Where do I go from here?

[Guest]

I just recently bought a GS450G. One owner, been sitting forever. I thought it would be an easy "get up and going" project and I was wrong.

So far changed oil,filter, final drive fluid, bought battery, changed plugs out for new, cleaned the carbs twice. Still can't get it to fire off.

I know, I know, I tried to cut corners on the carb cleaning but went back and did it again. Not getting any fuel in the cylinders at all yet that I can tell.

[Dogma]

Does it spark? Are the valves anywhere near correctly adjusted?

Check everything. Assume everything is wrong. Probably more than one thing is. Find them all. Some you can't see but are dangerous. For example, brake fluid turns to sludge.

[Big T]

You review the Top 10 newbie mistakes and post what issues you find in the Technical forums

[Redman]

I just recently bought a GS450G. .............

Lets start by establishing which bike you actually do have.

Tell us how it is you suspect no fuel to the cylinders.
Maybe also loosen the drain plug on the carb bowl (2 carbs? or 4?) just as a test to see if fuel in carb bowls.

.

[Steve]

I believe he's only missing one letter, Dave.

GS450GA. Yep, that would be the 450cc, two-cylinder with the semi-automatic transmission and a shaft drive.

.

[bwringer]

One of the biggest mindset changes when dealing with vintage machinery is the "overlap" issue.

When you're dealing with newer machinery, there's generally one problem at a time to solve, so troubleshooting is far more straightforward.

When you're dealing with any vintage machine (or anything that's been neglected) there are always multiple overlapping issues to work through. It's never just one thing at a time, and they affect each other in ways that can be unexpected. Plus you often have various effects of 40 years of thumbfingered idiocy to undo.

Fortunately, these Suzukis are pretty simple as old machines go, and they're pretty well understood. Hit that "newbie mistakes" thread, absorb the knowledge therein, assume nothing, and don't take any shortcuts.

[red1100]

Turn the petcock to prime,make sure you have fuel I the bowls.

[scratch]

When you're dealing with any vintage machine (or anything that's been neglected) there are always multiple overlapping issues to work through. It's never just one thing at a time, and they affect each other in ways that can be unexpected.

Thank you. I've been calling it the "cascade of neglect effect"...
"well it took me that long to fix your directionals because not only had the insides of your flasher unit turned to dust since 1972 but, that the lead wire to the flasher was not actually connected to anthing but a rusty greenish-brown oozy wad-thing and your switch was full of angry baby spiders, etc ..."

Even though I know this is going to happen, I still struggle with it unless I slow down, back-up and adopt a "failing system" mindset as opposed to an a "isolate the problem" mindset...

Then again, every once and a while you get lucky, a quick and dirty carb clean, a new battery and off you go... but only when the address on the last registration was Narnia.

[bwringer]

This may sound a little odd, but in the movie "The Martian", the process of "just keep working the problem" seemed very familiar.

In the movie, Watney was dealing with a nonstop array of survival problems. They just kept coming, and many were interrelated. So you just keep going; deal with what's in front of you, gather information, do the math, keep plugging away...

It's the same when the stakes are only the survival of an old motorcycle. Just keep working the problem.

Of course, when it's just an old motorcycle you're not going to run out of oxygen. You can take a break for a while when available cash runs out or you need to spend some quality time on fleaBay to scare up rare parts...

[LAB3]

One of the words that tends to echo in my head while tracking down a problem is Gestalt (Said with a firm German accent) i.e. the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts! If you've got everything off to check the carbs take the time to blow through the fuel line and shoot some solvent through the petcock while your at it. If the spark is weak check the condition of the plugs, resistance of the caps and then the coils while your at it.

[greg78gs750]

This place is an encyclopedia. As mentioned, check the newbie mistake thread. The fact is these are not really that complicated, and quite finite as well. Bwinger is, as usual, spot on; just keep working on it, methodically and steadily, and you will figure it out. Either that or craft a fairly complicated boat anchor....

[Fish]

Okay, thanks for all the help. The bike is a "suzuimatic" gs450gA model by the way. Well I have made several mistakes: I changed oil with fresh but apperently the petcock was old and tried up and after several days all the gas was in the engine! Ordered a new one, that problem solved but wasted a lot of oil. To answer the question of valve checking, no I did not. According to Suzuki manual the bike has not run long enough for their valves to need checked, so I did not think I needed to do it yet. Also need to bone up on how to do it. Also the timing chain adjust with the knob on it seems to be leaking just a bit of oil and need to review how to remove it

I did get the bike to start and run but has issues. Took the carburetors to someone who knows old cycles and he helped me re-new the orings, he said I had cleaned the jets ok but said I am missing some accel pump pieces. i went ahead and got them back on the bike, it is running but not like it should. He is looking for replacement parts for the carbs. I will take the carbs back off when he finds what we need.

The rear brake is activated by what would be the clutch lever and also the regular rear brake pedal. Very stiff operation and I think something inside the rear wheel needs addressed. Thanks for all the help, looking forward to getting it on the road. Tires are really like new but probably need replaced so will be shopping for those soon.

Thanks again everyone