Vacuum Line

[jinkside]

Well, after a month of dreading some horrible maintenance to get my girl running again, I sat down and ran down the checklist. She only needs fuel, air, and spark, right?

1) Kill switch in the Run position? Check.
2) Gas in the tank, no funky smells or rust? Check.
4) Battery charged? Check.
5) Not a Monday, third Tuesday, or on the way to a date? Check.
5) Spark in both cylinders? Check.
6) Fuel in float bowls? Check... but not as much as I expected.
7) Fuel flows in PRIme? Check. Wow, that's a lot of gas!
8) Hey, I wonder what this loose hose connecting the left-side carb to the petcock... Huh, it seems loose. I'll shove that back in and see if it works.
...
Nope. "Well, I just emptied one of the carb bowls and the other one was already low, so... prime for 10 seconds or so..." Bike starts!

So my vacuum line is loose and likes to slide out. Any suggestions on how to secure it?

As a bonus, my oil smells like it's entirely gas at this point. I'm inclined to change it again and see if it stays oily instead of fuel-y. Any suggestions before I jump straight to "head gasket" for causes?

[BassCliff]

Hi,

The usual suspect for the "gas in the oil" caper is a leaky petcock, or a petcock left on the PRIme setting for too long (like over night). It is possible that the float valves are leaking and/or the float height is set to low (whick makes the level too high once you turn the carbs right-side up).

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[jinkside]

Well, that's remarkably reassuring. Thanks!

[tom203]

You can check out petcock's operation- if you need a new one about $45- as Basscliff said, it's a common failure feature

this link is probably what you got

http://www.georgefixs.com/servlet/the-148/SUZUKI-GS450%2C-GS650%2C-GS750%2C/Detail

[GateKeeper]

So my vacuum line is loose and likes to slide out. Any suggestions on how to secure it?

yes get a clip and put it on so it stay in place

something like this




or

[Steve]

Or, if you just get some new hose (get genuine OEM stuff, not cheap stuff from auto parts store), you don't really need any clamps.

.

[jinkside]

It stays on on the petcock side; it's where the metal elbow slides into the carb that I have a problem it was on there really quite securely before I dipped my carbs and took a good deal of yanking to finally get out. Now it just slides in and out with a light touch.

I was thinking some kind of high-temp Loctite might work.

[cableguy]

Loctite or any other kind of goop is not your friend in this case. Try snipping off 1/4" of the tube at the carb side, or get a new tube. Don't bother trying to clamp it Jed.

[jinkside]

No, no. The tube is just fine. The metal elbow that connects the carbs to the tube slides in and out easily.

[jinkside]

I'm beginning to think that maybe the thing I removed isn't supposed to come off...

[jinkside]

Here's the bit I'm talking about:

It goes in right underneath the pilot screw and was in really tight when I took the carbs apart for cleaning. If you look closely, you can see the imprint my vice grips left on the soft, squishy aluminum body of the elbow.

The question, as I see it, is how do I make it so that that seats securely instead of sliding out over the course of about a mile. Loctite was my first thought, but that seems like it would end in tears, eventually.

On an unrelated note, what's the giant silver knob-thing below that port?

[GateKeeper]

were you including a picture ?

[jinkside]

were you including a picture ?

... Yes?

It shows up at home and at work, but it's hosted on a Google Site, so it may be linked to my credentials somehow, I suppose.

[GateKeeper]

how to post pictures

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/images/how_to_post_pictures.pdf

hope this helps, and it don't have to be photobucket, but the principle way of getting pictures here about the same for all hosting sites

[jinkside]

It shows up on my post #11 already. You don't see it there?

I'll attach it again for good measure:

In the above picture, you can see the "elbow" that I've talked about in my other posts. Suggestions on making it stay attached to the carbs?