Anybody willing to help me on my bike?

[JunaryBunch]

I just got my GS500 a few months ago and now I'm experiencing several problems.  I'm hoping someone near the Rockville area is willing to help me out to see what's wrong with my bike.  Currently my bike will not start and I've been having some fuel issues - but it could be something else.

Any help would be appreciated ... as well as a new riding buddy

[raylarrabee]

I'm in Bethesda, but i am short on time right now (planning a wedding and leaving for NAvy training on Saturday).  I might be able to help you out for a couple hours tomorrow or Thursday.  I'm no master mechanic, but I at least have tools and a manual, and I've done some work on my bike (valves, suspension, etc).

What specifically is going on?  If you get it narrowed down with help from the more knowledgable people on the boards, I might be able to lend a set of hands and help you get it done quickly.

Again, I'm up against the wall this week, so I can;t promise anything, but give me a call and I'll see if I can help out.

[raylarrabee]

FYI, you might want to move this to the General section, or repost there and try to get some feedback on what the problem might be.  I thin I'm the only truly local rider to you.  There's some guys in columbia and a guy in Frederick, and you might be able to convince one of them to lend a hand.  Jiggersplat lives near columbia, and is MUCH more experienced/knowledgable than me.

Anyway, post in General and try to figure out WFT is wrong with your bike.

[Phaedrus]

Tip: Beer and Pizza are good motivators as well

[pantablo]

I'll move this thread to general in a day or three, to make sure he sees this note.

[raylarrabee]

hey,

I appologize for this, but I am going to have to flake out on getting up to Rockville to help you out tonight.  I just talked to my fiance and she reminded me that we have to meet with a caterer about our rehearsal dinner.

If you PM me your email address, I can send you a list of things to check, some links to threads with doo pictures and how-tos, and anything else I can think of.

The basic things you are going to want to check are:

• you might have a clogged fuel tank vent.  Put the frame-mounted petcock to Prime, open the fuel cap, let it sit for aminute to fill the float bowls, and try to start the bike.
• pull tank and check fuel/vacuum hose routing.  Make sure everything is hooked up the right way, and look for places where you might have crimped/pinched a fuel or vacuum line when you put the tank back on.  Check here for pictures of the correct hose routing:  http://bbburma.net/FuelHoseRouting.htm .  While you have the tank off, also inspect the fuel/vacuum lines for cracks and wear.
• Check the tank-mounted petcock to make sure it is all the way open.  It is the metal "nipple" sticking out from the bottom of the tank.  The slot in the valve screw should be completely verticle to have it all the way open
• Pull your spark plugs, and inspect them to see if you're running lean (which it sounds like you are).  Running lean (too much air, not enough fuel) will make the engine run too hot.  Here's a picture showing how to diagnose problems based on the condition of your spark plugs:  http://www.bbburma.net/Scans/Haynes_SparkPlugChart.jpg .  Also, you might want to make sure your plugs have the proper gap before re-installing.  The correct gap for the plugs is somewhere between .8 mm and 1.0 mm.  You can buy a cheap-o wire feeler guage set at Auto Zone designed to measure spark plug gap.
• Remove the battery, and check the fluid level.  If it's low, re-fill to the appropriate marks WITH DISTILLED WATER from a drug store.  This isn;t likely causing your problem, but you might as well do it.
• Check to make sure your exhaust headers are securely bolted on.  I had one loose when I got the bike, and it caused a VERY lean condition and extremely poor idling performance.[/list:u]
  
  The next thing I would try if none of this stuff fixes the problem is to clean your carbs.  It's a step up in difficulty over the stuff above, but still not very hard.  Also, as I said on the phone, I would recommend doing a valve adjustment.  If you haven't already, sign up to borrow Kerry or Srinath's valve kits.  With the video that's in the kits, it's a very easy job.
  
  Trust me, none of this stuff I listed is hard at all.  If you want to borrow my Clymer manual, let me know.  I will be away at navy training for 5 weeks, so I won;t need it during that time.  
  
  Again, sorry for flaking, but the wedding stuff has to be nailed down before I leave on Saturday.  Feel free to call me tonight or tomorrow if you have any questions.

[raylarrabee]

PS:  can a mod please move this to the general section so he can get some more/better advice on troubleshooting?

[Kerry]

Anybody willing to help me on my bike?

Can't you get on it by yourself? :lol:

Sorry.

Moving the thread to General Discussion....

[Hugh Jardon]

Any progress to report? I'm more than 1000 miles away from you, but let us know what you've learned from the advice you've already been given, so we can help you get your bike back on the road.

