Should i be horrified?

[Kitten Tooth]

I just put together a 1982 GS300L D model that has been asleep for over 20 years. I tried to start it today when i reinstalled the carbs. I hit the button and the bike turned over but it didn't want to fire. I know that there is a spark but it just wouldn't fire. I covered the air intake side of the carburetor with my hand and it started to backfire a little bit. It backfired really loud at one point and i saw a little flame come out of the exhaust. It continued to pop and backfire for a little while but then it stopped. Now theres oil and gas all over the ground under my bike. I heard that if you leave the bike on prime for a while, it will commonly spill gas and oil on the ground under your bike but i only had the prime on for maybe 15 minutes to a half hour when i was trying to start it. Im beginning to think that when the bike backfired really loud and i saw the flame, i may have damaged my engine or something. What do you guys think?

[hikermikem]

You only need to be on Prime for maybe 5 min max - that's plenty of time to gravity fill the bowls... 30 mins might have been long enough to overflow on the ground. Don't know why you would have oil there?? Should only be fuel.

[hikermikem]

did you pull a plug & was it wet with fuel?

[first timer]

you bike will run like crap without the airbox and filter installed. Try installing those and see if it runs a little smoother. Like said you don't need to run the petcock on prime the whole time just the first 5 minutes or so. It wouldn't hurt to change the oil just incase you dumped a bunch of gas down the engine with prime left on. Just get the cheapest non engergy saving oil you can find and run that for a few miles and chage it out again. It helps flush the motor since its been sitting so long

[tkent02]

you bike will run like crap without the airbox and filter installed. Try installing those and see if it runs a little smoother. Like said you don't need to run the petcock on prime the whole time just the first 5 minutes or so. It wouldn't hurt to change the oil just incase you dumped a bunch of gas down the engine with prime left on. Just get the cheapest non engergy saving oil you can find and run that for a few miles and chage it out again. It helps flush the motor since its been sitting so long

15 seconds or so is enough to fill the carbs with fuel.

[Steve]

you bike will run like crap without the airbox and filter installed. Try installing those and see if it runs a little smoother.

A quick alternative is to fold a shop rag in half and drape it over the carb intakes.
Use zip-ties to hold it to the carbs and you can even go for a ride around the block.
This is not accurate enough to do any jetting checks, though.

.

[argonsagas]

As said above 15 seconds or so is enough to fill the carbs with fuel.

Even with carbs properly set-up they can stick sometimes, so leaving it on PRI for longer than that when the engine is not running is NOT recommended.

Even a dribble that continues for thirty minutes can put a fair amount of overflow gas into the engine.

[Kitten Tooth]

Cool thanks guys im gonna do a compression test on the engine to see if its at 120 LBS or more. ill change the oil AGAIN and il try to get it running. Thanks for all of the info. ill post pics of the bike when its in running condition.

[tkent02]

You didn't hurt anything. Change the oil and don't do it again.

[Steve]

Change the oil and don't do it again.

I think he means "don't leave it in PRIME again", not "don't change the oil again".

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[chef1366]

I would check compression. Sounds like the cam timing is off.