Dogma
Forum Sage
First, the known history: My dad found the bike in a garage where it had been for 14 years. The first thing he did was change the oil before cranking it. I don't know if it started right away, but he took it to a dealer and had some sort of work done to the carbs. I don't know exactly what was done. Anyhow, he gave it to me for Christmas two years ago (best dad in the world). This is my first bike, and I love it. I ride as much as possible. It had just short of 19k on it when I got it, and I recently passed 24k. I get low to mid 40s mileage.
Now for the immediate problem. A few months ago, I took my first longish ride, 7 hours each way from Cincinnati to Western NY. About an hour north of Columbus, I started getting this weird surging. I've been reading the forums lately, so I know now to check the vent tube routing and the air box seal. Anyhow, it spooked me at the time, so I got off at the next exit. I noticed a decrease in power on the way to the exit, and the engine died as soon as I pulled the clutch in to downshift. After a bit of cranking at the end of the ramp, it started, and seemed to have full power. I topped off the tank and had no more problems until about a month ago. I got on I-75 to head for Union Center, rode a few miles, then it gradually lost power as before, and died when I pulled the clutch in. I found that I was near full throttle to hold speed when I noticed it was losing power.
My brother was in town, so he helped me with troubleshooting. It had spark, though neither of us have the experience to gage if it was strong or not. We drained all four carbs to see if there was sufficient fuel. Fuel and spark, we were stumped. I called my dad to consult. An hour later when I went back out to the bike I saw that I had left the key on. The headlight had killed the battery very dead. Oops. My brother took the battery out on a hunch, and it was dry as a bone. Apparently, his GS 550 (81?) used to die in a very similar fashion because of a weak battery. SO, he was thinking that was the problem. What didn't make sense to me was how easily the thing cranked. So we tried testing the igniter according to Clymer's instructions, and got no really conclusive results. I'm afraid I don't remember this part well. Anyhow, we were out of sunlight. The battery had been charged off of the car, and could now crank as long as I wanted. I remembered from running out of fuel before that this thing takes a lot of cranking to get fuel through the carbs again. I couldn't think of a way to prime it. So we cranked until we about to give up, and I heard it fire. Aha! More cranking, and it started running; but very rough, and no idle. Well, we gave up for the night. We couldn't decide if the problem was electrical or what. Only the pipes on 2 and 3 would warm up.
The next day I realized the #1 and #4 carbs simply hadn't had time to fill yet. So, I unplugged them, and sure enough, they were dry. I got it running again, and kept it running for the couple of minutes it took to smooth out and run full power again. I don't need to tell you what I did next.
A couple weeks later, it dies in exactly the same way, as if it had run out of gas, stranding me on 129 coming out of Hamilton. (Meeting the wife for an anniversary lunch at work is an excellent excuse for a ride.) I should have had another 20 miles before it was time to refill the tank, and sure enough, there was at least half a gallon in it when I checked. No amount of cranking would get it going again though. It would sputter for maybe ten seconds and then die. I repeated this dozens of times. All told, I probably spent 20 minutes by the side of the road. Crank it, wait a minute. Crank it, wait a minute. Cranking immediately after it died would yield nothing: Wait a minute, and it fires weakly for a bit. On only one occasion, it fired up pretty strongly. I could rev it to redline, but it still seemed to have only two cylinders. Then it sputtered and died. This was somewhere in the middle of all the other attempts. I ran the battery down doing that, so it was time to call for a ride. By now, I'm too good at loading this thing onto and off of the trailer without help.
Maybe three weeks of working too many hours pass before I get to do anything with it. I charged the battery off of the car again, and it cranks as fast as ever. But now, it won't fire at all. I checked the #1 fuel bowl, and there's nothing in it. If I put vacuum on the petcock, fuel gushes out pretty well. So I try priming it this way. I sucked on the vacuum line for maybe 30 seconds, but still nothing when I tried to crank it, and #1 bowl is still dry. When put my thumb on the end of the vacuum line, I get pulsing vacuum like I would expect. It seems that something was slowing, and is now blocking fuel flow between the petcock and all 4 carbs.
Thanks for reading this far.
what is going on? What should be my next step? My dad says I should save up for a newer, more reliable bike, but I just don't want any other bike.
Here's all the other known issues and history, in case you're not sick of reading:
-Occasional surging at highway speed. I know now to check the vent line and the airbox.
