gs550es issue

[doug g]

well i installed my yosh pipe and rejetted my carbs. I raised the needles 1/2 mm and went up one size on the mains. The bike runs good when I can get it started. That is the problem. It is so hard to start now. Prior to this it would start right up and gave no issues at all. Now to get it started I have to raise the idle way up and give it a shot of ether. Once it is running I can lower the idle way down but sometimes when I put the bike on its side stand the idle goes up. This is really strange and I know I will need to pull the carbs again but what should i look for? I cleaned the carbs up when I had them off. Remember the bike ran fine before this so the carbs .were not bad at all. I am baffled other than I did something stupid

 

[Guest]

Is the compression low enough that when you lost that extra back pressure the fuel isn't pulling through the choke circuit?
Did you make adjustments to the pilot circuit (idle mixture screw and pilot jet) with the pipe that flows more air?

 

[Dave8338]

When was the last time you checked the valves?

As Bill mentioned, the lack of back pressure 'may' be adding to the lean choke circuit. That OR the floats are set a little high and by adding the starting fluid, you are lowering the flash point enough that it will fire.

Have you pulled the plugs to see if you are rich or lean when trying to get the bike started?

Tested the petcock lately?

 

[TheCafeKid]

Also, did you double check your float settings? You say the idle raises when the bike is on the side stand, makes me think maybe your float levels are simply cutting off fuel early, (to low or to high, depending on which way you have the carbs flipped ) Or do you have a fuel flow problem??

As Bill said, you may also have to adjust the pilot screws. I recently did a 550ES for another member, and after cleaning his carbs, i could NOT get the bike to idle at 2.5 turns out on the screws. It was really frustrating me, but then i turned them out to 3 turns out and BOOM she ran like a champ... Sometimes 2.5 turns just isnt enough (which is why I now start at 3 turns out when i do carbs)

There are many things that can contribute to this, but check the essentials first. Valves if you havent recently, that is the leading cause of hard cold starting.
then fuel flow
adjustment screws,

etc

One thing at a time tho, and check it, so you can see whether your one thing made it better or worse or no change.