Bike wont go over 45mph! Help! need to fix asap!

[garyg199]

Well yeah I could do that but I don't want to risk it still being crap when I can just get a new one and throw it on ykno?

You think it would be okay to just take it apart and fix it?

[Big Rich]

Agreed - open up and rebuild your current carbs.

Any carbs you buy are going to need cleaned up anyway, so save the time and money and do your current ones yourself.

[Funderb]

wont be the signal generator, its single pickup post 2001, so thats an all or nothing thing.

If you haven't replaced the plugs yet do that.
Checking the coils resistance wise is easy too.

if its the carbs, they are very easy to clean. fire up the air compressor and get a few cans of spray carb cleaner.
and a bunch of little yogurt cups for parts organizing, of you're scatterbrained.

[garyg199]

I'm going to try it out tomorrow.

Do you guys agree going by what I've described? That its a carb problem?

It definitely sounds it to me...
It just won't get up to the correct rpms and if it does or I try to throttle up to 6/7rpms it just bogs down .

Either way, can anyone give me some advice as to taking them apart from begining to end? Or maybe direct me to some awesome direction?  I'm comfortable doing it as I'm pretty good with cars but I've not worked on a bike before.

[Badot]

45 mph or 6/7k in neutral is about where I'd expect the slides to start going up significantly. Be sure to take a close look at your slide diaphragms and springs, needles, main jet/emulsion tubes, and float heights.

If you get a chance to do more tests before you tear it down... can you get your speed any higher by turning the choke on? That'll tell you if it's too lean or rich.

[jdoorn14]

There is a video in the video thread above for the carbs, though I believe they are the older (pre-2001) carbs.

If you haven't yet, you should pick up either a Haynes or Clymer shop manual for the gs500. That's probably about the most important tool in your tool box for these bikes.


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[garyg199]

@badot no the choke doesn't do anything to help push it harder. It just revs higher when I stop at a light or somethin.

I'm just gonna start opening her up now because I just wanna get on the road and be able to ride with no problems. 

Found some videos on YouTube that I can follow along so I'm just gonna go ahead and do it.

There's two carbs on thhese bikes right? I thought it was just one but the videos show two. It was also for a 500e but it's pretty much the same?

I don't have the tool to measure heights and gaps and all that so I was just going to clean everything and try to see where the problem lies.

Is there anything else I should pay extra attention to due to the problem I'm having? Or in general?

I really feel like it's Either a fuel delivery issue..not getting good air flow. Thinking dirty jets maybe?

[Funderb]

while you're pulling it all apart you might as well check valve clearances too. It never hurts to know where you're at.

A lot of times a good carb cleaning will make everything perfect again. sometimes it is that simple!

[garyg199]

@funderb can you elaborate more on checking the valve clearance? Where are they..how to check etc?

Also...not sure if anyone's seen my other post about my indicator cluster not working but while I have everything apart I'd like to try and fix those too. Anyone have anything to say about that?

[Big Rich]

If you haven't yet, you should pick up either a Haynes or Clymer shop manual for the gs500. That's probably about the most important tool in your tool box for these bikes.

I just want to repeat this. The service manuals have details about valve clearance checks, carb cleaning, etc.. And in the meantime, use the search function on the forum for "how-to" guides. Every detail has been gone over online already, so nobody wants to type it all out again.

[gsJack]

Check the Video Tutorial Thread link at the top of the General Message Forum, it contains 3 good videos on valve checks/adjustment depending on bike year that were made by BaltimoreGS:

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=58403.0

[garyg199]

Alrighty so first off its pretty annoying when people wanna go to threads and go through the time to type out a complaint about my lack of searching for answers. But that's expected.


Anyway...pulled the floats bowls off and what do I find?

Sand!!! Sand and gas and build up and all kinds of good stuff.
Obviously the seller had the bike during hurricane sandy (I live in nj) and decided he would leave that little detail out of the sale! Awesome!

Cleaned out the jets. They were completely blocked up. Cleaned out all the filth from the floats. Set the floats etc.

Now I just have to wait for some free time to put the carb back on and hope that all that crap was the problem.
I'm thinking it was just getting way to much fuel and was flooding out. Especially being my air filter was soaked in gas.
Cleaned that up good too. Box and all so I hope it does something. Definitely can't hurt it right.

