GS550T low idle and no start with starter when hot

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  • Anonymous
    #1

    GS550T low idle and no start with starter when hot

    I am new to this 1981 GS550T so please forgive my extreme noobosity.

    The bike starts fine when cold. Just pull the choke and touch the starter. When it finally warms up the idle is very, very low. After riding for a while, coming to a stop the bike will stall unless giving it some throttle. After it stalls, it will not start again with the starter. I have to get it moving and pop the clutch.

    A friend of mine tells me this is indicitive of the carb "idle circuitry" being clogged. He said they need to be pulled and cleaned.

    Now, this bike only has about 10500miles and most likely sat for a bit, so I suspect the carbs do need a good cleaning. However, when it is running, it runs great. Is it possiable to get away with turning up the idle to aleviate the stalling, and run some carb cleaner in several tanks of gas to take care of my problem. The nasty stuff has to break down eventually, right? Im not lazy, or against doing things right, however, I just got this bike and would prefer to ride it, than to take off all 4 carbs, clean, replace and adjust.

    Thanks for any advice.
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    • Billy Ricks
      #2
      It's not going to hurt to set the idle up and use injector cleaner in a few tanks of gas. Depending on how varnished up things are it may do the trick.

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        • Anonymous
          #3
          Billy,
          Thanks for the fast reply. I was hoping that would be the case. Do you have a recommendation on a particular brand or type of injector/carb cleaner? Is my "no start when hot" problem indicative of dirty carbs?
          Thanks.

            Comment

            • Billy Ricks
              #4
              It's more than likely carb related. Have you tried giving it a little choke when you try to restart? It may give you enough fuel to help. Try Sea-foam if you can find it or Chevron's with either Techron or Techroline. You can use alot more of the cleaner than they recommend and not hurt anything.

              You can check and see if the idle screws have the tamper proof caps pulled out. They are on the top side of the carbs closest to the cylinders. If they are you can carefully remove the screws and spray with a spray type cleaner down through the circuit. Run the screws in first and lightly seat them counting the turns so you know where to put them again. Maybe even run a small guage wire through the passage. It is a very small port inside the carb, so you need really light, stiff wire. There should be a small spring, a tiny metal washer, and an o-ring on each screw. I'd drain the carbs afterwards if I did this.

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                • TheBigRed
                  #5
                  Originally posted by bleech1
                  Is my "no start when hot" problem indicative of dirty carbs?
                  Thanks.
                  There are other possable problems that could cause this. One is a bad battery (my 550 would do the same thing if the warming up was only like 10 min, or just a short ride down the road, but after 15+ miles of driving it wouldn't be an issue as the charging system was able to re-charge the battery back up to it's propper level)

                  Also could be that the resistance in your starter is too high when it has warmed up with the engine.

                  just my .02 worth.

                  Amos

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                    • Anonymous
                      #6
                      Thanks for all the info. I bought a can of Sea-Foam today and dumped half of it (8oz) in the tank and filled up. Bike ran fine, didnt stall...untill...it started to rain. Also, I negelected to mention that it was raining the first and only other time I rode it, when I experienced the problem.

                      So...maybe the rain has something to do with it. Ive yet to take it out for a dry ride of any length.

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                        • Anonymous
                          #7
                          Same problem, what happened

                          Hi There, I have noticed the same problem with my bike that I just purchased, any luck? If so, what did you do?

                          Thanks.

                            Comment

                            • Anonymous
                              #8
                              Re: Same problem, what happened

                              Originally posted by BRON
                              Hi There, I have noticed the same problem with my bike that I just purchased, any luck? If so, what did you do?

                              Thanks.
                              Havent been on the board in while, so sorry for the late reply. Finally got around to isolating this problem and turned out to just be loose cables at the battery terminals. The GS seems to be running and starting great.

                              How's it comming with your problem? Definatly check your electrical system if you haven't already.

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