No Idle

[granny_rocket]

I can't get my GS550L to idle at all once it gets warmed up. If I keep my hand on the throttle and keep it revving about at least 2000 rpm's then it runs, but with a slight misfire - the idle jumps up and down.

The bike was sitting for the winter so MAYBE the carbs are dirty.....but I have a feeling its a fuel mixture thing. The exhaust smells a little rich!

Can someone give me some pointers on how to adjust the idle myself or do I really need a synch. gauge to do it? or if anyone has any other ideas,

If its a flot adjustment, how would I go about adjusting the float?

Thanks In Advance,
Al Conforti

[first timer]

first thing to do is start the bike and let it run for like a minute and touch the exhuast pipes (be carefull can get real hot quik) see if they are all hot/warm ok if they are check you mixture screws they need to be turned out 3.5 times for your bike as speced by the factory manuel, at least that applies for any of the 550's with the bs32 carbs. if all your pipes are not hot equally, replace your spark plugs and/or clean the carbs and set the mixture screws to 3.5 turns out. either way after you have set your mixture screws to 3.5 turns out you need to check the sync this will also effect the idle. but don't synce until you set the mixture screws. i'm sure others will have more good advice for you.

[granny_rocket]

not to sound stupid, but where exactly are the mixture screws?

I am familiar with 4bbl car carburetors, not smaller motorcycle carbs. How difficult are these to take apart and put back together? Should I buy a carb kit?

Thanks Again,
Al Conforti

[lhanscom]

If you have CV Carbs check this out:

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

[Guy]

Check to see if the choke is returning fully home. It could be sticking on slightly, causing the bike to run rich when warm. Are the plugs sooting up?

[Anonymous]

Just a thought. Have you got enough free play in the throttle cable? I had my throttle cable too tight and found that there was no rhyme or reason to the idling. Sometimes it was too fast and sometimes it was too slow. Getting 2 or 3 mm of free play at the twist grip made all the difference.

Roger

[granny_rocket]

Thanks for the input so far....i'll have to check the free play and such!
In the meantime, I don't have the single quad carbs. I have the double carb setup.

Thanks Again,
Al Conforti