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Starting a Bike that has been sitting

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
A

Anonymous

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My 83 GS550ES is about ready to start Im just waiting a few days to put gas in my recently coated tank. Any recomendations? The bike has been sitting since 97. The carbs and header were off and the holes were plugged also the fluids were drained. Everything is back together and full now im just waiting for the tank. Im guessing Im going to need starter fluid and a battery charger, it has a new battery but there will prolly be a lot of starter cranking. btw plugs are new.

thanks
 
Definitely put some oil in the cylinders through the spark plug holes. Turn it over a few times without the spark plug wires attached for the oil to coat the cylinder walls. When I first started mine (was sitting for more than 10 yrs) I started it with premix in addition to putting oil in the cylinders. Also, don't run the bike with the charger attached.

Good luck.
 
Hi, Just bought a 82 GS650E. Was sitting for 2-3 years. Could smell the turp in the gas. I draind the tank & put in fresh. Must be a ell of a bike, them Suzukis as fired up. Ran pretty good considering. Strong engine. Trans & cluch are good. Drove it home-40 miles on toll way. Took it easy 60 steady-close to home I kicked it & got up to 90 for a spurt. Going thru it now, oil change & filter. Front tubes leak. But all & all Very happy wiht the bike. Paid $325 for it from a friend of my nephew. A starter bike for my 24 year old son. & told him we are sharing. :D Just change the filters-oil-gas, after you have run it a bit. Lube it up. Have fun. Dave
 
Take the right side cover off (if you are sitting on the bike), take all of the spark plugs out, generously put ATF in each of the cylinders (I took some aquarium tubing, and put a hole in the top of the bottle of ATF, put some rubber bands on each side of it for a seal and used that to squirt ATF into each cylinder), take your ratchet out and manually rotate the motor with the ATF in the cylinders and the plugs out, give it a good 20 or 30 turns, put the plugs back in and wires.

DO NOT USE STARTING FLUID. History has taught me something finally, Ether is not your friend. It works great on lawnmowers, but not on a big cc zuke.
 
Put some oil in the cyls, crank it with the starter TO prime the oil system reinstall the plugs.
One thing I do If I am working on the bike and know I will be using the starter alot is to Take the battery out of my car and hook it up to the bike with jumper cables. It doesn't take much of a voltage drop to make the bike not start.
 
stratup

stratup

I know I will get some flack for this but what I do is oil the cylinder with 3 in 1 and rotate the motor by hand till the pistons are about mid stroke then I filled crank case all the way to the top with a 5-30 sae oil let sand over night, but dont rotate the engine!!!! I all change the filter and what I do here is take it down and clean the housing and change the seal when its all clean and ready to put to gether I very quickly pour oil in side the filter and install it as fast as I can I put the cover in place this soaks the filter paper and will shorten the time for oil to get to the head next drain the oil and fill with proper oil and amount, then I take the bike with the plugs out and t push the bike down the street to prime the oil system I use 3 rd gear and a friend, then prime the engine after you install the plugs, one reason that I would do this with this bike is you say it sat dry witch is a mistake when storing a bike you shoild fill rhe casr to the top
 
Well heres what I have done. I cant use my tank right now because Im waiting for the liner to cure. So I have my 4 wheeler gas tank sitting on the frame for now. Would the lack of vaccum hose on my 4 wheeler tank matter? Anyway I can get it to start for a second or 2, and sometimes If the battery has enought juice it will keep firing as long as the starter is turning and then stop as soon as I let off the button.


edit: I cant seem to get it to start I have been at the same point all day. Any ideas?
 
ztec said:
Well heres what I have done. I cant use my tank right now because Im waiting for the liner to cure. So I have my 4 wheeler gas tank sitting on the frame for now. Would the lack of vaccum hose on my 4 wheeler tank matter? Anyway I can get it to start for a second or 2, and sometimes If the battery has enought juice it will keep firing as long as the starter is turning and then stop as soon as I let off the button.


edit: I cant seem to get it to start I have been at the same point all day. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

Depends. If you're not going to use the vacuum hose you need to clamp it off. It goes straight to the fuel/air mixture intake, so if it's unplugged it will cause a lean condition. Other than that, if gas flows when the machine is running you're OK.
 
ztec said:
edit: I cant seem to get it to start I have been at the same point all day. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

Well, what point is that?

You can start by checking for the four things a cylinder needs: fuel, air, compression, and spark.

Michael
 
-Vacuum hose is plugged
-I have fire
-I dont have the right size adaptor to do a compression test, but compression sounds healthy
-Fuel is being delivered to carb, I know that much

Is it ok if I have the breather hose on each carb off?
 
SqDancerLynn1 said:
Put some oil in the cyls, crank it with the starter TO prime the oil system reinstall the plugs.
One thing I do If I am working on the bike and know I will be using the starter alot is to Take the battery out of my car and hook it up to the bike with jumper cables. It doesn't take much of a voltage drop to make the bike not start.
Click to expand...

hmm that wont fry my starter will it? I have a van with dual batterys
 
ztec said:
hmm that wont fry my starter will it? I have a van with dual batterys
Click to expand...

No, the electronics take only what they need. You can use a car battery on a bike because it's more than enough supply. You can't safely use a bike battery on a car though because it's not strong enough and very very bad things can happen (explosion of battery is BAD).

Michael
 
mopolopo said:
ztec said:
hmm that wont fry my starter will it? I have a van with dual batterys
Click to expand...

No, the electronics take only what they need. You can use a car battery on a bike because it's more than enough supply. You can't safely use a bike battery on a car though because it's not strong enough and very very bad things can happen (explosion of battery is BAD).

Michael
Click to expand...

thats what I thought, I guess it wouldent draw more amps than needed. Just wanted to make sure though. thanks
 
When I first resurrected my bike I found that the carbs were having a hard time getting fuel. Once I purged all the air out of the fuel lines it ran fine.

Jeff
 
What is a good ballpark position for the air screws?
and to clear things up what adjustments are these screws
carb1.jpg

and is this is were the vent hose on each carb hose goes right?
carb2.jpg
 
Spark plug Wire

Spark plug Wire

Make sure the correct wire for each plug. The number should be on the plug wire.
 
Is the idle adjuster turned up enough to allow the bike to start?
Were the carbs at least manually synched? If they're off quite a bit it won't start easily or at all.
Do you have the stock air box? Is it connected and sealed?
 
so can anyone help me with the screws in the pictures on page 1, btw thanks to everyone for there help. Im really hopin I can get this baby runnin sometime on thursday or friday, when the por 15 tank liner is cured and I can put gas in it.
 
ttt......can anyone help me or is everyone just sick of this thread, if so just say so. But if anyone could tell me what the screws in the picture do that would help alot .
 
I'd like to help, but I specialize in the 850 and 1100 GL models. The pictures don't look much like the carbs on my bikes. For needle valve screws, a rule of thumb is to gently take it all the way in, then back it off 1.5 to 2 turns. That can at least give you a starting point.

At this point, I'd suggest investing in a manual. 20 bucks or so will get a Clymer manual--and that's a real good place to start. Another thing you can do is to go to the Bike Bandit web site and look at the schematics they have online. There isn't a lot of repair information, but you can get a good idea of what each part is and where it fits.

When I first decided to get back into riding (and repairing) motorcycles, I bought a Clymer manual and read some if it every night for weeks before I ever posted anything to this site. I've discovered that maintaining a twenty-plus year old bike takes some serious involvement. So be patient and do your homework. You'll get it figured out.
 
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