-Stiff clutch, and it always drags. If the engine is running, just forget about finding neutral. (wrong clutch disks and springs?)
-I think the rear caliper is dragging. I should rebuild all the brakes anyway. I think it's all original.
-I once rode into a nasty rain storm (destroyed the cell phone). The bike gradually lost power and died. So there I was sitting on the side of the road in a downpour. The temperature had dropped maybe ten degrees, to somewhere in the 60s. I might have panicked, but I once knew an '85 Honda Accord that did the exact same thing in cool, wet weather. Just like the accord, I waited 5 minutes. The engine started immediately and seemed to have full power, though I wasn't about to test it there... It hasn't happened since, but i haven't been in a storm like that since. The PO had apparently laid the bike down on the right side. The rear fender is bent to the left, and a lot of material was ground off of the contact cover, including the emblem. You could see the screw on the end of the crank rotate when the engine was running. The cover and emblem have been replaced (OEM from bikebandit, so shiny!) so that the contacts are again protected from the weather.
-One of the exhaust pipe clamp screws is stripped at the head. I can hear it pop at low rpm (I hope so, it sounds a lot like a low end knock!), and I'm sure it sounds different from what it should at higher revs.
-The tank was repainted last winter, and I believe it to be free of rust.
-The seat was reupholstered at the same time, by a guy my dad knows in Lakewood, NY. Outstanding work. I can ride 80 or 90 miles with little trouble using the rear pegs and leaning on the wind. A 7 hour ride can be felt the next day though...
-The turn signals only work in the low beam position, and sometimes cancel themselves if I don't hold the switch with my thumb.
-The front brake light switch doesn't work. I think the switch is just worn out, or doesn't quite fit the master cylinder we pulled off a bike at the salvage yard. Unknown year. I have a new switch, but haven't had time to install it yet. Using both brakes is good practice anyway, right?
-The left side frame cover badge is missing. I ordered one from bikebandit, but the style of the lettering looks more like 83 than 80. I called bikebandit, and apparently Suzuki changed the style without changing the part number. I think this is at the root of my fuel problem.
-I replaced the fork seals last winter. Clymer said ATF would work, and Dexron III works a whole lot better than no seal on the left tube. Experienced riders may know better, but the handling seems fine to me. Corners aren't nearly as scary as they were that first summer.
-My chin gets cold in November.
-My car only gets an oil change about every 7 months. I should see if I can get a low mileage break on my insurance.
Now for the immediate problem. A few months ago, I took my first longish ride, 7 hours each way from Cincinnati to Western NY. About an hour north of Columbus, I started getting this weird surging. I've been reading the forums lately, so I know now to check the vent tube routing and the air box seal. Anyhow, it spooked me at the time, so I got off at the next exit. I noticed a decrease in power on the way to the exit, and the engine died as soon as I pulled the clutch in to downshift. After a bit of cranking at the end of the ramp, it started, and seemed to have full power. I topped off the tank and had no more problems until about a month ago. I got on I-75 to head for Union Center, rode a few miles, then it gradually lost power as before, and died when I pulled the clutch in. I found that I was near full throttle to hold speed when I noticed it was losing power.
My brother was in town, so he helped me with troubleshooting. It had spark, though neither of us have the experience to gage if it was strong or not. We drained all four carbs to see if there was sufficient fuel. Fuel and spark, we were stumped. I called my dad to consult. An hour later when I went back out to the bike I saw that I had left the key on. The headlight had killed the battery very dead. Oops. My brother took the battery out on a hunch, and it was dry as a bone. Apparently, his GS 550 (81?) used to die in a very similar fashion because of a weak battery. SO, he was thinking that was the problem. What didn't make sense to me was how easily the thing cranked. So we tried testing the igniter according to Clymer's instructions, and got no really conclusive results. I'm afraid I don't remember this part well. Anyhow, we were out of sunlight. The battery had been charged off of the car, and could now crank as long as I wanted. I remembered from running out of fuel before that this thing takes a lot of cranking to get fuel through the carbs again. I couldn't think of a way to prime it. So we cranked until we about to give up, and I heard it fire. Aha! More cranking, and it started running; but very rough, and no idle. Well, we gave up for the night. We couldn't decide if the problem was electrical or what. Only the pipes on 2 and 3 would warm up.
