1980 GS550ET Just Purchased and now its time to go to work

[Anonymous]

Alright folks, My name is Joshua and I'm new to this forum. I'm new to suzuki GS's but I love them already. I just bought this bike its an original owner bike with 36,000 miles. The bike is very very clean, never been down or anyting and all stock. Now, the owner told me that cylinder #3 has no compression and that he is 99% sure that the exhaust valve is burned. He told me that the intake manifolds were cracked and rotted and that he did not realize this until it had been sucking air into that cylinder and therefore running lean. Has anyone here had this similar issue? The bike is def. missing but it runs down the road alright but does not idle at all. You have to keep the rpms up to keep her going. If you let it go below 2K it dies. What do you think? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Joshua
Clemson, SC
1980 GS550ET[/img]

[dgeorge]

Joshua, It sounds like the PO was very honest with you. If the intake boots are cracked it will suck air and run lean, which in turn can burn valves. If you are going to do the work yourself, first thing get a factory service manuel, or at the very least a haynes or clymer's manuel for you bike. I think there are a set of intake and exhaust valves on ebay right now for a 550. Do a search on ebay motors under motorcycles/asain/ suzuki GS. There are a great bunch of guys here that will be more then willing to help you out with any problems that you might run into. Good luck with your project, I just finished redoing the top end on my GS1100GK and I am fixing to take it for the first real test ride so I'm out of here. Happy 4th.

[Anonymous]

thanks for the info, already! One other idea/question

Is there anyone or a company who has the heads for this bike that are setup and ready for installation that I could buy and then just send them my old ones? Also, what is the going rate for having a valve job done if I bring or send the heads to someone?

[Anonymous]

what heads will fit my motor?

What if I purchase a head from another bike? What years will fit? Also, are the 550E motors the same as the 550L?

[Wingnut]

A burnt valve is no big deal really. It seems to me the cheapest way would be to pull the head, take it to a machine shop and let them do the valves, replacing the bad one. Most of them will even set the valve clearance for you if you give them the cams. The most important part would be to make sure the intake system has new O-rings and rubber intake tubes as required to prevent future occurance. The biggest part of the job is to pull the head and reinstall it and you can't get around that part of it.

bob

[Anonymous]

What about replacement parts and other issues?

Thanks Bob, for your reply. I am willing to pull the heads on my own and everyone seems to agree that this is the cheapest way to get the problem fixed. I think my rubber carb connectors are good because the previous owner replaced them when he realized that one had rotted. I found a valve on EBAY listed as an "NOS" GS 550 intake (and another auction for exhaust) valve, is this the only place to find them cheap? I have not bought anything yet because I want to test compression first to make sure that that is the problem. Is the burnt valve also the cause for the bike not idling at all? Should I replace other parts while I'm in the top end?

Thanks for all of your help!