83 gs550 es wont start!?

[Anonymous]

hey all!

i love my bike, but i dont think it likes me. when i test rode it, it ran great. took it home and i discovered how fun it is to leave the petcock in prime and had a few other issues come up. took it back to the guys house i bought it from and we did a few things and swapped carbs and *bam* ran great again. even took it for a decent test drive. loaded it up in the truck and i tipped the bike over and it put a nice dent in the gas tank. got it home and the she wouldnt start!!!!

here is what ive done so far; checked fuel lines, checked the bowls to see if it had fuel (they did), watched fuel flow in the lines, good fuel filter, vaccum line on the petcock and carbs connected, spark plugs were all dry, spark plugs sparked, no fuel sputtered out of the cylinders when i tried to start with the plug out, and i think thats about it. it would occasionaly start but as soon as i gave it a lil gas it would die. playing around with the choke didnt seem to help either.

im all new to motorcycles and carbs, so any advice would be appreciated!

second question, on the handlebars looks to be 2 air valves. on the way home one of the straps was squishing one and it looked like it leaked a little oil and would hiss when i compressed the shocks. do i need to pump some air into them? i tested the other one and it didnt have any air pressue in it either. im not exactley sure what to do with them!

thanks again

[Anonymous]

PlaneCrazy wrote on another thread"One more thing that you may or may not be aware of ... even in perfect running condition, a lot of our GS's tend to be difficult to start when cold. My '80 550L, for example, with factory rebuilt carbs (several times over the years) has always been difficult to start cold. The ONLY, I repeat, ONLY way that bike starts cold is with the choke pulled completely out (and I mean tugged tight) and crank the bike over repeatedly without giving any gas at all.

It got slightly better when I upgraded the ignition with high performance electronic parts (although my bike already had electronic ignition), but it is a very finicky bike. I tend to agree with most of the others that there is still a problem with your carbs, but even after it's solved don't be too surprised if you still have to fully choke the motor and crank a bit to get it to start.

Keep in mind, when you spray starting fluid in, you're probably balancing the air/fuel mixture or even slightly flooding the motor with readily flammable fuel, but once it burns out even if you're getting fuel flow from the carbs there may be too much air in the mixture, SO make absolutely sure that you've choked it as much as you can...

Hope this helps, and good luck!

Steve
_________________
'80 GS550L w/Dyna S, Accel coils/wires, backrest, windshield, home-made "cooler" trunk, Just acquired two "Shafties!" An '83 GS1100G with numerous upgrades and an '82 GS1100G parts bike in "close to running" condition!
Quoted this because it may apply. GS's are as a rule rather cold blooded.
Make sure your choke really is working. Also, make sure you have enough gas in your tank. Silly, but I just went through this on the girl's bike.
The air valves on your forks are just that. Teledraulic forks are supposed to be airtight, and the trapped air in the tube functions as a spring. In most forks this air pressure is adjusted by varying the oil level in the forks, but Suzuki gives you this valve to allow more variation. Yes, the forks should carry some air pressure but adjusting this is a little tricky. Suzuki makes a special tool for this. You can do it with a low pressure air gauge and some patiience. but the tool is better. Your owner's or other manual will give you exact directions and specific pressures for your forks.
There is a definite relationship between fork pressure, shock preload and handling, so experiment to find what suits your riding style best. Don't overpressurize your forks, or you will blow the seals, and start them leaking.
Oh, and if one of the valves is leaking you should fix it. It is important that the air pressure be the same in both fork tubes. The likely culprit in a leak is the valve core, which is the same as the cores in your tire valves and can be easily replaced.

[Anonymous]

thanks for the info! choke doesnt help. the bike has alway fired right up cold.

i need to find an owners manual, sounds like ill find answers to lots of my questions there! anyone have an extra?

[Anonymous]

Check the gas tank vent. I had a similar problem on my 77 gs550 turnes out my gas tank vent which happens to be in the gas cap on mine was clogged up causing a vacuum in my tank whick suckes fuel back in to the tank. I cleaned out the vent in the cap no problem.

[Anonymous]

checked the gas vent, didnt really solve anything...

i was able to get it started and it would idle around 1000rpm then slowly die, but it would start everytime i tried. i was actually able to get it to idle up to about 4000rpm once, but then it died again. i went ahead and felt the header and only the 2 cylinders on the right side of the bike (as you sit on it, not sure if they are 1-2 or 3-4) were warm. the other 2 on the left were still cold!

any ideas?

[Anonymous]

Cylinder order on a tranverse 4 is 1-2-3-4 left to right as you are sitting on the bike.
Check jcwhitney.com for a manual. They have Haynes and Clymer for most bikes and you won't pay much if any more than you would for a used one.
This sounds like fuel starvation. Try starting the bike with the petcock set to P or prime. Also, the fuel line runs to a tee fitting between the center carbs. Check to make sure that this is not plugged on the side of the engine that is not running. This may require removing the carbs.
Check the carb boots for vacuum leaks. On my '80 850 the rubber seperated from the metal flanges that bolt to the engine and caused no end of trouble. Make sure that the screws that plug the synch ports are tight.
Good luck.

[Anonymous]

im a complete newbie when it comes to carbs. where would i find the synch ports?

thanks for the tip!

[Anonymous]

You're not alone, my friend. I've had a hard time starting my 85 gs550e since I bought it last December. I finally just took it to a shop and said "fix it!" I called the shop today and he said "what did you do to this thing? I can't even get it started!" He just started trying, though.

I'll be keeping an eye on this post, that's for sure. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

well, i fixed it. i swapped the original carb back in after i cleaned it out really well. upon inspection of the carb i removed, it had chunks of rusty goo everywhere in the bowls. im assuming when the bike fell over in the truck it knocked all the crud loose and caused me my headache. thanks for everyones input, it was greatly appreciated!!!