Just got a GS550E with some issues...

[Nerobro]

Well we have a new issue. This one is intermittant.

On the ride I did on sunday, the bike stalled about a half mile from my house. after a lot of futzing around we got the bike to start. We thought I had run out of gas.

Sputtering and wheezing the bike made it to the gas station. We filled the tank, it was still a pain to start, but it started, and we begun our ride.

We got to our first destination and we stopped the bikes, did our errand and left again. My bike behaved perfectly. However, after leaving our seccond destination, the bike made it about a mile before dieing again. Starved of fuel.

After much finagling (mostly with the petcock, some futzing with the choke) the bike started again, this time we made it to the light at the onramp to the highway. the bike died again. We pushed the bike off hte side of the road and into the gas station.

We took the tank off, and found the fuel line from the petcock to only have a few drips of fuel in it. I sucked on the vacuum line to see if I could test for the petcock functioning properly...... And gas poured out at a prodigous rate. So the petcock seems to be working ok. I re-attached the hose from the tank to the vacuum line on the carbs and the bike started and we took off. not even a hickup from there home.

We rode with large throttle openings so the appearant vacuum would be low to the carbs. So... I'm really not sure what the deal is here.

I"m going to be replacing the vacuum line from the carb to the petcock. I was seriously considdering cleaning and chekcing my petcock as well, but with how fuel flowed from it when I sucked on the vacuum line I think it's ok.

Does it sound like I'm going down the right path? Should I remove and clean that petcock anyway?

 

[80gs1000e]

Should I remove and clean that petcock anyway?

YES! Take it apart, check the rubbers....replace if needed. Petcock rebuild kits are also at www.crc2onlinecatalog.com

First thing though, make sure your vacume line isn't getting kinked when you put your tank on/isn't too long. Check the routing of the vacume line also, make sure the tank isn't actually pinching it against the frame, this happened to me one time.

If you have a fuel filter installed, check to see that its rust/gunk free. If you do not have a fuel filter.................GET ONE!

-D

 

[Nerobro]

Well, I put 230 miles on the bike since last report. The bike runs well. But if I stall it at a traffic light it can take me two or three minutes to get the bike restarted. so long as the bike is running it's a happy machine.

There's a ticking noise. And it seems to be dependant on engine temprature. I think I have a loose exhaust fitting... I'll be investigating that soon. I investigated the route that it migth be a bottom end problem. I put in heavier oil to see if that would change the nature of the noise. It did not. I will be going back to the valvoline 10w40 that was in the bike previously.

 

[TheNose]

One word

ebay

Terry

 

[Nerobro]

What makes you think a responce like that has any meaning or is going to help me at all? The first page has another person who said the same thing to me, and it doens't help.

"one word, ebay" What am I supposed to do with that? Do you want me to buy a new exhaust system? Do you want me to buy syntentic 10w40 oil? Do you want me to buy a clue?

*grumbles*

</flame>

 

[DMPLATT]

Relax my friend. You mentioned investigating the lower end, I think what they mean by e-bay is if you type in your bike you will see all sorts of parts as well as engines come up. They are just offering help.

As far as the ticking noise, do you have a temp gage on the bike? Mine got reall hot the other day when stuck in traffice where I could hear a valve start ticking. I had to shut if off and let it cool a bit.

Just a thought?

 

[TheNose]

What makes you think a responce like that has any meaning or is going to help me at all? The first page has another person who said the same thing to me, and it doens't help.

"one word, ebay" What am I supposed to do with that? Do you want me to buy a new exhaust system? Do you want me to buy syntentic 10w40 oil? Do you want me to buy a clue?

*grumbles*

Excuse me. I was trying to help. But, since you don't need help, I'll just ignore you.

Terry

 

[Nerobro]

TheNose: Nowhere did I say I didn't need help. I said your responce wasn't helpfull. This is the seccond time I've recieved a responce that's just as generic as yours and it's much the same as a doctor saying "you're sick" and not giving you any form of treatment. If I respond to a thread of yours, you can expect a usefull responce from me.

DmPlatt: I've seriously considdered putting a temprature guage on my bike, I'm not sure where the best place to put it would be. Oil temprature would give a good indicator of the overall temprature of the bike. But head temprature is the more important temprature if you dont' want to hurt the bike. It's also the reading that would flucturate the quickest... and is the temprature that getting off the throttle a little would manage to help the best.

Where do you have your sensor mounted? What kind of guage did you buy?

If my memory serves me. The ticking isn't there right as I start the bike. As it warms up it starts the noise, then it goes away when the bikes fully warmed up. The ticking will come back if I ride a signifigant distance with the engine at low rpms and low throttle openings. So it does seem to be exhaust heat related.

 

[TheNose]

TheNose: Nowhere did I say I didn't need help. I said your responce wasn't helpfull. This is the seccond time I've recieved a responce that's just as generic as yours and it's much the same as a doctor saying "you're sick" and not giving you any form of treatment. If I respond to a thread of yours, you can expect a usefull responce from me.

DmPlatt: I've seriously considdered putting a temprature guage on my bike, I'm not sure where the best place to put it would be. Oil temprature would give a good indicator of the overall temprature of the bike. But head temprature is the more important temprature if you dont' want to hurt the bike. It's also the reading that would flucturate the quickest... and is the temprature that getting off the throttle a little would manage to help the best.

