Low Idle/Stalling While Riding[UPDATED]

[Moose0573]

Hey Guys,

Rode my '04 GS500f today to work and school today. The bike is stock with about 1300 miles on it.  She warmed up fine witha little choke, but after about 20 minutes of riding in traffic, at stops idle would drop below 1K or just cut off. I would have to roll on the throttle at least halfway during takeoff from stop just to keep from stalling.  When at a stop and the idle started to sink, I can smell gas.  :dunno:  

Also, a couple of times, as I was approaching intersection, stop, etc, as soon as I engage clutch to downshift the bike would stall.

Just wondering what you guys think?  If it is something simple I can adjust, if not I'll have to take it to the dealer service.  I'm not very mechanically inclined.   :mrgreen:

[The Buddha]

Stuck float ... hit a few good bumps and might go away magically ... my vulcan used to do it with a fair bit of regularity ... The pity was that damn POS had carbs that were impossible to get to ... I prefered to run down my lawn and jump the curb ... 99% worked ... else ... repeat ...
Cool.
Srinath.

[treybrad]

Haha, make sure you have some momentum when you go off the curb so you don't dent your exhaust  :lol:

I was fouling one plug for the longest time, ran like crap at low RPMs, stalled sometimes and it was a high float like Srinath says (I checked it using the tube method). I was going to take them off to adjust them the next week and voila it went away... Just ride around a while or take a screwdriver and tap gently on the side of the bowls and I bet it'll unstick itself.

trey

[Moose0573]

I don't know about jumping the bike...my big ass tries that and I'm going to break something.  :lol:  

What exactly are the "bowls"?   :dunno:

[Blingmasta]

Pretty much the bottom part of the carb. It's got a float inside that can tend to get stuck. Yours is stuck high, so no fuel is coming in. Just tap the lower part of your carb a few times.

At least I think that's what's up. Some one will affirm this or verbally spank me for leading you on wrong.

[treybrad]

Yep, that's it. Here's a pic (shamelessly stolen from Kerry's site...):



Just tap on that screw or right above it on the bowl-looking part...

trey

[Moose0573]

Okay, I'll try that.  Thanks guys!

[Mat]

I don't know about jumping the bike...my big ass tries that and I'm going to break something.  :lol:  

What exactly are the "bowls"?   :dunno:

i jumped my bike over some train tracks last summer
was going like 50 - 60 when i did it

[Moose0573]

Well I tried tapping the side of the carbs a few times, but no luck, it still idles like crap and then cuts off.  

Should I try turning the Idle Adjustment Screw?   :dunno:  


My only other option is to take it to the dealer because it's still under warranty, but now I can't choke it to warm up, so I'm forced to hold the throttle at around 4K rpm's until the bike is warmed up enough to ride.

[mp183]

Take it to the dealer.

[cheesy]

Take it to the dealer.

[Anonymous]

Exhaust valves tight?

[Moose0573]

Well, it looks as though Srinath was right, as the problem just kind of went away by itself.  My baby is running as before now.  So it must have been just a stuck float???  :dunno:  

I was supposed to drop it by the dealer service dept. today to have it looked at.  Yesterday was such a nice day here in North Florida that I said what the hell and decided to put up with the crappy idling and cutting off to go get a hair cut.  She was still acting up.  I had turned the idle adjustment screw to increase the idle, but didn't notice a difference, the idle still nosedived until stall.  Got my haircutt, went next door to the bodybuilding supplement store, and when I came out and started up, she revved up to about 4K rpm's and scared the crap out of me.  I turned the idle screw back down to the normal idle range @1.5K or so and she's run like a charm ever since.

So hopefully problem solved.  I guess it was the float being stuck high in the carb, and that is why I was smelling gas?  Am I right in assuming high float=richer mixture???  Please tell me I've learned something, because up till now I've been a mechanical retard about motorcycle engines.

Thanks for the help all.  Srinath, I bow to thee.