New owner of 1978 gs550e

[dbock57]

Hi,
I was just given a bike and the guy said you had to run full choke when it is cold out. Well today it was 69 degrees and I could only get it to start on full choke and it would run about 10-15 seconds and shut off. I checked the petcock like it said on one of the forums and it seems ok.I would guess that the carbs are clogged up and was just wondering if I should try to clean and rebuild them or have someone do it that knows what they are doing.Is it just a matter of teardown, clean and rebuild or do you have to do float settings and air/fuel adjustments and all that high tech. stuff ? I really appreciate any input. Thanks

[tkent02]

Hi,
I was just given a bike and the guy said you had to run full choke when it is cold out. Well today it was 69 degrees and I could only get it to start on full choke and it would run about 10-15 seconds and shut off. I checked the petcock like it said on one of the forums and it seems ok.I would guess that the carbs are clogged up and was just wondering if I should try to clean and rebuild them or have someone do it that knows what they are doing.Is it just a matter of teardown, clean and rebuild or do you have to do float settings and air/fuel adjustments and all that high tech. stuff ? I really appreciate any input. Thanks

It's a do it yourself thing, easy except there's four of them, you don't need a rebuild kit.

There's nothing high tech, this is a 1978 bike remember?

Here's most of what you need to know:

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/images/vm_carb_rebuild.pdf

[dbock57]

Thanks for such a quick response.I will look the link over and see how hard it looks.

[Maddog209]

Post pictures when you can. I, too, have a 550E

[ShortyzKustomz]

Another 78 550E too, sounds like yours is better shape then mine

[dbock57]

sea foam

I just read somewhere else that a guy unhooked his fuel line from the tank and injected sea foam directly into the carbs and ran the engine off of it. Then he let the carbs fill and let it set for 3 days and reconnected the tank and filled it and started the bike and all his carb problems dissapeared and it ran great.He called it a cheap carb rebuild.Does this sound possible without damaging the plastic parts and o-rings and would it help varnish buildup or stuck valves in the carb?

[paco13]

Nothing beats tearing them down, but I have used the direct sea-foam feed method just to get a bike running after a sit. Sometimes you get lucky sometimes you don't.

[Larry D]

Welcome !!

Here's most of what you need to know.........
There's something to be said for doing things correctly the first time.

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/images/vm_carb_rebuild.pdf

Check out BassCliff's site too. Tons of info there. Such as, how to adjust your valves and a downloadable manual for your bike.

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/

[tkent02]

I just read somewhere else that a guy unhooked his fuel line from the tank and injected sea foam directly into the carbs and ran the engine off of it. Then he let the carbs fill and let it set for 3 days and reconnected the tank and filled it and started the bike and all his carb problems dissapeared and it ran great.He called it a cheap carb rebuild.Does this sound possible without damaging the plastic parts and o-rings and would it help varnish buildup or stuck valves in the carb?

It might depending on what's wrong in the carb. Won't fix tattered O rings or broken pilot screws. It really is a good idea to do it right so you know what's inside.