to replace your fuel tap. Make sure it is not your fuel line too though, actually disconnect it and see if you can get fuel to come directly out of the tap, you can test the normal On and Reserve position by applying a small vaccum with your mouth or other apparatus to the vaccum line if you want to check if those are working, I suspect not though if prime is failing.

New fuel taps are pretty cheap on Ebay, probably wouldn't hurt to pick one up since there seem to be many issues with old petcock diaphrams leaking.

[robertbarr]

Try just "jumpstarting" the fuel flow by filling the bowls with a funnel down the supply line.. Plug the vaccum line. Then start the bike...

This also is useful in working on the bike, you don't have to keep putting on and removing the tank.

That's generally how I fuel a bike when I sync it.

For checking the petcock, it's even easier: remove the fuel line to the carbs. Attach a length of similar diameter line (having a few feet of this can come in really handy anyhow). Attach one end to the petcock, and put the other into a fuel can. Switch the petcock to Prime. You should have good, solid flow, especially with 2.5 gallons in there.

At this point, you might as well check the diaphragm operation as well; just switch the petcock to On or Res, slide a vacuum line onto the vacuum tap on the petcock, and suck on the tube. Again, you should get good strong flow.

(The only way I know to check for a leaky diaphragm is to use clear tubing for the vacuum).

[pvtschultz]

She's alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The little piston in the petcock was stuck, unfortunatly I cut the diaphram when I opened it up so I need a rebuild kit. But, the bike did run for the better part of 10 minutes without too much effort. The foam air cleaner was junk so it pretty much ran straight so I am hoping that is why it ran kind of crappy. I need to turn the idle up because it would just die if I let go of the throttle but she runs!!!!!!!!

Now, time to finish things up and get her on the road.

[Nightmare]

Don't run the bike too long without a filter, you can end up leaning it up to the point of making your headers turn blue... Instead of a rebuild kit look at the price of new petcocks (I was lucky and found a new petcock for 30$ VS 25$ for a rebuild kit)

[pvtschultz]

Where'd you get the new petcock? Dealership? Yeah, if I could get a new one, that would be great.

[rustybronco]

petcock http://www.mrcycles.com/fiche_section_detail.asp
fix the air cleaner, then try adjusting the idle up with the small knob under the carb's, #57 in the carb section