Choke not staying in place (1980 GS1100ex wont idle)

[Anonymous]

Just finished reassembling my bike after replacing a float in carb 4, and now when i start the bike at best it is slowly losing idle until it dies.

the choke cable when I pull it back will slide its way back down to base, not sure why its not staying in the place where i put it.

Additional things to note is that the tubes connecting the carbs to the airbox are not completely flush with the airbox due to too distance between the carbs and the airbox.

Please could use some help on how to get this bike back up and running.

[KEITH KRAUSE]

If your choke pull is like mine, take off the rubber pad on the bars, lift up the rubber dust cap just below the pull knob plunger. You will see a plastic knurled adjuster ring. Turn this ring clockwise, just enough so the plunger works like you want it to.

[Anonymous]

It's colder out now so it may just be your idle setting. I forgot I had one a few weeks ago so I was just about ready to go into the carbs to see what was gummed up. :roll:

Cheers, Steve

[dpep]

The problem with the your sliding choke is very common. You could just hold the choke in position with your left hand except you need to hold the clutch in because of the interlock.

I made a loop out of a plastic cable-tie which I use to hold in the clutch lever leaving my left hand free to work the choke. Once the bike is strarted I remove the loop and drop it over the choke grip to carry. I usually keep two or three loops there just to make sure I have one when needed.

I did not want to disconnect my clutch interlock because I know me well enough to accept that I really can't be trusted to never hit the starter button while in gear.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone ever remember a problem with a choke lever, when it was on the side of the carb? If they had left it own on the carbs, where it ought to be, this would not be a problem. but then we would never buy a choke cable either. That's my opinion, and it ought to be yours !!!!!

[Anonymous]

I can sell you a far from mint GS400E with that style of choke. Hmm, let's say 2,000USD. Scotty can vouch for me on the cost of the mod, he's done it on his 1100. I think he uses the hole in his steering stem to transport roses to his lovers. 8)

Steve

[KEITH KRAUSE]

Plastic cable ties? Are you loopy?
Adjusting a loose choke pull is simple, as I described. Unless yours is broken.

[Anonymous]

well being the bonehead that i am, i got my choke lever frozen in the slide, so i pulled out the choke cable and ended up breaking the piece that cause friction in the slide. Bah! every time i try to fix something i end up breaking something else lol.

[first timer]

just ride the bike in the rain a couple times, i had made the mistake of oiling mine and it sucks. i noticed that after some rides in the rain on the highway behing trucks and stuff you get some of that grime and stuff to work its way into the cable and it makes it stick just enough.
try spraying brake cleaner into the cable see if that washes out any oils and stuff.

ryan

[Anonymous]

Thanks Kieth

Everyone should thank Keith for his technically correct response. The rest of us while creative, might want to find a good mechanic.
On to your second problem ... the misfit carbs. They're not flush due to a rotation of the rubber flanges that connect the carb body to the air box. in other words ... they're misaligned. Not serious unless there's a gap between the flange and the carb body. Next time you have the carbs out simply rotate the flanges to the correct position (flush if you set them on a level surface).
As rubber gets old it dries out (shrinks) which caused the flanges to loosen in the airbox (and subsequently rotate). You can reduce the rate rubber dries out by massaging silicone grease into the piece in question (sparingly).

Thanks Keith

Kurt Worden

[gremlin]

just ride the bike in the rain a couple times, i had made the mistake of oiling mine and it sucks. i noticed that after some rides in the rain on the highway behing trucks and stuff you get some of that grime and stuff to work its way into the cable and it makes it stick just enough.
try spraying brake cleaner into the cable see if that washes out any oils and stuff.

ryan

brake cleaner will eat some plastics and rubber compounds. just a worning. soaking in alcohol will take the oil out. get a plastic bucket and a basting bulb and keep running the alcohol thru the cable till its cleaned out.

[Anonymous]

Bike Update

Well i came back to the bike several days later and started it up, with a little choke it started idling by itself and then i turned the choke off and it seemed it idle fine. I then proceeded to take it for a test ride, 5 minutes in it started to have the same problem of idle until it dies, sometimes it would refuse to start back up again. I was able to let it sit for a few minutes then i started it up again and by keeping it at high rpm was able to ride it home.

Additional info: The bike was also became increasingly hard to shift i dont know if they would be connected problems but i found myself sometimes unable to shift into neutral or other gears.

[earlfor]

Re: Bike Update

I have found a leaking petcock and/or leaking float bowls to result in hard shifting. Gas in the crankcase oil can cause the clutch plates to not disengage freely making shifting and particularly locating neutral difficult.
Very old or dirty oil will also cause shifting difficulty and binding.

Earl

Additional info: The bike was also became increasingly hard to shift i dont know if they would be connected problems but i found myself sometimes unable to shift into neutral or other gears.

[Anonymous]

would large amounts of gas in the oil cause the engine not to run right also?

[KEITH KRAUSE]

Next time the bike is warmed up, put it on the centerstand and check your oil level at the site glass. If it's been on the sidestand you'll get a false read. Take off the cap and smell for gas. Any doubts at all, change the oil. But you'll need to check the petcock for leaking. When the diaphragm in these things starts to fail they can do so intermittently, sometimes depending on temperature. You can try taking off the fuel line at the petcock and temporarily put on a pinched line or a line running to a jar. Let it sit overnight and see if the line or jar has ANY fuel in it. Like I said these things sometimes leak only when they want to, so you may want to check more than once.