Does it start now? Have the symptoms you originally reported changed, or are they the same? Is it better, or worse? What have you done to test it?

You don't have to answer ALL of these questions right now; just tell us what you can, and we'll try to guide you from there. IOW, for lack of a better term, consider this post just a glorified "BUMP" to get your problems posted where more people can see them.

There are people here who want to help you, but you have to help us help you, before we can actually help you...

[Jeff P]

Howdy.  I'm up in Germantown, I might be able to help you out.  Got a pretty full set of tools.  I haven't had any starting problems, except for those due to dead batteries, so I might not be too helpful on the troubleshooting  :dunno:  But, if you could provide some more info and we can get a diagnosis, I might be able to help you out.  And you can always come looking here for riding buddies!  

jeff

[JunaryBunch]

Well, here is the scoop (sorry for not posting earlier) on my bike
I've had the bike for 3 months.  Few weeks ago, was riding when I noticed that the bike started jerking on me when the throttle was constant.  Then after a few seconds of that jerking my bike just cut off on me.  So I posted and people said that I should  put my petcock to prime.  Did that.  Afterwards was riding again no problems for a few minutes.  Turned it off and now it won't start.

So I definitely think I have some sort of fuel issue.  But now I can't start the damn thing.  I'm gonna take the tank off and see if the fuel lines are "pinched" and check the battery as well, but I'm not too optimistic.

Any help would be appreciated -

Jeff P - I can PM you if you're interested in helping me out.

[Toledo Jim]

Well, here is the scoop (sorry for not posting earlier) on my bike
I've had the bike for 3 months.  Few weeks ago, was riding when I noticed that the bike started jerking on me when the throttle was constant.  Then after a few seconds of that jerking my bike just cut off on me.  So I posted and people said that I should  put my petcock to prime.  Did that.  Afterwards was riding again no problems for a few minutes.  Turned it off and now it won't start.

So I definitely think I have some sort of fuel issue.  But now I can't start the damn thing.  I'm gonna take the tank off and see if the fuel lines are "pinched" and check the battery as well, but I'm not too optimistic.

Any help would be appreciated -

Jeff P - I can PM you if you're interested in helping me out.

I had my 93 for 2 weeks, riding at 70 on interstate, (178 miles on tripmeter)
Had same jerking then cutoff, played w/petcock and got it running again with petcock in on position, half mile down road did it again.
Cop pulls up behind me and convinces me to get it towed, ($75.00) :guns:
get it to shop and inside, fires right up ,
mech takes it out for ride and fills tank w/gas (3.1 gallons :dunno: )
looking at lines it looked like one was pinched so I had them replace both fuellines from tank and install inline filters (just because ).
next time I get to 150 miles I strap a 1 gallon gascan on back and ride around to see what will happen,
at 172 miles it does it again, can't get it going with prime or reserve :dunno: , put gas in and managed to get it started, got immediately to gas station.
checked here and found prior thread with fuel line routing diagram, on and reserve lines were reversed.
Bike now runs on reserve or prime

Hope this helps.

I still dont understand why prime didn't work before tho :dunno:

[Kerry]

I still dont understand why prime didn't work before tho :dunno:

Because the PRIme position gets its feed from the RES hose.  And when the level in the tank got down below the normal RES level, the hose feeding both the RES and PRI positions was high-and-dry.

[Toledo Jim]

I still dont understand why prime didn't work before tho :dunno:

Because the PRIme position gets its feed from the RES hose.  And when the level in the tank got down below the normal RES level, the hose feeding both the RES and PRI positions was high-and-dry.

Thank You Kerry, makes perfect sense if I look at the routing diagram.

Followup q: why did it quit when in on position with hose for res and on reversed without totally running out of gas?

I haven't learned enough yet, but I'm not giving up

[Toledo Jim]

I still dont understand why prime didn't work before tho :dunno:

Because the PRIme position gets its feed from the RES hose.  And when the level in the tank got down below the normal RES level, the hose feeding both the RES and PRI positions was high-and-dry.

Okay, let me try to rephrase my followup question:
1: Running with petcock in ON position.
.     a: hose from RES at tank hooked to ON at petcock.
.     b: hose from ON at tank hooked to RES at petcock.
.     c: tank takes 3+-.1 gallons to fill when quits (twice) should draw from "reserve gas" at this time, right?

2: after switching hoses (at petcock) and running on RES for additional 30 miles, took 3.6 gallons to fill tank. (Indicates to me RES outlet at tank is not blocked.)

Therefore:
Why did it quit in ON position when hose for ON at petcock was hooked to RES at tank outlets? :dunno: