idle mixture screws

[saber1971]

I have a 1983 gs1100 that is stock! the only problem i have is it takes so long before the bike runs good at idle. once it is warmed up it runs great but it takes forever. I was thinking of adjusting the idle mixture screws.. any advice to help richen her up at idle?? now many turns?? out richens, right..in leans it out?? and are the idle mixture screws on top just behind the boots?? thanks

[Nessism]

Standard process is to adjust the screws to achieve the highest possible idle. Warm up the engine first and make sure the valves are properly adjusted. Turn the screw outward to richen and try to detect an increase in idle speed. You may not notice a dramatic change but adjust a couple of screws at a time and try to notice any increase. Not sure about your bike but many GS bikes run best with the mixture screws in the range of 2.5 to 3.5 turns out from lightly seated.

Good luck.

[Guest]

Chances are you do need a valve adjustment and a full cleaning of the carbs with o-rings.

[Nessism]

Chances are you do need a valve adjustment and a full cleaning of the carbs with o-rings.

...and a carb sync. All part of the right of passage with a 25 year old motorcycle.8-[

[saber1971]

man i hope not!! i just picked the bike up last summer with 13000 miles . it was a garage kept bike..it looks like the top of the engine, the valve cover?, has been off at least once so I'm hoping a valve job had been done in the past. if the valves were out of adjustment wouldnt it run poorly all the time?? and I'm not sure what a carb cleaning with o-rings is

[tkent02]

if the valves were out of adjustment wouldnt it run poorly all the time??

Not until after the damage is done and some valves are burned up.

and I'm not sure what a carb cleaning with o-rings is

An afternoon spent getting to know your bike at a cost of about $16

It's all good, do it.
Check some hoses, bleed some brakes, make sure the electricals are working properly, get caught up on all the little things that have been neglected all these years.

Or whine and bitch everytime something breaks that you didn't fix.

[andrewclaycomb]

and replace the petcock now. Don't ask why...

No really, start looking at petcocks now because at some point (assuming yours is original) it will fail and you will have a crank case full of gas. Don't worry about the rebuild kits because it probably won't work.


Also make sure your battery is charging properly. I think everybody on this board has either had a charging issue or fuel issue at least once. (If not both)

[saber1971]

Ive allready replaced the stator since the previous owner relaced the rectifier and that wasnt it...eeverythings good with that now..I'm regretting buying this bike....you guys make it sound like theyre piles of junk!! does anything go right with them???

[andrewclaycomb]

The only thing that can break down a GS is time. Otherwise they are indestructible. Just take care of the 25 year old issues and you will have a bike you can ride another 20 years without any major problems.

[chuckycheese]

Plugs!!

I'm amazed nobody suggested looking at the plugs....that's the first thing I would do.8-[8-[8-[(Like Rod Stewart says.."Every plug tells a story".

[Nessism]

The only thing that can break down a GS is time. Otherwise they are indestructible. Just take care of the 25 year old issues and you will have a bike you can ride another 20 years without any major problems.

Agree! :-D

You can't just blindly purchase a 25 year old motorcycle and think you are going to ride off into the sunset. The GS family of bikes are very durable but they do require maintenance. Put in some work up front and the bike will reward you with years of trouble free service. Wait for something to break before you do any work and the bike will be in the shop on a regular basis. You choose.

[saber1971]

put new plugs (ngk) gapped as per the manual,the correct plug for the bike, when i bought the bike. last time i pulled the plug they were nice and brown

[saber1971]

Agree! :-D

You can't just blindly purchase a 25 year old motorcycle and think you are going to ride off into the sunset. The GS family of bikes are very durable but they do require maintenance. Put in some work up front and the bike will reward you with years of trouble free service. Wait for something to break before you do any work and the bike will be in the shop on a regular basis. You choose.

i didnt just blindly buy a 25 year old bike with the hopes of riding of into the sunset,just because i'm a jr member doesnt mean i dont know anything about bikes... my this is my 8th bike.. ive had alot of experience with suzukis I had a gs750, an 87 gsxr750 and a 90gsxr1100 along with some yamahas and 1 honda. some of you guys are starting to come across as arrogant asses!!!!!!!! it was a simple question, f**k.

[chuckycheese]

Attitude?

i didnt just blindly buy a 25 year old bike with the hopes of riding of into the sunset,just because i'm a jr member doesnt mean i dont know anything about bikes... my this is my 8th bike.. ive had alot of experience with suzukis I had a gs750, an 87 gsxr750 and a 90gsxr1100 along with some yamahas and 1 honda. you guys are starting to come across as arrogant asses!!!!!!!! it was a simple question

I understand your exuberance and frustration but you don't want to get started off on the wrong foot here because you may need to come back in the future; (most of us have).

Some of the advice you get may be 'over the top' and advising steps that are totally unnecessary but you can always sort through that without getting mean or huffy. If our advice is bad, please stay with us and tell us how to solve our problems when we have them.

By the way, I bought "my 8th bike" (as you have) 8 bikes ago. I'd think about that if I were you.

One thing you should know is that most of us have bikes that run really, really good; if yours doesn't, that should tell you something, right there!:-D

[saber1971]

I edited my post to say "some of you guys" the guy writing about blindly buying a bike and riding off into the sunset was being a pompous______ fill in the blank!!!