Runs But Barely, Carbs I think???

[Anonymous]

'78 GS550 I am just about to go nuts. I aquired this bike about 4 days ago and got it running. It runs fine at idle and up to a point on the throttle. But if you hit the throttle hard it sounds like it's out of gas. I took the carbs apart and cleaned thoroughly except for the jet the clymer says to leave alone. Same thing still. These caebs have been taken apart before and it looks like by someone who didn't have a clue. Any ideas helpful

Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

Hey man, I'm in the same boat right now. Mine does run a bit better, but it is the same thing. I hit 3k and it just dies.

When I was going through my carbs, I found that the floats were set wrong. Check the float heights against the spec. in the Clymer manual.

Set the air jets to 2.5 turns out to start. (I don't know how to adjust from there)

Check your valve clearances as a matter of course, but I don't think that's it. I checked and adjusted mine, and it made no difference, even though three of them were too tight.

I'm going to post about how to adjust fuel mixture, let's see what we can figure out that way.

[Anonymous]

Let me restate the symptoms. Heeeeeellllllpppppp.

I can rack it out in neutral, but when I put it in gear and take off. I lose all power. It will barely take off and then goes fine up until I try to just hammer the throttle. That is when I lose all power and it seems I am running out of gas. It does not have an RPM range associated with it but the higher the gear the less throttle I have.

[Anonymous]

1. check igntion advance to ensure the weights are moving when you increase rpms. You need a timing light.
2. set SERVICE FUEL LEVEL using a hose connected to your bowl. It should be about 1/8" below gasket line
3. clean tank. check screen on petcock and ensure fuel lines are clear. use an inline filter.

[Anonymous]

Okay I Did all that

Okay I Did all that. It still does the same thing. Everything up to this point checks out. I think George is going to get a customer here shortly on these carbs.

Question:
This thing has pod filters on it. If they didn't re-jet it after the replacement wouldn't that do the same thing.

I get half way through the throttle and it runs out of gas. If any of you have ever run out of gas you know the sound of it.

I am at the end of my rope please advise... :?

[first timer]

ah ha pods dun dun dun, it sounds to me my friend you are run lean, if you are running stock settings ie stock jets stock mixtures setting and all that fun stuff your bike is running super lean. if you have a oem air box and filter try reinstalling that an see if it helps, you can also try just for *@%^$*@%^$*@%^$*@%^$s and giggles, put some socks over eack of your pods that should restrict the air more and maybe help richin it up. if you are going to run pods then you will need to increase your main jet size and adjust some other things.
sorry i don't have the exacat info need to get you carbs set. i know what you would need to do if you had cv's but i don't knw the setting for vm's, i'll see if one on my buddies knows, he hasa 550 like yours.

-ryan

[Anonymous]

I agree with first timer, you are running lean.
If you have the stock jetting, then you need to go up a size or two in main jet (top end)and raise your needle by moving the c clip down (effects mid range).
Or, take the pods off and put the stock air box back on.

[AOD]

the bike can run with pod filters...it just takes a bitch load of tweaking. i have two 550's with pods...i've been down the hard road of trying to a pair from start...and i'm going to do it again this winter after i rebuild my nicely tuned pair.

first off, lets not jump all over the lean condition being the cuase. only spark plugs will reveal that. what i found happening on the one 550 rack i was tuning was it did the same thing...it made that sputtery 'im out of gas' sound from 1000 to 4000 RPM before it kicked in.

this range in the engine (through the carbs) is off the pilot circuit. you have two adjustments for this basically, the fuel pilot screw, on the bottom of the carb, and the idle-air mixture screw on the side of the carb body.

what i suggest first is remote mounting your tank on table next to the bike, so you can see the carb rack. use a long hose to get fuel into the carbs (put the fuel petcock on prime every minute or so to fill them up when running).

what helped get rid of the sputtery out of fuel sound was CLOSING the idle air screws. i've read somewhere a while back that you're supposed to have them set to about 2 turns out with pod filters. mumbo jumbo says I, becuase they wanted to be about 1/2 turn open to run right for me!

start by carefully turning them to tight. CAREFULLY, and mean carefully. you break tip off in the carb body, and you be forked. when you feel it is snugging up, stop. now count 1 full turn out. start there by running the bike, see how it responds. adjust them all even amounts and see if the bike responds better or worse.

i'm hoping that gets you to a point where you feel better. if it doesn't you can still go on to this step.

pull a spark plug one at a time, after running it to where it's warm and hopefully running decently from idle to 5000 RPM. check the plug for rich or lean condition. black is rich, white is lean, you want a coffee brown color on the white ceramic near the small metal that comes out of the plug when you're finished.

on the bottom of the carbs there are the fuel pilot screws. these will help adjust the fuel in the pilot circuit, used to fine tune the mixture and plug color. these screws can be anywhere from 3/4 turn out to 2 turns out, but usually 3/4 to 1.5 turns out from the factory.

CAREFULLY screw the screws down till you feel them slow, counting the number of turns. please...don't break one off like i did...it sucks. write the number down as your base point.

now using the plug data you found, you will see which carb body needs more or less fuel. start with small changes, adding or subtracting by 1/4 turns unless drastic plug conditions are observed. opening the screw lets more fuel in, closing it takes fuel out.

you will have to run the bike, pull plugs, remove the carbs, adjust, reinstall, and repated often to get things tuned. patience will pay off in the end, trust me.

i hope this works. i will try to check back with this thread often, but since my power is out this weekend, emailing me might be best. reinkster@hotmail.com -

g'luck,

~Adam

[first timer]

you never upped your main jets adam?

-ryan

[Anonymous]

Let Ya know

I will try Adam's suggestions this weekend. All of my plugs are black some more than others. And Adam the only gears that will actually go are first and second. I can never get it to go good in third through sixth. And climbing a hill in anything above 2nd you can forget. When I get to 5th and 6th I only have about 1/8th throttle before it starts dying. Any more info?

[first timer]

i would re clean my carbs add a inline fuel filter and check to make sure all of your carb hardware is the same as listed here for your year and model

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/viewtopic.php?t=19364

use the gsr carb clean manuel instead of the books it is more through.

if you are getting black plugs with oem settings and jets using pods then there is something eles wrong, like something is cloged or dirty. make sure to dip your carbs. when cleaning. once you get everything set back to the factory base then we will have some place to work with you on getting your bike back into action.

-ryan

[Anonymous]

Cleaning Carbs

I have cleaned and dipped the carbs. What I am having trouble with is that when I got the bike last week the person I got it from said that they had the carbs rebuilt. You can tell someone had the carbs off , but that is about all it looks like they did. I am trying to get all the settings right.

[first timer]

take the carbs apart one more time and make sure that you have all these guys inside

GS550L (77-79) the specs are for the VM's

idle r/min 1100-1200
carb mik vm22ss
id no 47110
bore size 22 (0.87)
float height 24.+/-1.0 (0.95 +/-0.04)
fuel level 4.0+/-1.0 (0.16 +/-0.04)
air screw 2.0 turns back
cut away 1.5
jet needle 5dl35-3 (the -3 3rd notch??)
pilot screw 1.0
pilot jet #15
pilot outlet 0.6
needle jet 0-6
by pass 1.0
main jet #80

-ryan

[AOD]

Ryan, on the set I screwed up on, i did up the mains to 90's.

~Adam