Wiring question.. AND idle question

[Turambur]

Hello all! I've recently become the proud owner of a 80' GS850G.
I've got to say I love it! The bike needs a little bit of work and I have been reading my repair manual and these forums in an attempt to familiarize myself with bike mechanics.. I do how ever have a few questions but first I would like to thank BassCliff for putting up wiring diagrams for the 850.
Thank you!

1st question.. The rear brake light does turn on and also works when I apply the foot brake, the lights in the instrument panel also work as well as the gear indicator lights.. However the running lights and head light do not.

There are two wires just behind the seat compartment that look like they plug into somthing and I think I just found that somthing in a bucket of parts that came with my bike.. It has two female plugs at one end and then the two wires end in a small plastic? piece that is a fairly flat rectangular shape and no more than an inch in length..
Any ideas to what this is and what I should do with it?

Question No. 2 has nothing to do with wiring but with the idle of the bike.. which is VERY high.. One of the forums I was reading said somthing about an airbox boot seal?? Or somthing like that... I was thinking I might have to adjust the carbs and have seen forums on how to do that, what tools will I need? And is this somthing a novice bike mechanic can do?
(I work on cars just fine but have never owned a bike)

Any imput into these mysteries would be great!
Thanks guys!

[Nessism]

Idle is effected by intake air leaks. Number one source of leaks is shown below - carb boot o-rings.

[catbed]

first off, welcome! BikeCliff will be around soon though for an "official" greeting.

running lights? i dont think they came stock so naturally they wouldnt light up. did you check the fuses? the headlight might be a blown fuse.

those two "things" unders your seat are contacts for a fuel gauge.

i plan on syncing my carbs soon with a homemade manometer but it doesnt seem that hard. and make sure your airbox is sealed. that means side panels and the air filter. check your rubber boots that connect to the carb too.

also, the high idle might be a leak between the head and the carb boots. robertbarr has a kit with stainless steel screws to replace the stock ones.

good luck!


drat! all this time writing and i thought i was going to be first.

[bwringer]

Basscliff should be along any second now...

Hello...? BC? You there, man?

Anyway, I made a list a while back of all the little things you need to do to get an 850 working right. Basscliff saved this list and trots it out as needed, thereby saving my fingers a lot of repeat typing and all of us a lot of time and trouble.

Long story short, you need to seal the sides of your airbox with foam weatherstripping to join the 850 club. It's our secret ritual.

You also need to replace your intake boot o-rings and very likely your intake boots: http://bwringer.com/gs/intakeorings.html

Until you take care of these things, PLEASE DON'T RIDE OR RUN THE BIKE. IT WILL NOT "CLEAR OUT" OR RUN ANY BETTER NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU REV IT UP IN YOUR GARAGE AND ANNOY YOUR NEIGHBORS. The high idle means it's running very lean (excess air is leaking in) and therefore running very hot. Extremely hot. This can and will cause grievous damage to your engine.

Robert Barr's famous carburetor o-rings and now intake kits:

http://cycleorings.com

Welcome to the club!

[catbed]

Long story short, you need to seal the sides of your airbox with foam weatherstripping to join the 850 club. It's our secret ritual.

or silicon caulk as i did, but yea.

[bwringer]

or silicon caulk as i did, but yea.

Yup, about anything will work. A couple of guys cut up foam mouse pads and used those to make seals.

GS850 arts-n-crafts class is fun!

[catbed]

for some reason i thought that was funny, and its now in my sig!:-D

found it!
----------<quote Mr. bwringer>----------
Every GS850 has (or had) a set of well-known issues that MUST be addressed before you have a solid baseline for further troubleshooting.

It's a vintage bike, and it's quite common (as in, every single GS850 I have had contact with) that there are multiple problems that have crept up and slowly gotten worse over the years.

It's not like a newer vehicle, where there's generally one problem at a time.

These common issues are:

Intake O-rings (install NEW OEM or Viton only - common nitrile o-rings will quickly deteriorate from heat)

Intake Boots (install NEW -- these cannot be repaired)

Valve clearances (more important than most people think)

Carb/airbox boots

Airbox sealing

Air filter sealing

Petcock (install a NEW one)

On '79 models, install new points or Dyna electronic ignition (or at least verify that the old points are working correctly)

On all models, it's fairly common to have problems with the spark plug caps. These are $3 or $4 each, and often worth replacing if you're keeping the stock coils/wires.

Stock exhaust with NO leaks or holes -- good seals at the head and at the junctions underneath.
----------<end quote>----------

[Mr. Brown]

Until you take care of these things, PLEASE DON'T RIDE OR RUN THE BIKE. IT WILL NOT "CLEAR OUT" OR RUN ANY BETTER NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU REV IT UP IN YOUR GARAGE AND ANNOY YOUR NEIGHBORS. The high idle means it's running very lean (excess air is leaking in) and therefore running very hot. Extremely hot. This can and will cause grievous damage to your engine.

