Help please

[Loki388]

Ok, I've had my 1985 GS550E for almost exactly a year now. I do the oil change approx every 1500 miles, and its run great. About 2 months ago I drowned the damn thing in the pouring rain, and spent a couple days fixing it, getting it running again. At that time I put new spark plugs in it.

2 weeks ago, on advice from another site, I ran some carb cleaner through a tank of gas. Than I accidently ran it out of gas, switched to the reserve, and filled it up.

Now, if it has been sitting, it will start and run, but i you park it for more than 5 minutes while its warm, it won't start again.

Then yesterday, it died on me twice while riding home, both times in second gear, after about ten minutes of running, almost like it wasn't getting fuel. Both times, I had to let it sit for about 45 minutes before it would start again.

I parked it at work, and tomorrow is my day off, so I'm looking for suggestions as to what I can do to fix the problem. I know the air filter is clean, cause I checked it the first time it died. I'm thinking maybe the spark plugs need to be re-gapped? Any other suggestions?

[hikermikem]

pluged fuel filter??

check to see the petcock works properly too...

[Loki388]

But it starts, and runs for while. If the fuel system was clogged, it doesn't seems like it should run at all, right?

[hikermikem]

But it starts, and runs for while. If the fuel system was clogged, it doesn't seems like it should run at all, right?

Perhaps after you ran the carb cleaner through, it loosened up some fine particule matter in the tank that found its way into the carbs, or maybe partially clogged the fuel filter - that would explain why it only runs for a little while.

Whens the last time the carbs were completely taken apart & dipped??

How did it run before the "drowning"?? What did you have to fix after that ?

[recycled64]

Sounds to me like water in there somewhere, did you drain the float bowls? If you do, try to drain them in clean cat food cans. and look for little 'bubbles' of water in the drained gas.

[Dave8338]

Check the vent in the fuel cap. Try this: Start the bike and run it until it dies, then open the gas cap and listen for a vacuum sound. If so, you've found the problem. If not, we'll dig into it further.

[mcloud]

Check the vent in the fuel cap. Try this: Start the bike and run it until it dies, then open the gas cap and listen for a vacuum sound. If so, you've found the problem. If not, we'll dig into it further.

+1

When sitting still, bowls slowly fills up. Then once started, you're starving the carbs.
Could be filter partialy clogged.
Could be the petcock diaphragm, try running it on prime.

[Loki388]

Ok, worked on it most of the day Wednesday, and here is where I'm at. There is no water in the fuel filter, or the carbs. When it won't start, there is no vacuum sound. I pulled and cleaned the gas cap anyway, and it's still having a poblem. When it won't start, there is still spark getting to the plug.

Oh, and the petcock seams to work fine, but I ordered a new one anyway.


Any other suggestions, outside of a carb rebuild?

[earlfor]

Oh, and the petcock seams to work fine, but I ordered a new one anyway.

Any other suggestions, outside of a carb rebuild?

This has happened to me. Bike starts and runs fine, fuel starves and quits for no reason. Will not immediately restart. Let bike sit for a half hour, it starts and runs normally. There is a fine mesh screen over the petcock tubes inside the gas tank. Sediment in the tank was drawn onto the screen and held on the screen directly proportional to how much throttle I used/how much fuel flow was needed. It reached the point of fuel starvation when the sediment blocked too much of the screen. Low throttle such as idling around town didnt cause the problem because the fuel flow was never great enough for the engine to need all of the screen free of debris. I would remove the petcock, and rinse out the tank with gas to see if there is any free floating sediment in it.

Earl

[Redman]

..........
There is no water in the fuel filter, or the carbs. .........
Any other suggestions, outside of a carb rebuild?

When you say "no water in fuel filter", maybe you are refereing to an aftermarket-in-the-fuel-line filter. And You havent mentioned anything about the filter screen that is on the petcock (extends up into the tank). Perhaps that filter is causing you trouble, as Earl suggests. I see you say that you have a new petcock on order, so it seems that this situation will be taken care of anyway.

.

[DimitriT]

Sounds like an idle mixture problem.
This could be an electrical problem (weak battery) but let's assume its fuel related.

You said that it dies after running hot.. that points to an overly rich mixture.

A cold bike runs better on a rich mixture but has difficulty running on the same once
it gets warm. Likewise, the same bike will have trouble starting when warm unless you
give it some extra air (by cracking the throttle open).

You can verify this by running the bike until its hot, cutting the engine and inspecting
the spark plugs. I bet you will find dry, sooty fouling one some of them.

Now assuming that the bike hasn't had any modification done to the carbs, the solution
is to adjust the idle mixture fine-tuning screw to lean out the idle mixture a bit.

We can help you with that procedure.

[zehrmacht]

If you check out the fuel issues and can find none, it may be electrical since you mentioned it happened after a heavy rain. A quick check of the voltage across the battery may show a symptom. See if it's getting at least 13.5v while running. Ideally it should increase to 14.5 at 5k rpm. It may be possible that it's running on battery power mostly?

[Loki388]

OK, its been a while, but I've been moving and unable to work on the bike. Replacing the petcock did nothing. I havn't checked the voltage at running, since the battery is currently dead, and I need to get a charger, hopefully today. After I changed the petcock, I push started it, and it ran for a while. This would seem like it is not running on battery power right? I've ran it until its warm, and then pulled the two outside plugs, and they were clean. I'm looking of for more suggestions, as the problem seems to be getting worse. Hopefully stuff I can check without tearing everything apart? Also, the carbs have not been re-done at least for as long as I've had the bike. Any suggestions and help is greatly appreciaed.

Thanks

[zehrmacht]

OK if it still gets spark after it dies, You've replaced the petcock the next step as others mentioned is the fuel circuits themselves in the carbs. At this point you will have to take the carbs apart. If it's possible, see if you can just remove one bowl while it's still on the bike. Then put the petcock on "Prime" so the gas flows freely. It SHOULD just pour out the gas out of the needle valve at the hinge point of the floats. That should tell you if a full carb cleanup is in order.

[Loki388]

OK, after a move, and a busy memorial day at work, I can post again. After some work based on suggestions here and BARF (www.bayarearidersforum.com), I replaced the petcock, push started it, and it died again. Then is sat for a while as I worked the Memorial Day rush. I am in the outdoor furinture industry, and that date = Christmas for us. So, I bought a charger, and went to start it, and no spark.

I borrowed a ohmeter, and tested the ignition system, and it SEEMED to start at the signal generator, so I ordered another one. Played some tetris getting it replaced, and the DAMN BIKE RUNS!!!

I've been riding for a week or so, railing the s* out of it, and everything seems solid.

Any pro's that can suggest good tests for (sometimes) faulty ignition gear can post guides for searches.

Anyway, Thanks to everybody's suggestions to help me fix the problem, I really do appreciate the help.

P.S. this is posted as (hopefully) new suggestion for newbs with similar problems.

P.P.S. Newb's: Don't assume replacing the signal generator will fix a problem similar problem to mine. The folks here have alot of good suggestions, and you should check the easy tests before you start paying money for parts.