Higher RPM problems.

[tkent02]

First do yourself a favor and add some diesel oil to her...

Do NOT add Diesel Oil, add motor oil for Diesel engines. Huge difference. Rotella from Walmart is great.
Don't ever use oil with the fuel conserving symbol on the label, it will ruin the clutch.
The oil issue is much bigger than how the bike runs, don't run it all until you take care of this.
Pay attention to how much oil it takes to bring the oil up to the correct level in the window. If it's more than a quart or two that may be important later.
Do you have an oil pressure light on your bike?
It's the red one between the gauges, it could be faded white.
This light should be on when the ignition switch first comes on, the light should go out when the engine is started.
If not, don't do ANYTHING else yet.

[rustybronco]

No, in neutral it has the same issue. I've cleaned the airbox and filter as well.

It has neither. It has a foam filter...

Did you clean and properly oil the foam element? (i.e. oil the element and squeeze out the excess oil)

[rkubik]

carb problem = main jets too big.

For some reason of they way they formulate gasoline today, it will run richer than you think with old-time jets. It's really not hard or costly to fix. Go to dealer, buy 4 of one jet size down and two jet sizes down.

When you have the carbs apart for cleaning and O-ring replacement (both very good ideas) you will see a large main jet screwed into the carb, usually right under the float bowl level lever. Unscrew, replace, and yer done.

I went down 2 jet sizes, and the very same problem just went away. I had 110 size main jets in my bike. Very same problem. After trying a whole bunch of other fixes, I went down one size to 105 - better - then down to 102.5 - great. Lots of snap and power, all the way to top revs.

Sounds ridiculous, but really it worked.

[SuzukiGS]

Do NOT add Diesel Oil, add motor oil for Diesel engines. Huge difference. Rotella from Walmart is great.
Don't ever use oil with the fuel conserving symbol on the label, it will ruin the clutch.
The oil issue is much bigger than how the bike runs, don't run it all until you take care of this.
Pay attention to how much oil it takes to bring the oil up to the correct level in the window. If it's more than a quart or two that may be important later.
Do you have an oil pressure light on your bike?
It's the red one between the gauges, it could be faded white.
This light should be on when the ignition switch first comes on, the light should go out when the engine is started.
If not, don't do ANYTHING else yet.

The light is red when the engine isn't running and turns off when it is running. Thats how it's suppose to work right?

And the filter was properly cleaned and re oiled.

And with the Jets, how hard is it to get to everything and how complicated is it? And how much did it change the sound of the bike? I want mine to be louder.

[tkent02]

The light is red when the engine isn't running and turns off when it is running. Thats how it's suppose to work right?

Good, you PROBABLY have not done any damage by running without the proper amount of oil.

And the filter was properly cleaned and re oiled.

Good.

And with the Jets, how hard is it to get to everything and how complicated is it? And how much did it change the sound of the bike?

Jets won't change the sound at all, except if jetted correctly it will sound like it's running correctly.
Why is the jetting off in the first place? Modifications? Carb problems? Carbs off a different size engine?
First you need to determine what jets if any you need. There are several jets in each carb, each do a different thing. What main jet is in there now? Pilot jet? Where are the needles set?

[Steve]

For some reason of they way they formulate gasoline today, it will run richer than you think with old-time jets. It's really not hard or costly to fix. Go to dealer, buy 4 of one jet size down and two jet sizes down. ... I went down 2 jet sizes, and the very same problem just went away. I had 110 size main jets in my bike. Very same problem. After trying a whole bunch of other fixes, I went down one size to 105 - better - then down to 102.5 - great. Lots of snap and power, all the way to top revs.

Sounds ridiculous, but really it worked.

Kinda scary in my book.

Most of our bikes are already borderline lean to meet the EPA regs. Leaning it out even further scares me. Also, "the way they formulate gasoline today", they add ethanol, but no more than 10%. You need MORE gas/ethanol to do the same job, so you would need larger jets to richen the mixture, not smaller ones to lean it. With the elevation in your area ranging from 3-5000 feet, you should be just about right with stock jets and ethanol fuel. I have not looked up what the stock jets are for your bike, but it's possible that a previous owner might have installed richer jets and you are just bringing it back to stock.

One thing you should DEFINITELY avoid, if it's available in your area, is E85 fuel, which is 85% ethanol. They leave just enough gas in the mix to light off the ethanol, but the jetting requirements are so different, our bikes could not handle it, even if we had the components that would stand up to the effects of the ethanol.

For those of us that are still running basically stock engines (as far as air filters and exhaust), maybe going up one size on the main jets and shimming the needle about the equivalent of one notch would bring it into a good mixture, so I am surprised at the suggestion to lean it down for better running.

82Shafty had a decent suggestion, here is another along the same idea: do whatever it takes to make it run "bad", then move your "choke". If it gets better, it's running lean, the "choke" is adding fuel to richen the mixture. Removing the filter as 82Shafty suggests will lean it out if it's running rich, so now you know how to check both sides of the mixture.

.

[chef1366]

Don't just start putting smaller jets in your carbs. Pull the spark plugs and take a good macro pic of them.

