.png "Powered by vBulletin")
THis may have been answered, but I am new, having difficulty...Fuel problem help Plz
First let me say that I am THRILLED
to have found this site! It is a wealth of information and I have learned a lot already.
I am having fuel problems and have muddled through the Old Q & A on fuel and have a bit of a better idea what my problem is. (But believe me it is still very muddy to me because mechanically I get by but don’t have a lot of knowledge in the area. I am a nurse, so a lot of the technical stuff is way over my head!)
The story is long, but please bear with me. I can see that there are a lot of people on this site that have the knowledge and experience I need.
I took the bike to the dealer, but after having it for two weeks, they basically told me it wasn’t worth fixing. Quoted me $477 in labor alone and then told me that the KBB value of the bike was only $500. They said that the carburetors would need to be cleaned and that it probably needed valve work. I believe the first part, but not the second. I don’t think there is anything wrong with the valves, but that is just a gut feeling.
Here’s the whole story.
I bought the bike in 2007. (From Craigslist BTW!) It was originally to be a shared bike between me and my son. We had both gotten our licenses that year through PAMSP, but I have since chickened out. I’ve decided I am a better passenger than driver. (I dropped it the first time I took it out and had a he#@ of a time getting it upright again. I did, but it was a challenge.)
It is a Suzuki 550GSE. It was a great bike. It ran great, except for an occasional starter issue. (It wouldn’t engage on occasion – so if I tapped the housing with a hammer- voila, she fired right up!)
Anyway the trouble all started this past Spring. My son took it off to college and ran it out of gas. (He didn’t realize that those 4 cylinders are very thirsty!) We put it on reserve. (It required a great deal of oomph! That lever probably had not been switched over in years!) We got it to the gas station, and home, but it had power issues. It dogged it up the mountain. (For those of you from PA, the BlueMountain – Route 309). It just did not have the power it had before. Also the rpms would drop down and it would stall and then be difficult to restart.
SO we started out with new spark plugs. The old ones were clean and not fouled in anyway. Also, we emptied the tank. It had a great deal of rust in the bottom. We replaced the inline filter and took off the petcock and cleaned the plastic filter screen in gasoline. (It was very dirty ½ way up the pipes.) We put it all back together and it helped somewhat, but the power was still not up to par and it would still stall.
My BF adjusted the screw on the petcock, (because the gas was not flowing from the tube and he felt it should because it is a gravity fed bike). Is that correct? I was reading something in the petcock thread that said something about needing vacuum from the engine to feed the gasoline. Or Is that just on newer models?
Anyway that only made matters worse. It didn’t want to start and if it did start, it would quickly stall. At one point, my BF and son were repeatedly trying to start it and it backfired very loudly. (I unfortunately was standing behind it at the time! OUCH!) Now it doesn’t want to kick over at all.
I ordered a Haynes manual on line and although helpful to a degree, it tells nothing about what the proper setting on the petcock screw should be.
All advice would be greatly appreciated.
1) What is the proper setting for the petcock screw?
2) Should I just replace the petcock all together?
3) I was reading in the archive about cleaning float chambers and pilot jets (yeah I have no idea what those are, but am sure I will soon find out!) and know I should do that.
4) The tank looks clean inside when you look down from the top, but it was full of rust. (Guess it was from the bottom….) Guess I should clean the tank. Any suggestions on the most effective way to do that? (I did read about using KREEM after it is clean also!)
Sooooo long story finally over, to sum it up, can anybody help??? Lol
Thanks so much for reading and I look forward to your suggestions!
to have found this site! It is a wealth of information and I have learned a lot already. I am having fuel problems and have muddled through the Old Q & A on fuel and have a bit of a better idea what my problem is. (But believe me it is still very muddy to me because mechanically I get by but don’t have a lot of knowledge in the area. I am a nurse, so a lot of the technical stuff is way over my head!)
The story is long, but please bear with me. I can see that there are a lot of people on this site that have the knowledge and experience I need.
I took the bike to the dealer, but after having it for two weeks, they basically told me it wasn’t worth fixing. Quoted me $477 in labor alone and then told me that the KBB value of the bike was only $500. They said that the carburetors would need to be cleaned and that it probably needed valve work. I believe the first part, but not the second. I don’t think there is anything wrong with the valves, but that is just a gut feeling.
Here’s the whole story.
I bought the bike in 2007. (From Craigslist BTW!) It was originally to be a shared bike between me and my son. We had both gotten our licenses that year through PAMSP, but I have since chickened out. I’ve decided I am a better passenger than driver. (I dropped it the first time I took it out and had a he#@ of a time getting it upright again. I did, but it was a challenge.)
It is a Suzuki 550GSE. It was a great bike. It ran great, except for an occasional starter issue. (It wouldn’t engage on occasion – so if I tapped the housing with a hammer- voila, she fired right up!)
Anyway the trouble all started this past Spring. My son took it off to college and ran it out of gas. (He didn’t realize that those 4 cylinders are very thirsty!) We put it on reserve. (It required a great deal of oomph! That lever probably had not been switched over in years!) We got it to the gas station, and home, but it had power issues. It dogged it up the mountain. (For those of you from PA, the BlueMountain – Route 309). It just did not have the power it had before. Also the rpms would drop down and it would stall and then be difficult to restart.
SO we started out with new spark plugs. The old ones were clean and not fouled in anyway. Also, we emptied the tank. It had a great deal of rust in the bottom. We replaced the inline filter and took off the petcock and cleaned the plastic filter screen in gasoline. (It was very dirty ½ way up the pipes.) We put it all back together and it helped somewhat, but the power was still not up to par and it would still stall.
My BF adjusted the screw on the petcock, (because the gas was not flowing from the tube and he felt it should because it is a gravity fed bike). Is that correct? I was reading something in the petcock thread that said something about needing vacuum from the engine to feed the gasoline. Or Is that just on newer models?
Anyway that only made matters worse. It didn’t want to start and if it did start, it would quickly stall. At one point, my BF and son were repeatedly trying to start it and it backfired very loudly. (I unfortunately was standing behind it at the time! OUCH!) Now it doesn’t want to kick over at all.
I ordered a Haynes manual on line and although helpful to a degree, it tells nothing about what the proper setting on the petcock screw should be.
All advice would be greatly appreciated.
1) What is the proper setting for the petcock screw?
2) Should I just replace the petcock all together?
3) I was reading in the archive about cleaning float chambers and pilot jets (yeah I have no idea what those are, but am sure I will soon find out!) and know I should do that.
4) The tank looks clean inside when you look down from the top, but it was full of rust. (Guess it was from the bottom….) Guess I should clean the tank. Any suggestions on the most effective way to do that? (I did read about using KREEM after it is clean also!)
Sooooo long story finally over, to sum it up, can anybody help??? Lol
Thanks so much for reading and I look forward to your suggestions!
). Put a few layers of plastic wrap under the gas cap to keep that part sealed. You're going to replace the petcock anyway so just leave that on. You can reclaim and re-use the evapo-rust if it hasn't turned black, which it shouldn't just de-rusting one tank.
! Although it is a very beautiful bike-black cherry custom with lots of chrome (and the newest of the lot
), I would prefer either of the 2 metrics anyday!!! I know it is a Sportster...and isn't expected to ride that great...but the da%ned thing rattles my bones!! Every bump goes straight up my spine! BF enjoys that one when he rides one up. (Fine by me!!)
") to see if we can take the carburators off as a unit to get underneath...(Yes I am chicken! I am avoiding a rebuild on those babies if I can help it...they scare me! LOL Also, I don't know how to rebuild or rejet..guess I could learn, but WOW what a job!)
Comment