Poor starting tip for GS550 & 750`s

[tomo]

Hello again Shirley S. On my GS750`s, both the tubes connect direct to the carbs. They are black rubber/plastic. Not sure what the white coupling you mention is though, does one connect between each pair of carbs ?. If so could be the breathers. You don`t need to disconnect them, just trace them back from the carbs and find the end of the tube. The breather tubes drop down the back of the engine so the ends will be on the underside near the front of the swinging arm. My brother is something of a computer geek, so I will take a photo of my spare carbs and I will get him to circle exactly where the breathers connect and post it here tonight. Its 10.00am here and he is at work till 6.00pm, but I`ll try to get this done as soon as possible. Don`t give up, we`ll get you directed to those breathers come hell or high water !.

[arveejay]

I think he's talking about the T's that sit inbetween the carbs, They usually just vent down towards the front of the rear wheel area, sometimes routed over the airbox then down. Carbs need to vent to allow fuel into the bowls and to let it out. Forcing air into these hoses would create a positive pressure in the bowls and force gas into the jets. Exactly like the primer on a mower as mantioned. Excellent tip, sure should work, in theory.

[tomo]

Just realised I might be able to direct you to the breathers before trying to post the photo !. Go to the site homepage, and in the directory find the carb clean up section. The carbs shown are CV carbs not slides as on your bike, but similar regarding the breather location. If you look at photo 001 "view from the air box side", working from left to right are carbs 1, 2, 3 & 4. The two breathers you need are located between 1 & 2 carbs, and 3 & 4. On photo 003, it is illustrated quite well as its a close up. On these carbs the breather connects to a coupling which runs between the carbs, which is a little different to my bikes where it connects to the actual carb not the coupling, but it does the same job. I`m wondering if the connectors you mention are like on this photo. If so, you`ve got the breathers. Don`t disconnect the tubes if they are on, just find the free ends. If a tube is`nt fitted you`ll need to get a couple of short lengths to push onto the connector nipples so you can blow into them.

[arveejay]

Just realised I might be able to direct you to the breathers before trying to post the photo !. Go to the site homepage, and in the directory find the carb clean up section. The carbs shown are CV carbs not slides as on your bike, but similar regarding the breather location. If you look at photo 001 "view from the air box side", working from left to right are carbs 1, 2, 3 & 4. The two breathers you need are located between 1 & 2 carbs, and 3 & 4. On photo 003, it is illustrated quite well as its a close up. On these carbs the breather connects to a coupling which runs between the carbs, which is a little different to my bikes where it connects to the actual carb not the coupling, but it does the same job. I`m wondering if the connectors you mention are like on this photo. If so, you`ve got the breathers. Don`t disconnect the tubes if they are on, just find the free ends. If a tube is`nt fitted you`ll need to get a couple of short lengths to push onto the connector nipples so you can blow into them.

Yes, that's the T Fitting I was talking about. They are very hard to come by.

[ShirleySerious]

So let me get this straight, the tubes attach to the carbs on one end, and the other end is open, right? And the open end goes towards my former airbox (now a storage compartment)? If the ends are open does air usually blow out when the engine's on?

[tomo]

The hoses are open at the end, but air does`nt actually blow out when the engine is running. All the breather pipes do is vent the carbs, to allow fuel to flow into the float chamber. Basically the float chamber is sealed, except for the very small outlets of the jets. The float needle inlet where the fuel enters the carb is bigger than the jet outlets, so if the carbs were not vented, the air in the float chamber would have nowhere to go and the resulting pressure would prevent the bowl from filling with fuel. So air does may exit the tubes, but at such a slow rate you would not be able to tell. If you do try this starting tip, put the choke lever on then blow two or three times into each vent hose.

[ShirleySerious]

So all I gotta do is find where the hoses end and blow into it with the choke on? Sounds simple enough, I think I'll try that.

[tomo]

Yes, just blow hard a couple of times into each tube. Good luck, let us know how you get on.

[ShirleySerious]

I went there to look for it and I was under the impression that one end of the tube was open. I couldn't find it. A combination of no light in the storage area (they turned off the power to the light bulbs 'for safety reasons'), the 0 degree weather, numb fingers, big hands, and a tight space led me to give up. I tried cranking it but I don't think air cooled, carbed engines were meant to start in that kind of cold. I say carbed because my fuel injected car starts up right away.

Oh well, maybe when it gets warmer I'll see if it starts up without having to blow into the tubes.

[tkent02]

It works fine if it's working fine...

I don't think air cooled, carbed engines were meant to start in that kind of cold.

If it won't start something is amiss.

[ShirleySerious]

When it's above 50 degrees outside, my engine starts fine. Leads me to believe it wasn't meant to run in such frigid temps.

[tomo]

It won`t help if they turned off your power and you`ve got no light, but I still think its worth a try in the daylight. You may have to pull the end of the breather pipes up from where they drop down the back of the engine. The pipes are not clipped in place so you should be able to pull em up and out to the sides of the bike. I don`t think the cold is a problem, in fact it`s usually been in winter when I`ve had to do this or if the bikes been stood a while. Still worth trying. Shame I`m a few thousand miles away or I would give it a crack myself !.

[ShirleySerious]

I would do that except the temperatures I'm working with numb all feeling in my fingers. It's around -3*F here (about -20*C) and at that temperature, your hands WILL freeze in less than a minute.

[tomo]

Yep, thats a bit too cold for tinkering with the bike !.

[ShirleySerious]

It was finally "warm" enough to see if I could start my bike today. After cranking the starter for a few minutes with the choke both on and off, it wouldn't start, so I wanted to try the trick. I undid the tube, but wasn't sure which end to blow into, so I blew into the part that went toward the carbs. I didn't actually put my mouth on it, I just blew into it. I went to start the bike with the choke on and it ran for a whole 3 seconds before I heard a small explosion.

The engine stopped and I was looking for that would've made that explosion. The baffle in the exhaust was sticking out, so that makes two (the other baffle came out a couple weeks ago while riding.) After trying desperately to start it for 20 minutes, I gave up. I drained the battery trying to bring it to life, and the kick start did jack. I'm convinced it will take a miracle to get this bike started, and I have till the end of the month to leave the storage area.


Any tips on how I can get it started in under 20 minutes? Choke on or off?