[SuzukiGS]

Okay guys, thanks for the tips. I'll try and look into that possibly within the next couple days. I bought some oil too! So I'll fill that up while i'm at it.

So you just want a pic of the piston head through the spark plug hole correct?

[Larry D]

Okay guys, thanks for the tips. I'll try and look into that possibly within the next couple days. I bought some oil too! So I'll fill that up while i'm at it.

So you just want a pic of the piston head through the spark plug hole correct?

No, take the spark plugs out. Line them up 1-4 and snap some macro photos.....of the spark plugs.

[Steve]

Here is what we want to see, but make it all four of YOUR plugs.



.

[82Shafty]

Kinda scary in my book.


82Shafty had a decent suggestion, here is another along the same idea: do whatever it takes to make it run "bad", then move your "choke". If it gets better, it's running lean, the "choke" is adding fuel to richen the mixture. Removing the filter as 82Shafty suggests will lean it out if it's running rich, so now you know how to check both sides of the mixture.

.

This is why I went the other way because applying some choke made no difference either way. It takes just a few minutes on the side of the road and can really narrow down which way the bike needs to be tuned.

This bike could have dried spaghetti for intake boot o-rings for all we know.

[82Shafty]

Do NOT add Diesel Oil, add motor oil for Diesel engines. Huge difference. .

I think you may have misunderstood it to mean diesel fuel.

Motorcraft 15-40 and Rotella 15-40 are not diesel fuels, but diesel ENGINE oils.... sometimes referred to as diesel oil or HDEO in the shop.

[tkent02]

I think you may have misunderstood it to mean diesel fuel.

Motorcraft 15-40 and Rotella 15-40 are not diesel fuels, but diesel ENGINE oils.... sometimes referred to as diesel oil or HDEO in the shop.

I didn't misunderstand, I didn't want him to misunderstand.

[SuzukiGS]

Hey guys, been awhile since i've been on here but I think it's time for an update.

So I looked at the bike a whole lot over the weekend and noticed a crap load of wires unattached and plugged them all back in where they went. I completely dissambled the gas tank and petcock and cleaned it and sealed it and then put new hoses on the petcock. Well guess what? SHE RUNS! I'm not sure exacty what was wrong, if just maybe the jets were clogged and whatever was in there passed through or something in my petcock, new oil or what, but I don't care. All I know is that it runs again! Thanks for the help, I really appriciated it.

[Speedo]

"He who knows not and knows he knows not knows more than he who knows not and knows not he knows not...."

SuzukiGS - there is no shame in being ignorant/not knowledgeable; we all had to start somewhere.

This thread is like listening to a French guy trying to talk to the Swahili Tribe (in a most funny/entertaining way mind you). We all assume you can understand Swahili.

Sometimes the mechanical advance can get sticky/rusty and a shot of cleaner and lube will get it moving smoothly.

reply:

No, in neutral it has the same issue. I've cleaned the airbox and filter as well.

Translation in Suz GS's mind: "mechanical advance = 'bike is going'; "neutral" = 'bike ain't going'

So not surprisingly, in this later exchange:

Now, when you had the carbs apart did you check to make sure the correct jets were in there ?

I never took the carbs apart. I'm too afraid to try and do that

SuzukiGS dude: be afraid. You still have a lot to learn. It's ok. It's ok to "punt" if something is out of your league and employ a good mechanic once in a while Even guys like me who have rebuilt car carbs and done all kinds of other manner of wrenching are allowed to "punt".

Hey guys, been awhile since i've been on here but I think it's time for an update.

So I looked at the bike a whole lot over the weekend and noticed a crap load of wires unattached and plugged them all back in where they went. I completely dissambled the gas tank and petcock and cleaned it and sealed it and then put new hoses on the petcock. Well guess what? SHE RUNS! I'm not sure exacty what was wrong, if just maybe the jets were clogged and whatever was in there passed through or something in my petcock, new oil or what, but I don't care. All I know is that it runs again! Thanks for the help, I really appriciated it.

I'm glad she runs better. Problem is: you have no idea why (and don't care and I can absolutely appreciate that). You broke the cardinal rule of mechanical problem solving (so note for future reference): do ONE thing at a time so you can isolate the problem.

To wit, any wires that were unattached (which wires? We don't need to know, you need to know) that could contribute to how the bikes runs, if unattached would cause the bike to not run at all (e.g. coils, DynaS) or would not have any short-term effect (e.g. RR wires, Stator wires), so my guess is that whatever wires you plugged in had nothing to do with the problem.

Rust from gas tank and/or petcock certainly could have caused the problem, and like a kidney stone, can "pass" and all is well again (if you're lucky and sounds like you were; I have personally experienced this as well). What did you do to "seal" and "clean" the gas tank?

Do yourself, your now fine running bike, and us one more favor: get 4 new spark plugs, install, remove old plugs and post of pic of the 4 old ones. Guys like Steve, Chef, and TKent are awesome - listen to them and they will help you both learn and keep your bike running great.

BTW, Spectro motorcycle oils are excellent (but pricey) as well. Have used Golden Spectro for 20+ years, no problems.