99' GS500E having idling & throttle issues

[cell_491]

Ok heres some background on the bike... I recently bought this bike on ebay as a non running bike. It was running before the woman put it in storage but didnt afterwords so when i purchased it i believed it may just be the battery and some gummed up carbs. So i got the bike, cleaned out the carbs with carb cleaner and replaced the battery then replaced all the fuel lines and routed them exactly like its shown on the main site. Well now it starts and runs...but not good. So i bought some pour in carb cleaner and mixed it with some 93 octane gas and ran the bike for awhile (outside with good wind to keep er cool) but it doesnt seem to make an effect. Well from the get go the throttle response has been horrible...a good 2-3 sec of throttle lag. Also it idles real high...i have to adjust it everytime i start the bike (dial on the carbs) i adjust it down to 1500rpm but as soon as i shut it down and start it up again it idles at 3000rpm which is insanely high. Also after running the pour in carb cleaner everytime i rev the bike it hangs at that rpm and very veyr slowly falls back to around a 2500rpm idle.... Im gonna try completly dissasembling the carbs today, but if any of you guys have anything else i could try let me know

[manofthefield]

Well, these bikes a very cold blooded and therefore take a long time to warm up.  Depending on climate, your bike should need to be choked to start, then run with the choke on for a bit, then warmed up for a while or ridden slowly.  Have you had a chance to allow the bike to warm up fully?  Once you do get there you can adjust the idle.  While warming up with the choke on the engine rpms will rise on their own, or hang  up there after a blip of the throttle.  This shouldn't be a problem after the bike is warmed up and choke is off.

If none of that is the problem, there could be an air leak to the carbs causing the throttle to hang

Other potential problems: carb floats sticking or not set right, engine doesn't like running with the  carb cleaner?

[scratch]

Welcome!

It sounds like the cleaning may have made the bike realize that its jetted too lean from the factory.  Do a search on removing the brass plugs (search 'brass plugs' or 'mixture screw(s)') over the mixture screws and turn those out a full turn, or 2.5 to 3 turns out from lightly seated.  Also, adjust your float height so that it's level with the floatbowl gasket (search 'floatbowl gasket' or 'level and gasket' or 'float level).

The only other thing I can think of at this moment is to check to make sure the carbs are seated completely in their boots and the airboots are on all the way around the carb mouths.  What's the condition of the airfilter?  Holes or, if it's a foam filter, if it's dry, will make it slightly lean.

[aevans17]

B4 messing with the carbs/mixture/throttle cables, check one simple thing. There is a throttle stop screw between the carbs. Once the bike is warmed up completely, check to ensure that the Choke is completely off. Next check the RPMs. Try adjusting the Throttle stop screw by turning it to see if this lowers or increases the RPMs. Assuming your RPMs are still high, you want them to be moving down towards the 1500 rpm range at idle. The throttle stop screw stops the throttle from closing all the way. If it's out to far then the throttle would be stuck in a slightly open position. This could be a reason why you have 2-3 seconds of throttle lag. You aren't actually getting any throttle until you move the throttle past the level of the throttle stop screw. If you've checked this and it's still not working right then check the other stuff.

[cell_491]

ok i took the carbs off but was unable to unscrew the bolts that held the bowls on without permanantly stripping them. So i had to go an opposite approach... I took the top plastic cover off and pull the air seal things out and stuck the carb cleaner straw down through the opening and onto the main jet the cleaned it thoroughly. By shaking the carb assembly back and forth i could feel that the floats were moving freely. I put it back together. At this point the ideling and throttle lag was completely gone...so i thought i would set it outside and let it idle for a few min (there is a good wind so i wasnt too worried about it overheating). About 7-8 min in it rapidly revved up to 5000rpm, first i tried twisting the throttle back and forth to see if something had just stuck in the carbs. But it was to no avail, then i tried just adjusting the idle knob because i rememnber you guys saying that in order to set the idle right it needs to be warmed up so i tried that but again nothing happened. So i shut it back off and started it up again...bam running at 1200 rpm, but about 3 min in it dropped to 300rpm and then died. Here comes the annoying part, when i tried cranking it again it sounded like the starter motor wasnt turning, it made a "een een een" sound so i was like shaZam! maybe my battery is all effed up or somthing so i hooked the charger up to it and tried again. This time a loud "tick tick tick tick" noise came from in the area of the voltage regulator (though im not sure if that was what was making the noise) it sounded just like a stuck solenoid on a car (not sure if bikes have those). Then everything stopped alltogether...when i try to crack it it does absolutely nothing...this really sux

