air leak in carb boots

[grayskull]

My boots intake boots are leaking on #2 and #3 carbs.Creating a poping in the carbs and in the pipes.Someone sugested to me to pull the carbs off and wipe some black rtv sealant on the inside of the boots.Then clamp them down and let it dry.This is suppose to seal the air leak...What you guys think?

[Nessism]

Have you ever replaced the O-rings? If the boots themselves are cracked, replace them.

[bwringer]

Replace the intake boots and o-rings -- all four of them.

There is no other way, there are no shortcuts, and there are no sealants that will withstand the heat and gasoline vapor. RTV turns into useless goo in just a few minutes. You name it, it's been tried.

We've all been there and done that -- it's part of the GS experience!

You should also replace the boots between the airbox and the carbs. These get nasty, shrunken, and hard over the years.

I think we've discussed the ancient GS shaftie ritual of sealing the airbox and air filter, so make sure you take care of that, too.

And please, take care of this ASAP PDQ before your bike burns the exhaust valves. This can get very messy and expensive. Guess how I know...

[feelergaugephil]

Replace the intake boots and o-rings -- all four of them.

There is no other way, there are no shortcuts, and there are no sealants that will withstand the heat and gasoline vapor. RTV turns into useless goo in just a few minutes. You name it, it's been tried.

We've all been there and done that -- it's part of the GS experience!

You should also replace the boots between the airbox and the carbs. These get nasty, shrunken, and hard over the years.

I think we've discussed the ancient GS shaftie ritual of sealing the airbox and air filter, so make sure you take care of that, too.

And please, take care of this ASAP PDQ before your bike burns the exhaust valves. This can get very messy and expensive. Guess how I know...

Bwinger, you beat me to it..............
Guys, anything to do with the air intake just REPLACE the dang parts, they are still available.

[paintmann111]

Not to overtake this thread, but I didn't get any answers to my thread. Anywho, I just rebuilt my GS650G engine and got it all together. I bench synched my carbs and started the bike up. It started fine and ran smooth. Then, it seems when the bike warms up, the idle starts to increase up to about 3-4k and stays there. It doesn't increase anymore, unless I add choke. Basically the bike idles at 4k. Could this be an airleak somewhere? Its a stock gs650G, except for the kerker 4 to 1 pipe, with no baffle. I have the carb air/fuel screws set 2 turns out.

[Suzuki_Don]

Not to overtake this thread, but I didn't get any answers to my thread. Anywho, I just rebuilt my GS650G engine and got it all together. I bench synched my carbs and started the bike up. It started fine and ran smooth. Then, it seems when the bike warms up, the idle starts to increase up to about 3-4k and stays there. It doesn't increase anymore, unless I add choke. Basically the bike idles at 4k. Could this be an airleak somewhere? Its a stock gs650G, except for the kerker 4 to 1 pipe, with no baffle. I have the carb air/fuel screws set 2 turns out.

Did you replace the carb to cylinder head boots and the intake "O" rings. If not you will need to do it. Same advice as given above.

[paintmann111]

No, and this leads me to another question. How did you guys get them off? They are the phillips screws and impossible to get off without striping them...
Also, how does the air leak cause it to idle high only after the bike reaches operating temps, and not before?

[kparkfan]

paintmann111
use a hand impact wrench to get the screws out , or do it like i did the hard way and get a pair of vise grips on the head and give it a turn. soak them good in some pb blaster first. dont know much about 4/1 pipes but i think i have read somewhere that you may need to re-jet your carbs for this?

[paintmann111]

It may have been rejetted, IDK, but it ran fine before the rebuild, until one of the exhaust valves split in half. Its all good now, just the idle problem. I'll give that a shot. I was also thinking about using a phillips screw driver with a pair of vice grips. Put the screw drive on the screw, then vice grips on the screw driver to form a crude version of an allen key. I used it to get my master cylinder screws out once and it worked because of the extra leverage.

[kparkfan]

yeah that might work but those screws are soft and will strip in a heart beat. after you get them out replace them with stainless steele allen head screws. so much easier to get out next time.

[paintmann111]

can I get them at any hardware store?

[bodnarjw]

I just got my allen head stainless bolts from cycleorings.com Also got the viton o ring that goes between the rubber boot and the motor from him too.

Easy transaction and great stuff.

-Jim

[bwringer]

can I get them at any hardware store?

If you're talking about the o-rings, no. They're made from a special heat-resistant rubber called Viton. Hardware store o-rings are Buna-N, which is great for many applications, but will very quickly break down in the heat.

If you're talking about the stainless steel allen head screws (more properly called socket head cap screws), most real hardware stores will have them (they're usually 6 X 16mm or 6 X 20mm). Just keep in mind that the big box home stores are NOT hardware stores, and stock little to no metric anything.

[paintmann111]

Yeah, I was talking about the allen screws. I already have the o-rings. I have a "real" hardware store near by that has tons of different types of screws, just needed the size. Thanks,

Chris