Frustrated beyond belief! Please help!!

[chatter21]

Hello everyone. I have a 97 gs500e that I got from a friend in the military who has been deployed. Upon getting the bike, he had a new battery installed, and had it up and running. But after riding for an afternoon he turned the bike off and when he tried to start her up again, she wouldn't start. I knew this, so after I got the bike I immediately took the battery to an auto store to place it on a trickle charge. I returned later that day only to discover that the battery wouldn't hold a charge. Since it was October and I didn't have my permit/license yet, I decided to wait for spring to start this project.

I purchased a brand new battery and had it fully charged, got my proper paperwork to ride, attached the new battery up and when I tried to start it up, all I got we're two CLICKS. One when I pressed the start button and one when I released it. So I immediately hit google/YouTube to find an answer.

I am coming to you guys for the answer. Please help!

[Ingoes]

I'll vote for a dodgy starter.

Not a problem I've had yet, so I dunno what to do about it.

Until the cavalry arrives, I'd recommend running a 'bike won't start' search.

[weedahoe]

My vote is to still check the battery (just because it is new doesnt mean its good) and/or try to jump start the bike with cables connected to a car/truck battery

[Juan1]

OK, if you are connecting to a car/truck, make sure the thing isn't running.

Once the bike is running, put a multimeter on the battery.  With the headlight on high, it should idle at 12 volts.  Rev the engine to about 5,000 RPM  and make sure the voltage reads 13.5-15.5 volts.  If the bike can't make that much power, it is time to see if the generator or the rectifier is the issue. 

One issue that could cause a battery to drain is a bad connection.  Feel around at the plastic electrical connectors after running the bike.  If any of them are hot, you have a bad connector. 

[Janx101]

Mmmm ..... Make sure your positive connection is properly TIGHT on the bolt! ... And make sure BOTH ends of your negative are also tight .. ??!!

[chatter21]

Well it turns out after replacing the fuse on the relay and cleaning a few things, I got it to turn over. Also I cleaned the carbs that were desperately in need of a good scrub.

However
Now that I have clean carbs and a functioning starter, she wont idle without choke (which I know isnt a good thing to do for an extended period of time especially if the bike is warm) or if I stay on the throttle. After cleaning up following my work, I found a small o-ring on the floor that doesnt belong to anything else in my garage. And im noticing a slow fuel leak coming from the right carb bowl. So im thinking maybe I accidentally dropped the o ring before installing the carbs Back into place??

Any ideas Also can I bench sync the carbs?

[chatter21]

Also, it gets incredibly hot and im noticing smoke from the engine... I know theres tiny screws in the carbs that make it run lean or rich(the name of this escapes me at the moment) am I running too rich or too lean and how to I resolve this

[dmoore]

The o-ring goes on the top edge of the carb where the diaphragm and needle assembly is. Take off the carb cover and you'll see a small round oriface. The o-ring, item #26 on the illustration, goes there. Same thing happened to me so don't feel bad. I put a tad of grease on it to hold it in place when putting the cover back on.

http://www.hillsboromotorcycles.com/fiche_section_detail.asp?section=92723&category=Motorcycles&make=SUZUKI&year=1989&fveh=2103

[chatter21]

Ok. I'm going to give it a go this afternoon. 

I will let you guys know how it goes afterwards.

[chatter21]

Righteousness! After replacing that pesky o-ring and double checking everything in the carbs as well as a bench synch, and taking my sweet time on everything, she started right up and had a steady idle of 1500 rpms Once warm.

My next endeavour is to change the oil because for some reason im getting some smoke from that area as it idles...