Post storage running issues - help!

[rivetc78]

Ok, took my '89 GS500 partially apart over the winter to paint it (viper blue) get the wheels powdercoated (gloss black) and repaint the exhaust.  While I had the bike apart, i changed the fuel lines and petcock to the 2004 model to solve the high speed fuel starvation issue.

I then put the bike all back together on the weekend, and it fired up right away but on the first ride it died on me.  I only had a few dollars worth of gas in the tank so I attributed it to running out of gas since it fired right back up after I switched to reserve.  Unfortunately now the bike is not running properly.  It's hard to start when it's warm - have to give it a bit of gas and when I leave a stop light, it bogs and sounds weird like it's running on one cylinder then once the RPM's build up it's fine.  I tried moving the petcock to reserve, prime and on, all with no change to the symptoms.

I purchased the bike 2 years ago and never cleaned the carburetors myself and am unsure of what the previous owner did.  It seemed to run fine when I parked the bike in the fall.  At that point I knew I was draining the tank so I didn't bother to put fuel stabilizer in it. 

My question is, is this a carb problem or could the petcock I installed have a faulty diaphram?  The bike seems fine at high speed; it just seems to not run properly at low speed.  I changed the plugs as a quick fix but no luck.

Thanks,
Chad

[pandymai]

you drained the tank but did you also drain the carbs?

i'm by no means an expert.. but i believe i read that if it bogs when you blip the throttle, that means youre running rich?

sorry to just post more questions but hopefully someone will stumble across this and be able to help you

[joshr08]

when you changed the plugs were they black?

[rivetc78]

Darn, I'll have to go digging through the garbage for my old plugs...  One more clue though, after my last ride, the bike smelled like gas when I parked in the garage but there's no fuel leaking anywhere - I checked all the hoses and clamps.

[joshr08]

i am guessing they will be very black and thats rich.  i think your problem will go away with leaning the bike out a bit.

[jeremy_nash]

if you cant find the old plugs, pull the ones in there now, and check them out.  and post some good pics of them, so we can give you our opinions

[rivetc78]

Update - decided to bring the bike into my local mechanic's to have him take a look at it.  On my way over, I decided to open it up a few times; hitting ~ 90 - 100 MPH on the highway.  As I got close, the original symptoms disappeared.  I brought the bike in anyways and after a thorough checking it turned out the carbs were dirty and needing a slight idle adjustment.  My high speed run apparently cleared up some of the crud that was built up in the carbs.

Thanks for everyone's input, I love this site for everyone's knowledge on these great little bikes.

Chad