The next day I realized the #1 and #4 carbs simply hadn't had time to fill yet. So, I unplugged them, and sure enough, they were dry. I got it running again, and kept it running for the couple of minutes it took to smooth out and run full power again. I don't need to tell you what I did next.
A couple weeks later, it dies in exactly the same way, as if it had run out of gas, stranding me on 129 coming out of Hamilton. (Meeting the wife for an anniversary lunch at work is an excellent excuse for a ride.) I should have had another 20 miles before it was time to refill the tank, and sure enough, there was at least half a gallon in it when I checked. No amount of cranking would get it going again though. It would sputter for maybe ten seconds and then die. I repeated this dozens of times. All told, I probably spent 20 minutes by the side of the road. Crank it, wait a minute. Crank it, wait a minute. Cranking immediately after it died would yield nothing: Wait a minute, and it fires weakly for a bit. On only one occasion, it fired up pretty strongly. I could rev it to redline, but it still seemed to have only two cylinders. Then it sputtered and died. This was somewhere in the middle of all the other attempts. I ran the battery down doing that, so it was time to call for a ride. By now, I'm too good at loading this thing onto and off of the trailer without help.
Maybe three weeks of working too many hours pass before I get to do anything with it. I charged the battery off of the car again, and it cranks as fast as ever. But now, it won't fire at all. I checked the #1 fuel bowl, and there's nothing in it. If I put vacuum on the petcock, fuel gushes out pretty well. So I try priming it this way. I sucked on the vacuum line for maybe 30 seconds, but still nothing when I tried to crank it, and #1 bowl is still dry. When put my thumb on the end of the vacuum line, I get pulsing vacuum like I would expect. It seems that something was slowing, and is now blocking fuel flow between the petcock and all 4 carbs.
Thanks for reading this far.
what is going on? What should be my next step? My dad says I should save up for a newer, more reliable bike, but I just don't want any other bike.
Here's all the other known issues and history, in case you're not sick of reading:
-Occasional surging at highway speed. I know now to check the vent line and the airbox.
-Stiff clutch, and it always drags. If the engine is running, just forget about finding neutral. (wrong clutch disks and springs?)
-I think the rear caliper is dragging. I should rebuild all the brakes anyway. I think it's all original.
-I once rode into a nasty rain storm (destroyed the cell phone). The bike gradually lost power and died. So there I was sitting on the side of the road in a downpour. The temperature had dropped maybe ten degrees, to somewhere in the 60s. I might have panicked, but I once knew an '85 Honda Accord that did the exact same thing in cool, wet weather. Just like the accord, I waited 5 minutes. The engine started immediately and seemed to have full power, though I wasn't about to test it there... It hasn't happened since, but i haven't been in a storm like that since. The PO had apparently laid the bike down on the right side. The rear fender is bent to the left, and a lot of material was ground off of the contact cover, including the emblem. You could see the screw on the end of the crank rotate when the engine was running. The cover and emblem have been replaced (OEM from bikebandit, so shiny!) so that the contacts are again protected from the weather.
-One of the exhaust pipe clamp screws is stripped at the head. I can hear it pop at low rpm (I hope so, it sounds a lot like a low end knock!), and I'm sure it sounds different from what it should at higher revs.
-The tank was repainted last winter, and I believe it to be free of rust.
-The seat was reupholstered at the same time, by a guy my dad knows in Lakewood, NY. Outstanding work. I can ride 80 or 90 miles with little trouble using the rear pegs and leaning on the wind. A 7 hour ride can be felt the next day though...
-The turn signals only work in the low beam position, and sometimes cancel themselves if I don't hold the switch with my thumb.
-The front brake light switch doesn't work. I think the switch is just worn out, or doesn't quite fit the master cylinder we pulled off a bike at the salvage yard. Unknown year. I have a new switch, but haven't had time to install it yet. Using both brakes is good practice anyway, right?
-The left side frame cover badge is missing. I ordered one from bikebandit, but the style of the lettering looks more like 83 than 80. I called bikebandit, and apparently Suzuki changed the style without changing the part number. I think this is at the root of my fuel problem.
-I replaced the fork seals last winter. Clymer said ATF would work, and Dexron III works a whole lot better than no seal on the left tube. Experienced riders may know better, but the handling seems fine to me. Corners aren't nearly as scary as they were that first summer.
-My chin gets cold in November.
-My car only gets an oil change about every 7 months. I should see if I can get a low mileage break on my insurance.
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