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Help for a new couple?? Sorry kinda long

  • Thread starter Thread starter donkris
  • Start date Start date
D

donkris

Guest
8-[Hello all,
My wife and I are new to biking. We wanted a starter bike so we picked up an 81 GS550. I don't know how long it's been sitting but it does have service records from new. It shows 24K miles. We're both very mechanically inclined but we've never had a bike. We bought this one not running cheap. The PO only had it for about three weeks and decided to sell it since he couldn't get it running. We brought it home and with our knowledge of cars we had it starting by the end of the day. The bike wouldn't idle on it's own and was leaking fuel from the carbs. The petcock was also frozen in the run position but had no fuel flowing through. We removed the carbs and found that two of the floats were stuck and not shutting off the fuel flow. We also took the petcock off and cleaned all the goop out. We tested it with a vacuum source and now it seems to function properly. We then took out the needles and cleaned the seats to get the floats to function properly. We didn't go any deeper because we didn't have the carb kits available. The problem is that now the bike won't start on it's own. If I blow into the vent tubes the bike starts but will only run for a few seconds. If I keep air flowing into the vent tubes it continues to run. By the way, I learned that little trick right here on this site! I know from reading here that the carbs need a good cleaning. My question is why does the bike run with air flowing into the vent tubes?? And what else should I be looking for other than a carb cleaning?? Sorry for the long post but we really want to ride soon. Thanks everybody.
 
My guess is that by blowing into the vent tubes, you are slightly pressurizing the fuel to get some of it to flow through the dirty carbs. Your lips might get tired after a while though :)
 
I'd say your trouble is in that petcock. You're not flowing any gas.

Buy a new one. Rebuild kits rarely work. Order one at your local dealer.
 
Forget about the carb kits. WHat you need is a complete set of carb O rings & to check out the carb cleaning article in the garage section. Petcock is best to replace with a new one

http://www.cycleorings.com

And Welcome to the forum
 
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Thanks for all the quick responses. Seems like dirty carbs may be the biggest issue..so we'll pull them off and give them a good cleaning. And I'll post again after we're done. I'm gonna wait a few days for my carb kits to arrive since we've already ordered them. Thanks again and I'm sure we'll have more questions.
 
donkris said:
My question is why does the bike run with air flowing into the vent tubes??
Click to expand...
also it pressurizes the fuel in the bowls, if it can't get fuel through the idle circuit it will force it past needles and mains with a little help from you.
 
You and your wife will learn alot about yesterday's technology.

You will invest alot of money and even more time. You will end up wanting a bigger bike.

Welcome to the land of money up a rope. Oh. Your wife will want her own bike soon.

Welcome to neverland, Peter.
 
Hey Twistedwankel,
You're right on the money about "money up a rope", but we do it just for fun. We also waste money on old Mercedes cars as well as old Mustangs. We just enjoy taking "old stuff" and bring it back to life. It's a hobby that we enjoy together. The bike is just something different for us to try. We already planning on getting a bigger bike, but neither of us has any riding experience riding so we figured we'd start with this one. The goal is to work up to a real cruiser in a couple of years. Believe me, I hear what you're saying. She's already claiming this one as hers once it gets fixed :-D. But please continue to at least try to keep me sane. You seem to speak from experience, which is exactly what I need. I'm always willing to listen and learn.
 
Money is never wasted on old Mustangs, unless they were made from '72-84 or don't have a V8 (although the newer V6's are pretty stout).

Welcome to the insane world of GS motorcycles.
 
I had the same problem with partners bike this week.
not saying the same thing is wrong But thy this.
remove the air filters and crankcase breather then try running the bike,
if it runs refit the air filter and breather and drain oil and refill with new.
cost nothing to try and if it solves it only cost a oil change that never hurts. good luck
 
donkris said:
Hey Twistedwankel,
, but neither of us has any riding experience riding so we figured we'd start with this one. The goal is to work up to a real cruiser in a couple of years.
Click to expand...

Hopefully you'll both sign up for the MC training course in your area. Normally they give you a bike/helmet classroom and about 16 hours of seat time + your driving test all for a small amount of money. I think I paid $150 a few years back. Back when I started riding in OH they actually had a separate license which I let lapse after they combined the points.

I was amazed just how much I didn't know about riding after not having a bike for 30 years to raise a family with both legs/arms and brain[-o<

Anyhow I was really glad I did that program and met some nice mature people in the process. After learning the correct way of riding I decided that I never should have survived my early years being self taught and thinking a bike only had one speed - full on.

I learned in my mid 40's that the way to end up with $1 million dollars racing cars is to start out with $5 million. But the memories are fantastic.

I hope you and the misses have a great adventure together:-D

Don't forget about boats - the hole in the water into which you throw money\\:D/
 
Thanks for all the replies and support. I,ve got the bike torn down right now so I can't try thr trick of running it without the air filter. I know the carbs are dirty so it's apart for cleaning. I'm going to replace all the o-rings while it's apart. We'll be using the carb cleaning series that you guys pointed out. Hopefully we'll get the o-ring kit sometime next week.

As far as my other toys, we just sold the latest Mustang, a 67 Coupe, 302 4-speed. The one before that was a 68 convertable, 351 with a C-6 automatic. Those were the wife's projects, she's the Mustang nut in the family. I like 'em too, but she's a fanatic! We'll get another one some day. Both of those we picked up for under 3k each and they both sold for more than 12k each. Probally put about 5k into each one. Not too bad for a couple of hobby toys. We do all of the work ourselves except for paint. I guess it keeps us out of trouble. It's nice having a wife that loves to turn wrenches!!

I'l keep you guys posted on our progress with the bike, and thanks again for all the inputs. You guys rock!!:-D
 
donkris said:
It's nice having a wife that loves to turn wrenches!!
Click to expand...

It must be! My girl refers to all tools as either wrenches or screwdrivers or some variation of "thingy". You are lucky indeed!
 
If you are going to clean the carbs I suggest that you use some carb cleaner spray whilst they are apart, and the use of a air compressor to blow through the various circuits whilst everything is apart wont hurt either.

Sometimes petrol can dry off and leave a varnish like substance which goes hard and then cant be softened again.
 
Does your bike have an air filter installed? Also is the airbox lid installed? Your problem could be as simple as a lack of vacuum. If you don't want to tear into the carbs too much, put in a can of seafoam and run that through the carbs. stuck floats are common when the bike has sat. lots of cleaner and a can of seafoam will help a lot. check the petcock is working properly too by sucking on the vacuum tube to see if fuel flows and stops when you stop the suction.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. The carbs are all torn down, I followed the carb cleanup series. I used the dip and a spray cleaner. I soaked everything for about an hour. There was a lot of goop in there! I also used compressed air and a bristle from a wire brush to get the passages clean. Everything looks really clean now. I'm just waiting for my o-ring kit to come in so I can put it back together. Most of the old o-rings were dry and brittle. A couple were missing. No wonder the bike ran so crappy. I'll let you guys know when I get it back together. Thanks again and enjoy the weekend.
 
While you've got the carbs off, go ahead and inspect the intake boots and replace the o-rings between the boots and the head. Cheap insurance, and when those things go out they are a major pain to diagnose.
 
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