need help carbs...

[Anonymous]

i have a gs1100gk 83' just rebuilt the carbs but the bike will not start unless the throdle is wide open and then it will only run for a few secs. what is wrong with it please help....





craig

[Anonymous]

Pull the drain plugs from each carb with a little bowl under each to make sure you are getting fuel, and of about the same amount each.

Check the plugs -- see if they are wet. It may not be carbueration.

Check your spark and see if it's blue/white and not orange.

Check the Vacuum valve on the petcock to make sure it's fuctioning.

Rebuilt carbs? New fuel filter (or at least put one on?).

Was the bike sitting, or running before you started the job. A little history might help clear up things and help direct us.

Any engine needs these 4 things to run. Fuel, Air, Ignition, Compression (and of course all of them at the right time). Check each of these... but I'd guess if it ran before, but deosn't now, you might be yanking those carbs off again. I think some of us can do it in our sleep now -- having learned the hard way.

Cheers!

Roger Moore

[Anonymous]

rebuilt carbs help

the bike was sitting up for about 3 yrs. and i put new plugs in before i started to rebuild the carbs.but i didn't replace the air mix neddle valves,do you think that could be it?Ithink i will send it to the shop to finish because i don't have all the tools to fix it right.let me know what you think...






craig

[Anonymous]

Send it to the shop. Ask around for recomendations though. Some people on this forum have been rooked.

[Anonymous]

i didn't replace the air mix neddle valves,do you think that could be it?

Anything is possible with these carbs. Cleaning everything to the n'th degree is critical -- or so it seems. If you lack the tools to do it, and can afford a shop (and the time they'll have it for -- thankfully they don't charge a parking fee) then send it on down. Honestly though, it doesn't take much in the way of tools (you could buy 10 sets of the appropiate tools for the cost of a shop doing this job alone, I'd bet) and the satisfaction you'll get from tackling the job yourself (if you're mechanically inclined, as such) will be knowledge worthwhile. Motorcycle repairs can get costly. My co-worker sends his bike to a shop every year for the "maintenance" chores.... $600! E-gads, not for me, thank you.

Roger Moore

[Anonymous]

i have replaced evrty thing on the carbs and the air fuel mix valvesturned them all the way in and backed them out 1 1/2 turns.but i think the carbs are flooded is there any thing els i need to do to them,the bike trys tostart
but spits and spudders what els could be wrong? i charged the battery up again last night.i looked in my book but itdoes not tell me any ting about fine tuneing what els am i missing? every little thing will help....




thanks craig

[Anonymous]

Are you sure you got the vacuum hose back on the infamous #2 (or # 3) carb? Also make sure, if you do, that the petcock diaphram isn't bad sucking way too much fuel into the aforementioned carb.

If you think they are flooding, the plugs should indicate this by being sooty black when you look at them. If it's flooding, you'll need to figure out why this is (float level, bad o-rings around the seat portion of the needle/seat?)

You should also look at the strength of the spark and make sure you are getting a nice blue/white spark at the plugs. Orange/yellow -- not good.

Replace the plugs too, if in doubt of their condition. I installed some platinum plugs that helped alot on my bike.

When we have the results of these conditions, it may help to narrow the search.

[Anonymous]

i still think there is some thing wrong because the bike will start but it will not go past 3000 rpms.when it does it dies out like its getting to much gas or not enough gas what els can i do...






thanks craig

[Anonymous]

This could be a starvation thing, or a too much fuel thing. Again, getting the information listed above will be of a lot of help. So far the symptoms are too vague to be much indicitive of any one thing in particular.

There has also been a lot of carb discussion going on here over the past few weeks, so looking for anything related to "carb" in the GS Forum search will offer a wealth of info for you. But it may not be carbs, so a quick recap of what to look for on a "bring it back from the dead" bike is this:

The tank: if it's rusty (or may have any particles floating around, and after 3 years is most likely YES). If you have no fuel filter, cleaning of the carbs may have been reduced to wasted effort, because now you got crud in the carbs again. Install a fuel filter.