Welcome to the club!

Totally did this for a week.

Do "The List"... it is the Bible for getting your 850 runnin'... that, and the owner's manual and the Mighty GSR!

[BassCliff]

Hey howdy hey!

Mr. tarambur,

Thank you for the kind words. You are most welcome to visit my little website any time. Now since you're sort of new around here, let me get to work. :-D

Let it be known that on this day you are cordially and formally welcomed to the GSR Forum as a Junior Member in good standing with all the rights and privileges thereof. Further let it be known that your good standing can be improved with pictures (not you, your bike)! :-D

You may have seen some of this already, but I like to remind all the new members. In addition to the carb rebuild series, I recommend visiting the garage section via the GSR Hompage and check out the Stator Papers. There's also a lot of great information in the Old Q&A section. I have some documentation on my little BikeCliff website to help you get familiar with doing routine maintenance tasks (note that it is 850G-specific but many tasks are common to all GS bikes). Other "user contributed" informational sites include those of Mr. bwringer, Mr. tfb and Mr. robertbarr.

I think you have acquired one of the finest all-around classic motorcycles in the world (but I may be a little biased). Thanks for joining us. Keep us informed of your progress. There's lots of good folk with good experience here.

Speaking of folks with good experience, here is a list of some of our favorite online vendors compiled by our beloved Mr. bwringer, along with his helpful comments. I've used most of these resources and trust his opinions.

***********Quoted from Mr. bwringer***************
http://denniskirk.com
Put in your bike model and see what they have.

I would definitely double and triple the recommendations to use Cycle Recycle II and Z1 Enterprises as much as possible. These guys are priceless resources. Z1 tends to have slightly better prices, CRC2 has a wider range of goodies available. If you're near Indy and can bring in an old part to match, CRC2 has a vast inventory of used parts.

http://oldbikebarn.com seems to be slowly regaining a decent reputation, but it's still caveat emptor. They don't have anything you can't get elsewhere at a better price anyway.

OEM Parts/Online Fiches:

http://www.babbittsonline.com/

Decent parts prices. Spendy shipping. Don't give you part numbers at all. Useful cross-reference if you obtain a part number elsewhere. Efficient service.

http://bikebandit.com
Fastest. Middlin' prices. Uses their own parts numbering system to obfuscate price comparisons -- can be very confusing for large orders. Cheapest shipping, so total cost usually isn't too bad.

http://flatoutmotorcycles.com
Slow. Cheapest parts prices, crazy shipping costs. Don't expect progress updates or much communication. Real Suzuki part numbers.

http://alpha-sports.com
Exorbitant parts prices. Different type of fiche interface that's quite useful at times, especially with superceded part numbers. Real parts numbers. Shipping cost and speed unknown due to insane, unholy pricing.


Stainless Bolts, Viton o-rings, metric taps, dies, assorted hard-to-find supplies and materials, etc.:
http://mcmaster.com
Fast, cheap shipping, good prices. No order minimum, but many items like bolts come in packs of 25 or 50. Excellent resource.


http://motorcycleseatcovers.com
Great quality, perfect fit (on original seat foam), and available for pretty much every bike ever made. Avoid the textured vinyl -- it's perforated.


http://newenough.com
You DO have riding gear, don't you? Great clearances, always outstanding prices and impeccable service.
***************End Quote**********************

Here's the links for a couple of the sources mentioned above:

Cycle-Re-Cycle Part 2

http://crc2onlinecatalog.com/

The ever popular Z1 Enterprises
http://www.z1enterprises.com

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
(The unofficial GSR greeter)

[Turambur]

Thanks!

Wow! Thanks guys! I'll go ahead and order new "boots" and O-rings today! I let you know as soon as I get em!

[Nessism]

New boots are not manditory unless they are hard and cracked. New o-rings are manditory though. Be forewarned, getting the screws out can be a real pain; do a search to get some different ideas on how to attack this task.

[Turambur]

..

Okay, I've got the o rings on the way.. But I cant seem to find the intake boots anywhere. I've looked by part number and catagory.. Is there another name for them? Thanks again.

[Nessism]

The GSR folks call them "boots" but Suzuki calls them intake "pipes", or something like this. The parts diagrams have these parts in the cylinder head section.

[Turambur]

Ahhhh... Okay I'll look for that.

[Steve]

Bike Bandit has them here, Scroll to the cylinder head fiche, look for parts #25&26, for $24.62.

Flatout has them here. You have to select your year and model of bike, then go to the cylinder head fiche. Again, they are #25&26, but the price is $19.87.

I did not find any at Z1.


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