Poor starting tip for GS550 & 750`s

[tomo]

A lot of you probably know this one, but I thought I`d post it anyway. I was shown it many moons ago and it nearly always works !. If attempts to start the bike from cold fail, and the motor turns over but won`t fire, blow into the two carb breather tubes. With choke on, just a couple of short puffs into each tube. I`ve been able to get dozens of GS`s going on wet, windy rally sites when their owners have given up. Works on old CX500`s too !. Don`t know why this works, but give it a try !.

[jimcor]

Never heard that one before, but if I find myself in a no start situation I'll sure give it a try! Tnx! :-D \\/

[t3rmin]

I'm sure it works by forcing some gas out of some jet into the intakes. Blow on those tubes and gas is bound to come out somewhere. ;-)

[byrdman76]

It works!

A lot of you probably know this one, but I thought I`d post it anyway. I was shown it many moons ago and it nearly always works !. If attempts to start the bike from cold fail, and the motor turns over but won`t fire, blow into the two carb breather tubes. With choke on, just a couple of short puffs into each tube. I`ve been able to get dozens of GS`s going on wet, windy rally sites when their owners have given up. Works on old CX500`s too !. Don`t know why this works, but give it a try !.

I had'nt ridden my 79 550 for 6 weeks during some recent upgrades. Typically when it comes to starting after sitting for that particular period of time it takes about 6-7 5 second cranking attempts to get the motor to finally catch a bit. Even then it only runs on two cylinders for a bit before all 4 begin to fire.

I was going through the 6-7 cranking attempts when after the third try I remebered this post. I pulled the breather tubes and gave four quick puffs into each one. The bike intantly fired up and ran like a scalded dog - I was amazed!\\/ My neighbor was standing their at the time and looked at me like I was a Mr. Mikuni himself :shock:.

Im guessing that this works the same as the the primer bulb on a lawnmower or weed eater - if anyone knows the real reason other than magic:-D let me know.

Excellent Tip Tomo!

[tomo]

Great ! I`m glad this worked ok. It does sound like b......s, but its nearly always worked for me.

[bravozr]

where are the carb breather hoses?
which part do they connect to?

[tkent02]

I think he means to blow into the float bowl vents?

That would push a shot of fuel up into the carbs to prime the engine.

[tomo]

Sorry Bravozr, just saw your question today. There two carb breather hoses on my GS750. One connects to the body of no.2 on the left hand side just above the float chamber, the other to no.4 (working from left when sat on bike looking forward). They drop down to the rear of the engine along with the overflow tubes from the carb bowls. Like Tkent02 says, I think blowing a couple of times into each kinda acts like a primer, but its tried and tested and does work more often than not !.

[ShirleySerious]

I seem to be having the same problem. The battery might be part of the problem, as I haven't ridden it recently to charge it. It's been about 18 degrees here so it's hard to start. I'm a little directionally challenged and don't have extensive mechanical knowledge, so I'm having trouble finding the carb breather tubes. Would you mind circling where they are in this picture (approx if out of view)? Thanks.

[tomo]

Hi ShirleySerious. I`m a complete nougat when it comes to computers so I have`nt been able to circle the area on the photo, sorry. If you look at it though the carb you can see is what I call the No.1, the one behind No.2 etc. The carb breathers are on the No.2 (carb just behind the one visible on the photo) and No.4 (which is the outermost carb on the other side of the bike). On both these carbs it is located on the side from which the photo is taken, and is on the upper part of the main body of the carb more or less on a level with the top of the inlet from your air filter. There should be a rubber tube coming off it, which loops up then drops at the back of the engine to emerge just in front of the swinging arm unit. Four other tubes drop down there too, one from the bottom of each carb float bowl. It could be that the tubes have been removed at some time, I`ve come across that before. If so you should be able to see a brass connector on the No.2 and 4 carbs for a tube. Get a couple of lengths about 1`6", I think its about 3/8ths bore, and push them onto the connectors. Pull on the choke, then give a couple of hard puffs into each tube. Switch on the ignition and try the starter. Hope this helps, sorry again I can`t show you on the photo, maybe its about time for my son to give me some computer lessons. Good luck, hope it works.

[cvmgtwowheels]

cold starts

Very intersting, you now it's a good day when you learn something new.

[ShirleySerious]

Sorry, maybe it's just a bad picture, but I still can't visualize where they are. I see some plastic tubes but they look like they're filled with gasoline. There's 4 places that I think it could be that I circled in the picture. Let me know if I'm close.

[tomo]

No, its a good picture, its just my attempt to explain things that are probably confusing !. If you take a point midway between 2 & 3 on the photo you marked up, move down to where the choke lever is. Just below the lever you can see a cylindrical bulge in the carb body, almost horizontal, and below it toward the front of the carb a longer one thats almost vertical. The first (uppermost) is the one you want. On the carb visible here it is blanked off, but on the carb just behind it (the No.2) and carb on the other side of the bike (No.4) it should have a brass nipple type connector fitted to the end facing the rear of the bike, onto which the breather tube fits. If the tubes are on of course you won`t see the connector just the tube going to that point. Have you ever taken the tank off ?. If I remember right the vacuum hose from the gas tap goes to a connector in the same position on carb No.3 (third one away if you are looking from the side the photo is taken). The gas tap has two hoses coming off it. The thicker one is outermost and is the gas line to the carbs, the thinner one behind it is the vacuum line. Back to the breather tubes, once you have located them just feed them out till you find the tube end. If it works and the bike starts after you blow into them, just feed them back to where they were. Hope this helps !.

[spchips]

that photo looks like they may be podded, so there may not be tubes on them, just a blank nub. In a bike with an airbox, it's the two tubes that wrap over the airbox.

there should be two blank ports, roughly on the same spot as where the vacuum line is for the petcock, but on a different carb.

[ShirleySerious]

I'm still a little confused. As soon as I can, I'll check it out on my bike. But from what I can understand it's buried under all those parts and I have to disconnect the tube first.

Also, my bike is podded, so I don't know if that has anything to do with it.



UPDATE: I went to my bike today and I think I saw the breathing tubes. They're the black hoses connected to the white coupler, right? If that's it, do they come right off easily or no?