1983 Suzuki GS1100ED --- "Big Boy"

[Flaming Chainsaws]

My ground cable got here today.



Sanded off the paint here on the left airbox mount.


Neg battery to frame and R/R.


Starter solenoid, frame, and neg battery to engine ground.

[7981GS]

Well???
Does it work now?

Daniel

[Flaming Chainsaws]

Well???
Does it work now?

Daniel

Nope. Same as before.

[Flaming Chainsaws]

I seem to be a magnet for them gs1100 bodywork. I will win a set someday.....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp3984Q2em1438Q2el2649QQitemZ150657720846QQsspagenameZSTRKQ3aMEWAXQ3aIT

[JEEPRUSTY]

The more you broadcast your desires, FC, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.


By that I mean body work.

[Curly]

hmm, pre-cocaine Carrie Fisher...yum.

Whats your problem again? You're having tail light and dash light issues, plus some starting issues now?

[Flaming Chainsaws]

hmm, pre-cocaine Carrie Fisher...yum.

Whats your problem again? You're having tail light and dash light issues, plus some starting issues now?

What?

Yup, what you said.

[Flaming Chainsaws]

OK.... So we'll slide the light issue to the side for now. Let's figure out why the bike won't run.

Here's somethings I've looked at it.

• valves are within spec
• cam timing is good
• carbs cleaned and rebuilt by chef
• gas tank is SUPER clean so there is no way that the carbs are dirty
• dyna coils, wires, and caps are good
• spark is very good
• Coils are correctly wired in and sparkplug wires are in the correct places
• compression is good
• good battery, fully charged
• lots of gas in fuel tank that I just added (Chevron octane 89)

Now, one thing that has me confused. My petcock does not work. I set it on prime and it does not flow. Pulled the petcock and the filter is clean and the diaphragm are good. Put the petcock back on. I tried sucking on the vacuum line and it barely flowed.

I stuck a funnel into my gas line and filled it up with gas. Plugged the vacuum hole the tried to start the bike but no go.

So..... What do you guys think? If you followed my GS450 thread, then you will know about my sparking issues. One of my GS450 igniters was sparking just fine but it turns out that it was sparking at the wrong times. I bought another igniter and it fired right up with no problems.

With that said, I believe my igniter is going bad. The solution??? Dyna S DS3-2. This will eliminate my stock igniter and from what I've heard, it is worth every penny.

http://www.z1enterprises.com/DynaS-Electronic-Ignition-DS32--Suzuki-GS-fours-with-ND-ignition-439.aspx

I will also need a petcock.....

If anyone disagrees or has another thought of why the bike won't start, please say so.

[Curly]

I say hold it at WOT and spray a quick shot of starter fluid in. This would make me more comfortable in blaming the spark, because in my experience unless I crossed the wires going to the coils or plug wires, spark has always been good. Except for the time I tried to use the tach signal to power my oil light, which caused it to run on 2 cylinders.

Here's another fun test: unscrew ALL spark plugs and ground them. The easiest way I found to do this was stripping 2" off the end of a piece of wire, and wrapping it around the threads of the plug, then clamp all four under the head of a random nearby bolt.

Crank the engine and they should spark in pairs.

This PLUS a successful starter fluid test would be enough for me to ignore the spark circuit and concentrate and your petcock.

Mine, btw, doesn't work on prime either. It does flow if I suck on vacuum tube though. "barely flowed" is too subjective. Who knows how much you suck and whether or not that's enough to feed the bowls. I like to installed clear fuel line for this, and then replace it when finished with something that's not going to break down.
Also make sure your vacuum tube isn't pinched. Took me a while to figure out a decent way to route mine. I use a plumber's tubing bender to keep mine from kinking.

[Curly]

PS you can do the starter fluid test without the airbox, it doesn't need to keep running, just for a couple rpms.

[Flaming Chainsaws]

Never thought about looking to see if the sparkplugs fire in pairs. Good stuff!

I actually have pod filters and not an airbox. But I guess I'll try starting fluid. Do I spray it in all 4 carbs or what?

[Curly]

I would, might as well. Have you rejetted? Take all the pods off and hold a folded rag over the carb openings, completely, while cranking. Do this for a few seconds On each carb, see what happens. Pods can work great, but that initial start can be iffy. I use this method all the time if I don't get it started on the first try or if my bowls are empty for whatever reason.

It creates a large vacuum, sucking a lot of gas from the petcock.

[dueller]

Do all 4cyl GS's fire in pairs like that? Didn't know that! Would think would be smoother to fire one at a time....not relying on the flywheel as much to keep the crank turning!

[Curly]

It's called a wasted spark setup. They're not both on the combustion cycle at the same time. One's on combustion, ones on exhaust. Helps burn off any unburnt fuel, and saves money and space by only needing two coils.

[dueller]

It's called a wasted spark setup. They're not both on the combustion cycle at the same time. One's on combustion, ones on exhaust. Helps burn off any unburnt fuel, and saves money and space by only needing two coils.

IC. Neat. Probably gets around the need for a catalyst too.