1993 GS500 Running Problems

[BenX]

Hey guys,

I just recently made an account but I had been reading on these forums for a couple weeks. I bought a 1993 GS500 about a month ago and it seemed to run great. I'm a new rider so all I was doing was riding around my subdivision. After about 20ish miles of riding around, the bike started to bog down and stalled in second. So I filled it up with some new gas and put mixed some seafoam in it. It seemed to run decent after that (no stalling). Last friday I went riding with a buddy on main roads and it started to bog down when I was riding at around 45 mph and ~4000 rpm's. It stalled at least 4-5 more times on the way home. So I filled it up completely with new gas and some more seafoam. It seemed to run a bit better but I decided to clean the carbs anyway.

I cleaned the carbs and put them back in and it seems to run just the same as before. The carbs werent dirty or anything when I took them out but I stilled cleaned them. When I put them back in, I tested everything to make sure it still works. However, theres a new problem now. My turn signals work but the light that blinks on the dash doesn't anymore. Any answers to this problem?

Here are some more issues:

1. If I have the choke out and give it throttle it stalls. If I am giving it throttle and then let the choke out, it stalls.

2. If I give it a lot of throttle right away it just bogs down. I have to gradually give it throttle.

I think the issue with it stalling when riding at higher speeds had to deal with the amount of gas in the tank because I read someone else's thread that he was having the same issue. The gas tank that is on the bike seems to be a different one than stock because the bolts don't align up as they should.

Any help would be great. Thanks.

[Dizzledan]

The symptoms you're giving sound like dirty carbs to me. Did you take a piece of wire to clean out your pilot jets when you cleaned them? What did your float bowls look like?

If you put the bike on the 'prime' petcock position does it make any difference in throttle response?

The turn signal light is just on the dash, easy to pull off the headlight and pull the rubber plug for the light underneath it.

[BenX]

The symptoms you're giving sound like dirty carbs to me. Did you take a piece of wire to clean out your pilot jets when you cleaned them? What did your float bowls look like?

If you put the bike on the 'prime' petcock position does it make any difference in throttle response?

The turn signal light is just on the dash, easy to pull off the headlight and pull the rubber plug for the light underneath it.

Yes, I took a piece of wire and cleaned out the pilot jets. They were clean and there wasnt anything blocking their passages. I also cleaned where they screw into.

I will try the prime petcock position tonight and repost.

How would the signal light on the dash have gotten unplugged from cleaning the carbs, in that area, etc?

[cheetahman]

When you removed the gas tank you might have in advertantly tugged on a wire.  It sounds like fuel starvation is the problem.  I am betting that you are having petcock issues and running in the prime position will fix it.  Check to make sure that your fuel system is connected properly and that the vacum hose from the carb to the petcock is in good condition and not leaking vacume.  Sometimes these petcocks just stop working.  I have a 93 and I just replaced mine.  If you don't feel like spending $50.00, it won't hurt you to run in the prime position, you just lose the reserve feature that the petcock provides.  Also you should check to see that the fuel screen inside the tank is not plugged up.  This might also cause fuel starvation.

[BenX]

When you removed the gas tank you might have in advertantly tugged on a wire.  It sounds like fuel starvation is the problem.  I am betting that you are having petcock issues and running in the prime position will fix it.  Check to make sure that your fuel system is connected properly and that the vacum hose from the carb to the petcock is in good condition and not leaking vacume.  Sometimes these petcocks just stop working.  I have a 93 and I just replaced mine.  If you don't feel like spending $50.00, it won't hurt you to run in the prime position, you just lose the reserve feature that the petcock provides.  Also you should check to see that the fuel screen inside the tank is not plugged up.  This might also cause fuel starvation.

So what exactly does the prime position do then? And all the fuel lines seemed to be in good shape. They aren't the stock ones so they have been replaced. Not sure when or by which owner though.

For the wire issue, I didn't see many wires that could have been tugged from removing the gas tank. I know there is one that sits directly next to the airbox. Could that have been it?

[BenX]

I didn't think anything of the vacuum line being pinched a bit until I just read up on the petcock. The petcock does work in any position. But when I'm low on gas is it possible for the vacuum line being pinched a little bit be causing a problem and not allow the fuel system to work?

[Worm]

Check the bulb for the turn signal indicator. It may have just burned out. It happens and the timing could just be a coincidence. The petcock set to PRI (prime) will let fuel flow constantly. When it's in ON or RES, the engine has to be running for the vacuum to open the petcock for fuel to flow.