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At wits end...

  • Thread starter Thread starter birkeloc
  • Start date Start date
B

birkeloc

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O.k., here's the status on my '79 gs 550 project. When I got her, she would start, but wouldn't run for very long, or very well. So I cleaned out the carbs, put 'em back on and got her to start again. Every indication was that the mixture was lean, so I took the carbs off again, and sure enough, three carbs had the tips of their pilot fuel screws broken off in the body. I got ahold of some replacements at a junk yard and pushed the broken tips out (unfortunately, I know I messed up one of the holes, making it a little bigger). Before trying to start it back up, though, I tried to adjust the point gap and static timing but found that I couldn't get it adjusted right (see my post http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=98933). I set them as best I could, but the gap's a bit too small. Anyways, now that the carbs should be in (mostly) top condition, I tried to start her up again, but now she won't start, at least not most of the time. The engine turns over, it even started for about 3 seconds, then it dies. If I let it sit for a bit, it does the same thing. The only thing I can think of is that it's not getting enough gas, but I checked and there's fuel flow coming out all of the float bowls. I don't know what else to do, please help!
 
Is your choke connected, and working properly?


My GK will start without choke, provided it has been running for a while, and is fully warmed up.

Will it start that way cold? Nope. You could probably run down a car battery trying, and, apart from overheated wires, the most you would get from it is what you described with yours.

Pull the choke on it, however, and it will start almost instantly.
 
I've tried it both with choke and without. It will start for just a short bit, but only with the choke pulled; without choke it won't start at all. I've killed the battery on the bike and I'm now forced to jump it from a car. I know not to have the car running when you're jumping it, but I've had to jump it several times and I'm worried what this might do to my electrical system. Of course, if it were an electrical fault causing my bike not to start, it shouldn't be able to start for even a few seconds, right? I'm curious if it could be the points, 'cause I messed with those quite a bit before I put the carbs back on. Might they be causing my problems? Thanks for the help everyone!
 
Oh, I forgot to mention, I'm seeing a big blue spark mostly between the left point set but also occasionally between the right. Probably a bad sign, but I don't know what it means.
 
birkeloc said:
Oh, I forgot to mention, I'm seeing a big blue spark mostly between the left point set but also occasionally between the right. Probably a bad sign, but I don't know what it means.
Click to expand...

I am not a points man for motorcycles, but if your not getting a GOOD spark on both sides, I would "guess' your points set is bad-
just a guess, hope you find the problem.

my 2 cents would be replace the points set/

EDITED For more INFO
Here is a link to points sets and condensors (they can go bad too, causing the same situation)

https://www.partsnmore.com/cat_index.php?model=gs&category=electrical
 
Last edited:
So I tried putting a tiny bit of gas directly into the carburetors and seeing if it would start: no dice. That leads me to believe that it must be an electrical issue, and bad points is my best guess. The thing is, the manual doesn't say anything about points being able to cause starting problems like this. The more I think about it, the more I think they could, but I just want someone's confirmation before I dump more time and money into something that might not be the problem. As always, thanks so much for the help everyone!
 
birkeloc said:
So I tried putting a tiny bit of gas directly into the carburetors and seeing if it would start: no dice. That leads me to believe that it must be an electrical issue, and bad points is my best guess. The thing is, the manual doesn't say anything about points being able to cause starting problems like this. The more I think about it, the more I think they could, but I just want someone's confirmation before I dump more time and money into something that might not be the problem. As always, thanks so much for the help everyone!
Click to expand...

Remove the gas tank, then Go Pull your plugs-

take each sparkplug and make sure you don't mix them up-

starting on #1 cyl (your left when setting on the bike) and place the sparkplug you removed into the Sparkplug boot, be sure to ground the end of the sparkplgu to the frame or valve cover.
then try and start the bike- WATCH the spark, should be a strong bluish spark--

now remove it and do the same with the other cylinders

your probably going to see either Cylinders #1-4 or #2-3 not sparking-
that will confirm bad points/and or condensor or coil also......

gotta start somewhere why not there (cheapest).

GL,
Ron
 
We've all had one of those moments where we kick ourselves for blatant stupidity in the face of obvious problems, right? So, I replaced the spark plugs, jump the dead battery off my car, and what do you know? Vroom, she starts right up, and after all my work on the carbs, she even holds a steady idle! I guess I didn't think the spark plugs looked that bad, I had just cleaned them, after all. I even had a spare set lying around, just didn't think to put them in. Now I can set the timing using my timing light and synch the carbs. I am still slightly worried about not being able to set the right gap on the points, though. No matter how much I fiddle with them, I can't get the gap big enough and still have the points contact each other when they're supposed to. I'm thinking I might just replace them anyways, seeing as how they're also a bit pitted. Anyways, thanks so much for all the help everyone, and wish me luck with the fine tuning!!
 
Glad you got it sorted \\:D/
Usually the little things that bite us pretty hard-

Peace,
Ron
 
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