Carb Trouble 82 GS550L with CV carbs

[Anonymous]

I have already had fun doing the carb cleanup series and I have dropped the cash on the Carbtune II (sycronizer). I am now trying to optimize the carbs (I am new to this). Currently I have to have the choke on to prevent the engine from killing. Also, when I roll on the throttle, the engine bogs severly.

Does engine bogging = too rich a fuel mixture? I did not have a micrometer when I put the carbs back together, so I set the floats by eyeball. Would the float setting cause sever bogging? I know a lean fuel mixture will destroy the engine, but how do you tell if you are rich or lean until after you run the bike for a while and check the plugs? How long of run time is sufficient to see a problem on the plugs? How do I adjust the fuel mixture?

The other thing I know I did wrong was I replaced the plugs after I sync'd the carbs. I will re-sync when I find out about the mixture and floats from the technical experts that utilize this forum. Please help.

[first timer]

do yo uhave the bs32cv carbs on your bike. if so the floats needs to be set at 22.4 mm +\- 1mm with the bowl gasket removed. just go to a ace hardware a buy yourself a 5 dollar slide ruler that has mm/inches use that to measure the floats. your air mixture screws need to be turned 3.5 turns out. after you have all that worked out then sync your carbs. you don;t need to resync you carbs if you change spark plugs. that should get you started. other wise if you have any question do a search on raise / lower needles. this will help you adjust your mixtures in the midrange. to tell if you are running lean or rich take the bike for a ride run it at like 6k pull the cluch in and hit the kill switch come to a stop and pull the plug and see what color it is. oh yes do this on a empty road.

http://www.dansmc.com/Spark_Plugs/Spark_Plugs_catalog.html

Ryan

[Anonymous]

Ryan,
Thank you so much for your response. I am not sure which type of Mikuni carbs are on the bike, but they are the Original carbs (totally stock). I will wrestle the carbs out so I can reset the floats and I will turn the air mixture screws to 3.5 turns out. I noticed this evening that when I pulled the plug wire on cylinder #2 that I had no noticeable drop in rpm (all the other plug wires showed a drop in rpm). I could feel the spark through the wire, so I think I may have the #2 float set incorrectly. I regapped the plug (it was off a little) but it did not improve. I will buy the little metal slide rule you are talking about to set the floats properly. With the carbs out it will make it easier to screw in the carbtune brass hose barbs so I can resync the carbs. I will let you know how it turns out. I am waiting to see if I can get the bike running properly before I spend the money on a new rear tire, new chain, and possibly new sprockets (I have less than 15K miles on the bike).
Thanks,
Brian

[first timer]

your first item of bussiness should be getting a factory service manuel or a clymers these will show you exactly where to measure things and and how every thing goes together. when you set your air mixture screws turn them in very GENTLY until they start to give the SLIGHTEST resistence, then you turn them out 3.5 turns. what i find usefull when useing a synce tool is the bike needs to be warm first. but it is hard to put in the brass addapters when it's hot, so what i do is install the the brass fitting first when it is cold then i hook up the synce tool and i kink the rubber hoses with some of those hefty black paper clap things, warm up the bike then un clamp them and synce my bike. if you have set everything up right air mixture screws and float level your bike should run pretty smooth at about 2000-2500 rpms. the synce only really helps to get the bike to idle smooth at 900 rpms. if your bike is still not working right after that you may want to pull your carbs off agian and clean them very thoughly like in the carb rebuild series sez and replace your old spark plugs with a fresh set. oh sorry one more thing too before you start that bike back up agian it would be a shame if you dirtied your carbs just after you cleaned them GET A INLINE FUEL FILTER and install it asap i can't recomend that enough. if you have 4 seperate carbs on your bike you have the bs32cv carbs so those setting i gave you will work fine.

ryan

[Anonymous]

OK,
Bike seem to run pretty well now, but it still bogs in mid range under load. I think it did this when I bought the bike 10 years ago. After the rpm climb, it takes off.
Thanks for your help,
Brian

[first timer]

what is the condition of your filter, is it a foam oem one? you could try cleaning your filter and see if it still bogs, if that doesn't work remove the filter put the lid back on the air box and start covering the opening in the lid with duct tape until the bike idles ok, (you need to restrict the air flow into the carbs since the filter is gone. ) once you get that setteled take the bike for a ride and see what happens. if no bog just get a new foam element.

ryan