85 gs700e odd low idle

[85gsjim]

hi i recently bought a 1985gs700 as my first bike:-D. it starts right up and seams to run fine ( i have nothing to gauge it against). it revs up sounds nice and drives fine. when it idles it idles real low almost to the point of stalling out like it wants to stall, if i rev it the rpms stay up for a little and idle kinda high then it drops back to the really low idle. the guy i got it from said he had taken the carbs apart and cleaned them (who knows?). i dont really know much about bikes but im pritty decent workin on my car. any info or help on how to diagnose, repair, or simply ignore this problem will be greatly apperciated?

[Nessism]

Did you try turning up the idle speed yet? There should be a metal knob under the carbs for just this purpose.

[Mark whiz]

welcome to the world of lean carburation. My 700 has done the same since it was bought new in '86. They are just cold blooded beasts.

2 things to do (which I am about to do myself) is replace the o-ring on the intake manifold-to-head junctions and pop off the idle screw adjustment plugs (top side of carb on engine-side of the slide) and tweak them out to about 2 to 2.5 turns out from bottom.

[catbed]

it sounds like its rich if it hangs up before dropping back down. if it was lean, it would drop below the idle speed, and then go back up.

[lhanscom]

If you still have the airbox, be prepared for a lengthy process to do this stuff. The 700 is by far the hardest bike I've worked on to do carb work. Pods resolve that, but open a whole new world of difficulties. Personally, I would test the o-rings with some aerosol, and if they're fine leave em be. If the PO took the carbs apart, theres a good chance the mixture screws are already unplugged, so just get a long screw driver, and try adjusting them. Out is richer, in leaner, I think you'll find you have to go out a bit. Small adjustments can make a big difference, I usually run the engine, and tune by ear.

Also, having a finicky idle can be caused by the carbs being out of sync too, though usually this doesn't have the idle high then low effect. If you just can't seem to get the idle set, meaning you adjust the idle knob a tiny amount and go from too low, to too high, it usually is a sync issue.

[85gsjim]

thanks everyone.well im going to try messing with the idle screw today after work. when i test drove it i didnt wind it up when i took it around the block(i didnt want to kill myself) But i took it out yesterday and i went to really wind it up(alittle more confident) and when i hit the gas hard it winds up and feels like theres no power/no pull. yet it seems fine if i slowly increase the gas. the bike has about 18k