Cold natured gs or just contrary

[1980gs1100l]

Ok this morning in texas was bout 45 was going to reach 75 so i decided to ride to work so i adorned my gear and proceded out the door to my newely wed 1980 gs1100l pulled the choke pushed the started button she hit and immediately died pushed the choke in she hit again and immediately died i did thes series over and over until i ran the battery down fed up i drove my honda it appears to me that there is no setting in between i could set the choke she would run on her own u try to apply throttle and she bog down like she was cold do i need to try and clean and set the carbs maybe and do i need to worry bout fetting them outta synk thanks

[first timer]

If i was you and this is a new bike to you, I would pull the carbs apart, follow the carb clean series, and put it all together.

A properly set GS will fire right up when it is freezing out and settle into a nice idle with in a few minutes. I wouldn't worry about messing up the synce since it is probably already off and needs to be reset once you get all new o-rings for the carbs.

[BassCliff]

Hi,

How clean are the carbs? How new are the intake boots and O-rings? How new is the air filter? Are there leaks in the air intake system? Are you using the stock airbox? How does the spark look? What is the voltage at the coils? Have you cleaned every electrical connection and ground on the entire bike? Have the valves been adjusted? What's the compression? Do you have a new petcock? Are you using an inline fuel filter?


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[SqDancerLynn1]

When your GS is cold NEVER use the throdle, just use the choke to vary the RPM

[rphillips]

Hey Cliff!!! You forgot to ask if there was fuel in the tank.

[spyug]

GS bikes are cold blooded but as the others have said if set up properly will fire with a minimum of fuss.

Cliff gives you the high points. Properly set valves and clean carbs with airtight intake manifolds are a must so check these first.

Spark, of course is also crucial so I'd recommend doing the coil relay mod to insure you are getting full voltage to the coils. With an older possibly weaker battery, there is often enough juice to turn the crank but no much left to fire the plugs. The relay mod does wonders to sort this. Highly recommend it.

Doing these little things will sort your starting problems or I'll eat my helmet

Let us know how you make out.

Cheers,
Spyug

[Gumbo76]

Plugs???

I had a similar problem. Only my GS550 was idling normal on full choke. If I gave it ANY throttle, it died. I changed the plugs and drained the float bowls...

Worked! Now she starts up first shot and I can turn the Choke off within a minute. Try that out. See if it helps. You never know. I was Praying i wouldn't have to pull the Carbs off and rebuild... Someday I will, but for now, I just want to ride, and she purrs, like a kitten. I'm not an expert, but I'd give that a try first... Worst case scenario, you have new plugs and still have to rebuild the carbs.

If you are new to this site, you'll find a ton of people who are very knowledgable and are willing to lend a hand with advice and what-not. take advantage of the "Resources" on here.

Good luck!

[rudy]

My GS1K started right up in the dead of Canadian winter (about -15 celcius that night). Valves in spec, new carb boots, even forgot to plug the vacuum port on carb 3, but it still started and ran fine right away. I've heard from some folks that these bikes will NOT start with the vacuum port open, let alone run smoothly or well since #3 is esentially dead. Guess I proved them wrong.

The point is, you've likely got something out of whack. Valve clearances and dirty carbs should be first on your list of stuff to check. They're easy to do and there's a wealth of info on this site about doing these. You'll probably find it to be a completely different bike afterwards.