choke

[bentrider]

I have had my 2005 GS500 for less than one year and only ridden 170 miles. I have replaced the battery in the last few months. Today, i could not get engine to idle without choke(kept staiiing even if choke slowly shut off) for over one half hour and then could not start the engine at all. Oil level ok after last ride threee weeks ago. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[Egaeus]

Probably dirty carburetors.  Sounds to me like your jets are clogged...probably pilots were clogged at first, and then the mid-mains.  If you didn't follow proper precautions when you let the bike sit, the gas in the carbs will evaporate, leaving a gummy residue.  It probably rode fine at first, but then the residue started to get soft in the gas that was in the carb, and you had goop floating around that clogged it up.  It's a common problem with bikes that sit for too long. 

The only thing you can do is take the carbs out and clean them.  Drain the gas out of them, open up the float bowl (bottom), and take the jets out.  Soak them in carb cleaner, and then make sure there are no obstructions (thin brass wire is good for this).  Sometimes you may think it's clean, but it'll clog back up, so you will end up doing it twice if you're sloppy. 

[scottpA_GS]

2005? Warranty ?

[Turd Ferguson]

No way would the warranty cover anything like that.  I'm sure Eagaeus hit the nail on the head.  Gummed carberuators are due to improper storage which is specifically outlined in the owners manual.  Suzuki would simply point and laugh.

Hey "bentrider" get out and ride that thing!  I get made fun of by all of my riding buddies for only racking up 2,200 miles on my '05 in 10 months.

-Turd.

[Yankee Punker]

I have had my 2005 GS500 for less than one year and only ridden 170 miles. I have replaced the battery in the last few months. Today, i could not get engine to idle without choke(kept staiiing even if choke slowly shut off) for over one half hour and then could not start the engine at all. Oil level ok after last ride threee weeks ago. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Sounds like your bike has been sitting around for awhile, if its been three weeks since your last ride, how many weeks as it been from the ride before that, and how long has it been since you put any fresh gas in the tank? If its been more than a 4-5 weeks drain out the old gas and fill it up with some fresh, and I bet it will run a lot better after about five minutes. A lot of people that dont ride there bikes to often, and have not change the stock set-up on the carbs from running lean seam to alway have this problem, after too many weeks of the same gas sitting in the tank the gas kind of loses its pep, and the hotter it is outside the faster this can happen. And it probaly would be ideal to use some Stabil if you already dont, that will help the gas to not gum up if you dont get to ride your bike for a few weeks or more.

[bentrider]

My mechanic said that I need to replace the spark plugs.

[scratch]

This'll help: http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=312.0

[TragicImage]

My mechanic said that I need to replace the spark plugs.

your mechanic is an idiot IMHO.... clean the carbs up.... maybe rejet while you're at it ($20 for some performance).  and ride more often.

[Yankee Punker]

My mechanic said that I need to replace the spark plugs.

An 05' with only 170 miles on it, maybe just take out the plugs and give them a little wire brushing and a shot of brake cleaner to dust them off, and +1 on riding more often, or at least start it every few weeks and let run 5-10 minutes, this will help save you from some very costly or time consuming repairs from letting it sit around to long.

[Turd Ferguson]

Everything I have read says even firing it up for 5-10 minutes every so often can be just as bad.  The engine begins to produce acids in the crank case from blowby and it never reaches a good enough operating temperature to burn them off.  Also, condensation is formed in the exhaust and also never burned off so it can begin to rust.

Get it out every week and give it a good hour long ride 

-Turd.

[LimaXray]

+1 on your carbs.  If you were riding around with the choke on for a while then your plugs may be fouled, but they are more the result of a problem and not the cause of the problem.  In any case, it may be good to change them, or at least pull them and clean them, just to be sure.

Before you go cleaning your carbs, try this:
1) Completely drain the old fuel out of the tank by either siphoning it out from the top or taking off the tank and draining it out through the bottom.
2) Fill the tank up with some fresh gas and carb cleaner (ie Seafoam)
3) Set the petcock to 'Pri' and open the drains in the bottom of the float bowls and drain a couple cups of fuel through them to ensure there is nothing but good clean gas left in the fuel system.
4) Set the petcock to 'On', put on full choke, and try to start the bike.  Hopefully you should be able to get it running at this point.  
5) After letting it idle for a minute, take off the choke.  If it wants to stall, use the the throttle to keep it idling, but leave off the choke.
6) Take it for a nice long ride and try to burn up as much of that gas as possible. (try to do at least 100 miles, but ~200 over the course of a weekend would be ideal)
7) After you're done riding it and plan on letting it sit for a while again, fit it up with fresh gas and add some fuel stabilizer to the tank and let it run another 10 minutes before shutting it down.

If it still has problems after that, you'll need to take apart the carbs and clean them.  

+3146425724 on just riding more... like seriously man 170 miles??!!?!