New guy needs a little help

[NjDan]

Hey guys my names Dan and I'm 20. I will be getting my license in march but saw a great deal on a bike so bought it first. I have a 2006 gs500f and so far it has not been a picnic. The po treated the bike terribly the last couple years. The bike was sitting the last 2 years and had rust in the tank when I brought it home. I am decently mechanically inclined so thus far I have been doing everything myself.
So far I have:
-Cleaned Float bowls and jets
-Cleaned the tank and replaced with new gas
-Replaced Fuel lines

Tomorrow I will be picking up a new battery
I have tried jump starting and roll starting however when I jump started it, it started right up but when I hit the accelerator that was that.
Roll start=no success, it fired up but dies within a couple seconds
I will update after new battery is installed
If you guys want to add anything to what I should do please by all means help me out

[jacob92icu]

Hey Dan,

You should invest in a multimeter. If you have a Harbor Freight nearby where you live you can purchase one for about 6 dollars tax included.  The reason you should get a multimeter is to check if your stator and regulator rectifier are working properly and charging the battery while its running. You can check out my earlier post about replacing the regulator rectifier, it can be found by typing Battery Charging/Draining Problems. Best of luck to you.

Jake

[adidasguy]

Be sure you have gas in the tank.
Put petcock on PRIME for a minute so the carbs fill up then switch back to ON position (or RES if low on gas)
Be sure you set float heights. Use the clear tube on the carb bowl drain trick/technique to check levels.
Be sure choke is properly connected and working. I have seen it connected up wrong.

[badandy]

Its my experience that most bikes with a battery ignition will not run or stay running if jumped or roll started with a dead battery, especially a battery with a dead cell.


Check the water level in the battery you have and put it on a trickle charge for a day or two then check the continuity and voltage across the terminals.  A simple 12v light with pigtails will tell you if you have a dead cell or not.  The life of a common motorcycle battery is not like that of a car.  I find most go bad in two-three years.

If it doesn't turn over with a new battery the first thing I would check is the leads going to the battery for corrosion hiding under the insulation and good ground to the frame.  Second would be fuses.  Third would be the wiring harness.  A dead short in the wiring will not let the bike run.

[gsatterw]

I tend to start my bike with a little bit of choke, keeps it from dying upon startup. If you didn't do that already, give that a go.

Graham 

[weedahoe]

WHen you get it running, synch the carbs also

[NjDan]

So I was adjusting the float height and realized that one of the needle valves is stuck. The part thats stuck is the spring part that the tang rests on. Because of this of my floats will not seat properly, it either hangs down(when holding upside down) or goes all the way down ( when holding flat) i will try and get a picture if I can sorry for the poor description.

[NjDan]

[NjDan]

Bump! anyone have this issue or know a way around it

[adidasguy]

Pictures, please!
Hard to know what the problem is without them.

[NjDan]

The part thats circled in red in the pic above is stuck down it will not pop up. My guess is that the old gas caused it to stick

[weedahoe]

If the needle the that stuck, I would replace it when you do get it out. In the meantime, maybe try some penetrating oil and twist and pull it out?

[NjDan]

It's not stuck in the carb, I removed the needle from the carb but its the piece thats circled in red that goes up and down when the float applies pressure is what stuck down and wont pop up

[NjDan]

So after researching a little bit online I found that using a heat gun melts the gunk and releases the spring so I went ahead and tried it and voala! it worked. I now have it soaking in PB blaster to remove the gunk so it wont stick in the future...one more question, what size tube should I get to check float height?