It's alive, but idles too high

[Anonymous]

Just finished changing head gasket, and the bike finally fired up. But now, it idles at around 3500 rpm. I took it for a spin around the parking lot and it seems as if the throttle was on. When I was in first gear, if I let on the gas, the bike is still running very fast (as if I am still holding throttle). I can visually see the idle cable and the throttle cable and I can tell that both wires are loose. So, I don't think I need to adjust those two. What else could it be?

Thanks for any suggestions.

[Anonymous]

well I played with idle screw and the bike ran fine. Then I restarted it and it idels again at around 2300 rpm

Ugh.... Running out of the ideas.

Neb

[Anonymous]

I had a loose carb boot hose clamp that caused it to suck air and boosted the RPM's to 3000 on my GS450. Tightened that up and it seemed to help. Maybe you've got an air leak somewhere.

[Anonymous]

Here are a few things that come to mind:
-petcock hose is loose
-carbs aren't sync'd
-valves aren't set
-choke is stuck

Steve

[earlfor]

Do you mean you adjusted the mixture screws or that you adjusted the idle adjustment knob?

Earl

well I played with idle screw and the bike ran fine. Then I restarted it and it idels again at around 2300 rpm

Ugh.... Running out of the ideas.

Neb

[Anonymous]

Thanks to everyone for the ideas. I played with idle screw, the one coming down from the middle of carburators. (in between 2 and 3).

I think I might have an air leak. I will try replacing most of the hoses and see what happens. I am also concerned with the air box it self. It is missing one of the plastic gaskets that goes under the chrome cover. I can't find it anywhere, bike bandit doesn't show them, and my local dealer could not find that part existing at all. I also think that air filter is not sitting thight in the box....

I could not belive that such small things would make such a great difference, but you made me a beliver.

Anyway, I'll try all this and let you know what happens. Once again thanks for great comments.

Neb

[Anonymous]

Its probably on the manifold side.

Your leak is probably on the manifold side. Loose boot to carb clamps. Or worn boots. Or leaky O-rings between the maniflod boots, and the engine.

As long as you have the leak the idle will change evey time the bike gets cold or warms up.

If your leak was on the box, or filter side it would just run bad.

[KEITH KRAUSE]

chrisdnoel is exactly right. As the engine warms up, the rpm's rise. Then you turn down the idle but it won't start the next time it's cold.
Tighten all your manifold clamps and make sure the carbs "popped" in correctly. If that does'nt fix it, the manifold o-ring(s) are leaking. If you have access to the manifold bolts, torque them to about 6ft/lb. If they still leak, you'll need new o-rings. They're cheap. Put some hi-temp bearing grease on them to help them last and torque to 6 ft/lb. Overtorquing just shortens the life of the o-rings.

[Anonymous]

A mistake that I made when I rebuilt my bike was there are 2 ways to route the cable into the hand throttle. There are 2 places that the cable can snap in...one holds the throttle open a bit when the throttle is completely relaxed (the wrong one)..........the other one (the right one) lets the butterflies snap shut like they are supposed to.