Where do you have your sensor mounted? What kind of guage did you buy?

If my memory serves me. The ticking isn't there right as I start the bike. As it warms up it starts the noise, then it goes away when the bikes fully warmed up. The ticking will come back if I ride a signifigant distance with the engine at low rpms and low throttle openings. So it does seem to be exhaust heat related.

Okay, my fault. I re-read the thread and realized that I had responded to the wrong thread. Sorry.

Terry

 

[Nerobro]

it's still morning to me.. so I can be a bit snippy as well. Sorry :-/

 

[TheNose]

I had the same symptoms with my bike seeming to run out of fuel. I have a fuel filter and it seems like the fuel wasn't flowing through the filter. To make it work when it stalled on me, I know it sounds stupid, I blew on the gas tank opening and forced gas to flow through the filter. It seems after the filter got saturated that it flowed with no problem.

I don't know if you have a filter, so this may not apply.

Terry

 

[TheNose]

Sorry, double post.

 

[Nerobro]

Now that's a path I can investigate. I know it's time for new fuel line, but the only stuff available to me is the thick wall stuff. I'll check that out sometime this week.

 

[KEITH KRAUSE]

Good chance your ticking is loose valve tappet(s). They commonly tick at first and quiet down as the motor heats up.
For the stalling, I would first try replacing the vacuum line. Then I would clean the gas tank cap vent and make sure the two floatbowl vent tubes are clear and not kinked. Be sure the air filter is clean. Adjust your mixture screws for the highest rpm and then re-set the idle to 1,100 rpm with the idle adjuster knob. Do this adjustment on a warm engine.

 

[first timer]

make sure when getting vac lines and fuel lines, get hose made for fuel and/or emissions, other rubber hoses will turn to hard plastic when exposed to gas and gas vapor.

ryan

 

[Nerobro]

well, i'm quite sure my carburator vents are open and clear... They have no hoses on them.

As for the vacuum line and the gas line. I tried replacing those a week or two ago, and I managed to not find a suitable source of fuel line. Everythign at murrys had something like a 1/4" thick wall and the stuff that's on the bike is more liek 1/8" wall.

 

[lhanscom]

Just find the right size ID, the wall thickness doesn't matter. Any auto parts store should have what you need.

 

[Nerobro]

They have the right ID stuff. But it's a pain to try to fit to the bike.

so we have a new gripe. IT seems like my kickstand leans my bike about twice as far over as it should Last night my bike (very slightly inclined driveway) drooled gasoline from the carbuator vents, all over the left side engine case peeling the paint off of it.

Has anyone else had a simmilar issue? I'm going to be carefully checking the kickstand mount tomorow to see if I can hunt down the problem. My first hunch is that it's pivot is worn to heck. And at 56k miles I"d probally not blame it.

 

[Nerobro]

Well, I have bought a few new parts for my bike. I bought the slotted rotor from a 82 gs850. and I bought the caliper from a 83 gs550es Because one piston on my rear caliper is siezed. I also bought a GS550 front wheel with a drilled brake rotor on it. Evidently properly drilled due to all the chamfered holes in it.

I was intending on putting the drilled rotor on my back wheel with the GS550ES caliper and bracket. I discovered tonight that the 83 550 uses smaller diameter brakes. about an inch smaller. *shrugs* My plans foiled.

tomorow I'm mounting my slotted rotor on my front wheel. there's a local machine shop that I"m going to court about having my drilled rotor turned down to fit the 83 rear caliper and bracket. So long as their quote is low enough that is. If it isn't, I'll be searching for a GS550ES brake rotor ;-) The 83 caliper is lighter and smaller. The disk will be smaller, and lighter. And the bracket is smaller and lighter. Mmmm the wonders of lowering unsprung weight.

I bled my brakes tonight. My front is much firmer. And I find that very reassuring. no matter how hard I try I can't get the lever to the the grip. That's about perfect in my mind. That's how I would setup my bike brakes.

My rear brake... well was very ineffective before. Now that it's been properly bled I can actually lockup the rear tire. I had never done that on my bike before.

I now have more braking power than my tires can handle. That is my definition of "enough" braking. This makes me my bikes ABS system ;-) and I'm entirely ok, and cappable of handling those duties.

First timer suggested that I take apart, and rebuild my gascap. I'm fairly certian that my gascap is making a very good seal and is causing my bike to die on occation. Opening the gas cap, and leaving it loose allows the bike to start quickly and take off again after it dies.

Both of my rear turn signals cracked off. I"m replacing them with longer models and will be mounting them on rubber bushings this time. The length, and rubber should get togother to dampen out much of the vibration that was causing the bulbs to go out, and the housings to crack.

I also have a new tail cowl coming. My current one shakes in a scary manner. I think it needs some bracing. it would appear that the tail lost a lot of stiffness when the effing po removed the rear fender.

This bike diary is getting a bit long ;-) but talk about documentation!

 

[KEITH KRAUSE]

I just wanted to say something about drilling the rotors.
DO NOT CHAMFER THE HOLES. If you used a sharp bit, the holes will be clean. One of the benefits of holes is they help stop galling by scrapping the pad clean. Chamferring the holes ruins this cleaning action.