[cell_491]

not sure how this happens but i tried starting the bike again and the starter tried to turn so i thought, that maybe it was hydro-locked so i pulled the spark plugs out and hit the starter, the motor turned over but nothing but air came out...no raw fuel so it wasnt hydro locked. But in the process i noticed something strange first off the new sparkplugs my brother installed were barely finger tight (hes kinda dumb like that), also the left spark plug had carbon scoring all over it which is to be expected considering...its a spark plug. lol. But what was strange was that the right spark plug had zero zip nada scoring on it which leads me to believe that i might have only been running on one cylinder. Also that gaps of the two sparkplugs were not the same, so i set the gap to the sparky that was obviously working and tested them both and both gave me spark. So then i tightend down the spark plugs with a wrench (not too tight but alot tighter than finger tight), but then when i tried cranking it again...nothing absolutely nothing the starter doesnt turn or anything...wtf

[cell_491]

Here is a pic of the part that makes the clicking noise when i try to fire her up... im new to bikes so i cant say for sure what it is...but it sure as heck looks like a starter solenoid. Whatever it is, what is it called, what model is it, and where can i find a replacement.

[scratch]

If it's clicking, it's okay, that means it's doing it's job (when there's not enough juice...).  It is a starter solenoid, and the fuse (yellow).  How's the battery? Have you recharged it?  Does it have fluid?

[cell_491]

If it's clicking, it's okay, that means it's doing it's job (when there's not enough juice...).  It is a starter solenoid, and the fuse (yellow).  How's the battery? Have you recharged it?  Does it have fluid?

hmm i guess that makes tons of sense since a solenoid is basically just a relay. And yes the fuse is fine (first thing i checked when i took it off the bike) The battery is brand new and is full. However i think i may have charged it wrong from the get go, i didnt pay attention to the box it came in which specifcally says to charge it with a 2amp charger...ive been using a 10amp charger. Ive got som home work to do but as soon as im done im gonna try jumping it off my truck battery and see if i can get her started. If i can then i gonna test the right side ignition coil to see if that might be a reason behind the right spark plug not firing. Ill keep you guys posted

[cell_491]

ok the battery was deffinitley the problem as far as getting it started. Also it was deffinitley only running on one cylinder before because now it has a completely different sound, and when i removed the spark plugs again to check they both had carbon scoring all over them...but i can still hear it miss a little everynow and then...so im gonna look into getting some higher quality spark plugs tomorrow. So the only other problem im having is it still takes a long time to wind down after being revved... but i think that might be cuz i only have it in neutral on its center stand so there is really no friction there to make it slow down, which means thats really not a problem

[cell_491]

BTW what is the appropriate gap on the spark plugs for this bike? According to my absent minded yet knowledgable brother these spark plugs are the best you can buy for this bike (NGK-R, DPR8EA-9) what do you think? Are there any better ones out there?

[cell_491]

ok i went out and bought two brand new sparkplugs and had them gapped to .035in (what the haynes manual says). Put them in and the bike fired right up...however im still having the problem when after a few minutes of idling it rapidly revvs up from 1500rpm to around 3-4k rpm and then hangs there. What could be wrong? Is it a carb problem or is this engine just not designed to idle very long.

[coll0412]

Well, first i assume that the choke is off.
If the choke is off check for cracks in the boots of the carbs, the rubber part that attaches the carbs to the engine, rub a tiny bit of water around on the carb boots and see if it gets sucked in. Also check to make sure that the vacuum caps are attached, they are on the top portion of the carb, otherwise you will suck straight air in there causing revving.

I personally suspect that the jets are all clogged, to get the lower portion of the carb out you are going to need an impact screwdriver, you can get them at any auto parts store, a good rejet usuall helps