Ticking over problems

[Biker_Girl]

Hello.

Hopefully someone can help me and my boyfriend. He has a gs 500f which has 26000+ miles on it, it is now not ticking over right. He has to use the chock most of the time when he starts the bike regardless what the weather is like and if he has ridden it recently (i.e within 15 mins). if you turn the choke off then the bike will die. This also happens wen sitting a traffic lights and when he goes from high revs to low revs. Which is a buggar when yu are going across a roundabout  I have researched carb icing but the problems specified do not cover all the problems the bike has. The bike cuts out when he gets home from mine which is about 25 miles away, by then the engine is hot but the bike still cuts out when he pulls up outside his home. He has tried Redex and put new spark plugs in but the bike still dies.  Does any one have any adivce for him as he is starting to feel the bike is getting unreliable. Please help us.

Thank you

Biker_Girl
p.s im a new biker now yeppy

[NiceGuysFinishLast]

What's the idle set at?

[DerekNC]

If the idle is set right it sounds like the pilot jets are clogged.

[The Buddha]

I'd say its got an intake vacuum leak. Followed by general lean mix due to stuff clogged up etc.
Cool.
Srinath.

[Biker_Girl]

I think my boyfrind said that it should normally ticke over at 1300 but as mentioned it didnt. He hase changed the ticking over screw and the bike seems to tick over better now and for the first time in about 3-4 months he was able to get home without the bike diying on him. However this has only covered up the problem as it will reoccure later unless something is done now. DerekNC are the poliet jets difficult to unclogg? seshadri_srinath how can you see if there is a vacuum leak? ME and my boyfriend are not technical minded on bikes so an explantion would be helpful.

Thank you
Emma

[natedawg120]

Welcome Biker_girl.

Basically to ensure that the carbs are all good and clean, AKA not cloged, you have to rebuild them.  Here is the link to the carb work how to in the how too section of the main page, http://www.gstwin.com/carb_work.htm.  I haven't had to clean mine yet but I hear that it isn't to bad if you have some time, patience and an indoor place to work on the carbs.

As far as the intake leak, Look at the hoses that go over the intakes to the carbs.  If they are cracked or not snug, loose so that they can be pulled off or moved without loosening the clamps, they need to be tightened untill snug.  If the they are cracked all the way through, that isn't good either and need replaced.  Now the location of what you are looking for on the bike is in the pic that follows.



The arrows that point to the slides are also the intake ports to the carbs.  There will be two rubber hoses running from the airbox to those ports. 

Lastly - Good Luck!

[Biker_Girl]

Thank you natedawg120. Ill pass the note on to my boyfriend and hopefully it helps the problem.

[natedawg120]

your welcome, and i forgot to mention they are the hoses that go to the airbox if I wasn't obvious.

[Biker_Girl]

If what u have recomended does not work then what else could we do? We just want as many options as possible so he can carry on trying rather than stop and look for more if you understand what i mean.

[natedawg120]

as a simple test you might just try having your BF start the bike, warm it up and let in run in PRI and see if it runs better.  what this does is eliminate the vacuum actuated fuel flow though the petcock.  If it runs better it is the petcock or the lines.

But honestly a bike with that many miles should have had the carbs cleaned.  Maybe you could ask the previous owner if they ever had that done, cause i am almost sure that will fix you problem.

[Biker_Girl]

I know this sounds bad but his bike is a 55 reg and he brought it from new. Therefore he is the first owner. The reason he has so many miles is because he travelled from Southampton to Chatham every weekend which was 125 miles one way, just to see me before i moved down closer to him. He doesnt want to take the Carbs apart as he says he doesnt know what he is doing and doesnt want to mess it up somewhere. He is ok on little parts but not major parts like carb cleaning. Apart from the site stated above is there any other sites that would have step to step diagrams and instructions in taking and putting bck together carbs, aswell as cleaning which i shouldnt think is that difficult.

[tussey]

I know this sounds bad but his bike is a 55 reg and he brought it from new. Therefore he is the first owner. The reason he has so many miles is because he travelled from Southampton to Chatham every weekend which was 125 miles one way, just to see me before i moved down closer to him. He doesnt want to take the Carbs apart as he says he doesnt know what he is doing and doesnt want to mess it up somewhere. He is ok on little parts but not major parts like carb cleaning. Apart from the site stated above is there any other sites that would have step to step diagrams and instructions in taking and putting bck together carbs, aswell as cleaning which i shouldnt think is that difficult.

lol wtf calls the idle a tick...anyways if your bf is halfway decent with tools and mechanics the carbs are a piece of cake. Grab a Haynes manual here (not a Clymers manual)

Just go exactly step by step and don't rush anything and the carbs are cake. The next time you'll be able to do it without the manual. It's just very intimidating at first, but it's not at all complicated.

[natedawg120]

I know this sounds bad but his bike is a 55 reg and he brought it from new. Therefore he is the first owner. The reason he has so many miles is because he travelled from Southampton to Chatham every weekend which was 125 miles one way, just to see me before i moved down closer to him. He doesnt want to take the Carbs apart as he says he doesnt know what he is doing and doesnt want to mess it up somewhere. He is ok on little parts but not major parts like carb cleaning. Apart from the site stated above is there any other sites that would have step to step diagrams and instructions in taking and putting bck together carbs, aswell as cleaning which i shouldnt think is that difficult.

lol wtf calls the idle a tick...anyways if your bf is halfway decent with tools and mechanics the carbs are a piece of cake. Grab a Haynes manual here (not a Clymers manual)

Just go exactly step by step and don't rush anything and the carbs are cake. The next time you'll be able to do it without the manual. It's just very intimidating at first, but it's not at all complicated.

+1,

I have helped with carbs on cars and just from going over all the how toos on all the carb stuff it doesn't seem bad at all.  Plus he can take the money he saves and do something else with it.  All it takes is a little time, a little patience and a little money.  With that many miles the carbs could be gunked to the max if they have never been cleaned before.

[Biker_Girl]

By reading the comments it sounds like its the carbs. However he has altered the ticking over by loosing the screw under the tank, it is ok now so you do still think it is the carbs that are clogged up?? 

[natedawg120]

ahh good old idle adjustment, if it runs alright now you might want to run aome carb clean through it just to help clean things out.  A half a bottle of the car carb cleaner in a tank of gas normally does the trick

[Biker_Girl]

Thank you all for your adivce but this evening the bike has dyied completly. Apparently as my boyfriend wa going to work the bike keept dying but he was able to get it back. Now it doesnt start at all. Th bike has flooded before do you think it hass done the same again and is this problem connected to the carbs again. We both now belive that the carbs need cleaning so if anyone knows a step-to-step site when cleaning carbs it will be very much appreciated. Again thank you or you help above.

[scratch]

http://www.gstwin.com/carb_work.htm

And, there might be more in the FAQ: http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?board=7.0