Had it running, then not--your story please

[Anonymous]

I'm in the process of getting my GS850L going--since last April in fact. Since getting the bike I've been on the site watching comments, posting my own questions, and answering some when I felt I could.

One thread (among others) that seems fairly common has been the "I got it running one day, but then it wouldn't start the next day." Well, it seems I am in that boat now, and would really enjoy hearing about anyone else's success in getting out of that boat.

I've actually spelled out my situation on another thread ("Troubleshooting Directions"), so I'm mostly interested in just hearing about others' experience and success. While there may be something in your account that might help, I'd like to just hear about others who got through their situation.

Who knows, perhaps this might lead to a new link in the Forum--"Therapy." At least, in the end when all is said and done, I can post my experience on the "Stories" link. :roll:

Thanks for the time.

[flyingace]

I have a 1983 850L I got at a salvage yard. It has run great since I got it (about 4 months). From what I can gather, the older models had numerous electical problems that Suzuki sorted out over time.

if I had an older model, I would consider replacing all components in the ignition system with modern aftermarket parts. I don't know how expensive this would be, but it sounds like owners of the older models end up replacing all these compenents anyway.

It is very difficult to diagnose problems with a bike when you can't rely on your ignition system. Nothing drives you insane faster than trying to deal with two problems at the same time.

[Hotblack]

Well it's really the charging components that are a problem, not so much the ignition. The coils rarely go bad, wires don't seem to be a special problem either. Points are stone simple and easy to diagnose. If you're getting good spark to all plugs and it's getting there at the right time you can pretty much rule out ignition woes as far as getting it running. The time you might want to think about ignition again is if you have some high RPM myteries going on, or make other mods that will benefit from spark a little heartier than a points ignition can deliver.

Actually that 83 850 will have electronic ignition anyway, I can't vouch for its reliability, but to significantly upgrade its performance will not be cheap.

The story of my 550 is pretty funny. I had been given this bike and had tried to get it running off and on for quite a while. Anyway I finally got it to where it would start, and rev a little without stalling (straightened out a couple ham handed adjustments in the carbs), but the bike rapidly deteriorated to not running again! Talk about frustration.... I started tearing things down again, I don't remember what tipped me off but I found a nice cozy mouse nest in the intake plenum. I don't know how long it was there, but that certainly accounted for the chronic problems I was having. Cleaned it out and magically I could ride the bike around the yard, just like a REAL MOTORCYCLE!!! I was so thrilled, I took it to the local shop and had the carbs synched, and it ran great. Thus started my adult riding career. Never leave Mother Nature out of the equation in anything!

[pasteurized]

Oh man, I have had this type of a relationship with my GS750 ever since I bought it! Have had it about a year. First off, It was ridiculously hard to start. Like kick it fifty times and if you were lucky, it would start. I "diagnosed" that it had a bad petcock. This was confirmed as I would find a gallons' worth of gas on the garage floor after it sat all night. Got a pingel petcock. Better, but still had a hard time starting. Realized I needed to clean the carbs, but didn't for a few months. Finally got around to tearing them off and then realized I had completely different carbs than stock on them (they were off of a late eighties KZ650). Located the correct set for my bike, cleaned the crap out of them, and things were better. The baffles in my exhaust were done for and leaned everything out so I got it set up with a nice V&H 4-1 setup. Around that time I found that the horn shaped rubber intakes from the airbox to the carbs somehow caught fire (?) and melted basically shut. So I threw some pod filters on it. "Got" to learn how to rejet with the pipe and pods. Fun. Then a coil went out. Replaced it with an ebay piece. Finally, after all was well for about 2 weeks, one of the contact points' springs BROKE so I got to replace points and condensors. I refuse to tally up what I have spent on this thing because chances are I could have paid a semesters' tuition with it! But, she is my baby and I am pretty attached to her now. I have done the brakes and tires and all the fluids and oil changes about 4 times and done some rewiring on the turn signals and all sorts of stuff. Basically, this bike has been the ultimate learning experience, and hey, now I get to ride it too!

[Poot]

I can sympathize with 'Pasteurized'.


I've put a lot of time and effort + $$$ into my ride, and it hasn't really given me to many problems, more me it.


There have been situations when it wouldn't start after a short time, but it was usually the result of my stupidity!


But now, I've got some charging system woes that I have to deal with.....


poot

[Anonymous]

It's nice to know I'm not alone. I couldn't really go over all the stuff I've done since getting the bike, but here's the latest.

Had it starting and running of it's own accord recently. Even had it all hooked up to sync the carbs, but I notices gas dripping from the bottom of the carbs.

I thought it was a float set too high (after all the float adjustments I've done, who wouldn't think that). But when I had them apart and adjusted, I also noticed the fuel line was a little loose, I so I tightened it down too.

Since then I've tried three times to get it running and nothing. The first time, it would barely catch and try to to run. I assumed I went to far with the float adjusts. So I put them back to where they were when it was running. This time it caught a little more and tried to run, but would die after a second or two.

So I figured I needed to get a little closer on the float levels, and was still off a tad. But after the third float adjustment, it wouldn't start at all. Nothing. Go figure.

Well, some (in another thread) have indicated that the plugs may have gotten wet-fouled along the way, so I'll try replacing them today. Also, I learned that all the jumping I had been doing to get the bike started was a BIG mistake and may have fried my RR. Great.

What started as a wonderful looking $500 bike with what was believed to only have been a stuck float, has really turning into an education, so to speak. Oh, and I've managed to dump at least another $500 into it just trying to get it running. (This doesn't include the tax, title, and license in IL that never got used because we moved to WI in the middle of all this troubleshooting, to say nothing of registration fees here in WI.)

So, back to work I guess.