Problems with my GS500E running

[anoopb]

Hey Everyone.

So I finally got my license and everything in order and i've had the bike for about two weeks now. When I tested it, it seemed fine but after riding it for about 10 miles last night, i noticed a bunch of symptoms. I never had the bike checked out by a shop so I'm going to get that done next week. Here are the symptoms, perhaps some of you have seen this before and maybe have an idea of what's wrong?

Thanks in advance.

note: i'm a newb.

As it warms up, i leave the choke on. Regardless of the choke setting, the bike revs up super high and then comes back down (almost seemingly random). Is this normal?

After it warms up for a bit, and the choke is off, it idles somewhere around 1000 RPM. If i try to rev it, it just dies. I've heard that's because it's not warmed up enough so I go start it up again and leave the choke on.

I don't think it's an issue with it being warmed up but it could be. Even after it's warmed up, it seems like it's idling too low. Almost kind of sputtering until i rev it.

In some cases, it just dies when i rev it while riding or not and i have to rev it in order to keep it going.

The bike prior to me buying it was sitting for months. I don't think the carbs have ever been cleaned or any sort of tune-up work done on it.

I'm going to take it in to the shop to have they just do an inspection of the bike to see if anything is out of whack.

I'm wondering if my fuel valve position is wrong? Based on this image, I think the down position is the ON position. Mine is the other way (i think). I'm going to try and get a pic of that as well.

http://ebay.pyraserve.co.uk/item26805-2.jpg

Lastly, when riding yesterday, the bike randomly revved up to about 5 or 6k RPM and that was a little disconcerting. It doesn't seem to happen in gear. Just in neutral or when i have the clutch engaged.

has anyone seen this before? Any advice for a newb?

I apologize if my symptom recognition skills are poor and this doesn't make any sense.

Thanks again folks.

[Soloratov]

First, check around the carbs for air leaks. Your idle issues sound a lot like an air leak. Use a can of wd40, and while running spray just little bit on the rubber boots both in front and behind the carbs. Also, spray a bit on the throttle rod that runs through both. Mine leaks really bad there and had to cap that off as well.

[anoopb]

Hi.

Thanks for the quick response. Someone suggested I buy a haynes manual after i exclaimed that I have no idea where any of the parts are. Carbs, rubber boots, throttle rod(i don't even know what that is)

[Soloratov]

Ah yes, sorry about that.

Step 1. Buy service manual
Step 2. Fix stuff

[crobwolfpack]

What year is your bike? I may have an electronic Clymer manual for ya.

[bigfatcat]

Listing year and mileage on the bike helps others give advice relevant to your situation ... and any mods and damage history, maintenance history etc , if known ...

[Paulcet]

The bike prior to me buying it was sitting for months. I don't think the carbs have ever been cleaned or any sort of tune-up work done on it.

Get a manual, as suggested. Then clean the carbs, probably need to replace all the o-rings.

[anoopb]

Sorry All,

It's a 2000 GS500E with 8700 miles on it.

Thanks for all the replies.