The tank petcock: If vacuum operated has to have a hose running from it to the #2 (or 3) carb. This petcock must have vacuum applied to allow fuel to flow, which means fuel only flows while the engine is turning over or running. You can test this by hooking another hose to the petcock vacuum port and another to the petcock outfeed. Put the outfeed into a jar and suck on the vacuum line with your mouth. If fuel flows OK when you do this, then plug off the outfeed and draw the suction again with your mouth and hold it (the vacuum) on the tip of the hose with you tongue. If you can't hold the hose on your tongue with nothing less that vacuum, then the diaphram in the petcock is probably bad, and that'll allow fuel to suck into the #2 (or 3) carb and that spark plug, if inspected, will prove this.

The hose from the tank to the carbs: Check for cracks -- replace if in doubt.

The hose from the tank vacuum port to the #2 (or 3) carb: Check for crack and replace if in doubt.

The carbs: Rebuilt? How thouroughly? Did you totally dismantle these or just spray some carb cleaner on them? Did you check the floats to see if they do (float
), and the float level is to spec? Did you (as I did) have any doubt as to whether you set the float level correctly? The sliders -- if of the vacuum variety: did you lift them by hand and do they all settle down smoothly? Cleaned all the orfices? Blew out every passage-way with air? Set the air screws to? Mine was 1 1/4 turns, but don't know yours. INSTALLED A FUEL FILTER? If the carbs are off (ever) fill the carbs using a gravity fed tank and then drain each bowl into a small jar and see how much fuel is in each. They should be all the same. Read the carb rebuild infor on this site!

The intake manifold(s): These are the rubber connections between the carbs and the cylinders and are made of rubber and can be cracked causing a massive vacuum leak. They can't be easily checked on the bike, you may have to pull them off to inspect. These vary from bike to bike, so see what it takes to inspect yours. Some say you can fix them if they're cracked with impregnating it with silicone rubber or some other sealant material. Mine were about $20 a piece from Suzuki new, but they had them in stock, so I didn't take any shortcuts.

The engine: Mainly check compression. Should be around 150 PSI (?), but what is most important is "balance" rather than "peak" pressure on an older bike. You don't want three reading 150 PSI and one reading 80 PSI.

Spark Plugs: Learn to read them. This can tell everything about the way the engine is running -- except some low-end mechanical things. Almost every repair guide has a picture chart with the plugs listed and what each condition represents. Get new plugs if you don't know the condition of yours, or can't OHM them out.

Ignition: Check the spark "flame" by pulling a plug and reattaching the spark-plug wire and resting the metal body of the plug to the engine case (for a good ground). Now turn the engine over. If you have to pull the clutch like I do to turn it over, I used a spring clamp to do this, but you could tie a rope, or cinch
strap around the lever to relieve a hand from that job. The spark should be blue/white (do this in the late evening when it's getting darker, or in a darkened garage). If the flame is orange to yellow, suspect something ignition.

Wiring: Connections on these bikes SUCK, and after 20 years there is no doubt some of them are drawing a lot of current due to bad conductivity between the connection. This will cause the connector to get hot as the resistance increases across the connection -- in essence becoming a light bulb of sorts. This only exacerbates the bad connection over time. Pull the connections, especially those of the coils, Exciter, charging leads, and headlight wiring and clean the bullet portion with a brass brush and the female portions with a small round file or something you can make fit and can clean the metal to bright copper again. Then, carefully crimp the female portion to close it to a smaller diameter to increase the connection pressure between the two connector parts.

Coils: Check the resistance of these. This will vary from bike to bike, but the primary resistance and secondary resistance should be checked and matched to the specs.

Somewhere along the line you're going to find something wrong that is causing your problem.

Good Luck!

Roger Moore

Roger Moore

[Anonymous]

great news i finaully found the problem. thanks to all of you that gave me good advice.It was thepetcock valve the diaphame was bad so it was'nt get the suxtion it needed the diaphram was worn out ,i could see right through it on the sides.I ordered a new one on sat.8-10-02. some friends came by and we messed with the bike for about an hour and found th problem.now all i have to do is get the seat redone and a new seat pan and get it registerd and a new windsheild for the fairing (83'gs100gk) and i'am ready to burn rubber oh yea.. and2 new tires.. lol
thanks again











craig
83'gs1100gk
spring,tx.