Just praying that the sand and salt water didn't get into the actual engine. 👏

Tell me what you guys think.

I'll try to post some pics of what I found and I also have a question about this strange hose/plug that was connected to the air box I believe. Looks like it should be a drain but the end isn't open. Almost as if it were used as a plug?

Thanks guys. You're great

[itstartswithken]

YouTube has a really nice visual guide for the valve clearance checked. Helped me tons! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J19aNdXV08

[BockinBboy]

Airbox drain should have an end piece on it. Pardon the reference, but it looks like a little peter. It's designed so that gas can drain out if the carbs flood, but also so that nothing gets sucked in - because that hose would bypass the filter and could suck in road grime and random debris if it didn't have that end cap with a slit in it.

I also wanted to add on that carb cleaning you did... Did you happen to open the top of the carbs and clean the valve needles?... That sand was likely keeping those needles from seating and is why your carbs were flooding despite having clogged jets. A tiny grain of sand stuck on that valve seat can cause an overflow of gas into your airbox if its stubborn self is positioned just right.

Edit:
... I would even go so far as to drain and clean the tank, and replace fuel lines if you really think it went through a storm like that. I've seen a car that went through it, brand new that was from a dealer's lot. You wouldn't believe all the things they did to it before even starting it. Even after everything they did, it got auctioned off from a salvage lot. 

Also, you might as well clean the air filter... no telling what a storm like that could put in there. You don't want anything besides fuel, air, and oil inside that engine... Anything else, no matter the size, will wreak havoc on an engine.

- Bboy

[garyg199]

Thanks @bboy. I did clean the air filter really good so I got that right. I opened the top of one carbb to inspect it but it was actually very very clean to my surprise. I 're seated that needle and greased everything up nice.

I am going to clean out the tank before I put it back on also.

That drain is supposed to have an end like that though? It didn't look like it had an opening but it's possible I just didn't see it. It wasn't working either way though being the filter was soaked with fuel.

I'm hoping by cleaning everything out and getting all that gunk out that it will solve my problem. What do you think?

[Big Rich]

Alrighty so first off its pretty annoying when people wanna go to threads and go through the time to type out a complaint about my lack of searching for answers. But that's expected.

I'm going to assume this is a reference to my response? If so, here's why I said that:

You asked about how to check the valves. If it were as simple as "unbolt the 4 bolts labeled 'valve check' and make sure there are valves in the engine", then I'd be glad to type it out every time. But it's not that easy, and there are a lot of very specific steps (and possible problems that could arise) and it's unfair for any one person to type that out.

You asked some other questions which, to me at least, shows that you haven't gotten to know very much about the GS500. Which is fine, you're a new owner, I get that too. But eventually (if you haven't already), you are going to trust your life and the life of others to the 400 pound potential gasoline bomb between your legs. I recommend learning as much as you can about anything you trust your life with.

[BockinBboy]

That drain is supposed to have an end like that though? It didn't look like it had an opening but it's possible I just didn't see it. It wasn't working either way though being the filter was soaked with fuel.

Pics always help.



Wanted to make sure you saw what you 'should' see.  I have seen a bike before that actually had a plug on the end of it.  My best guess is that whoever did it had lost the original end piece, and thought it was simply a plug on there previously.  A plug would be fine for temporary so it doesn't suck anything into it, but if carbs overflow, your airbox will hold the gas.   Which leads me to my next point: If you do have the correct fitting on the end, it may need cleaned out. It's possible the end of it is blocked by something, causing the gas not to drain as it should when carbs overflow. 

And then leading to the next point.  If gas does not drain out of the airbox properly, gas will overflow into the engine.  Which means your crank case gets an overfilled mixture of gas oil.  Gas mixed with oil is no longer a lubricant that clings to a surface well... as such, its bad for an engine... even worse for a GS500 engine, because they are notorious for catastrophic bearing failures in low lubrication situations.  Check the oil level, and see if it smells like gas.

Not to put a terror into you about your purchase.  Every design has its flaw... If you check your oil often, and change it regularly, the GS500 is truly a bulletproof bike, and hence its worthy following you find here!

- Bboy

[Funderb]

Those youtube links are gold for learning to check your valve clearances.

Sand!!! Sand and gas and build up and all kinds of good stuff.
Obviously the seller had the bike during hurricane sandy (I live in nj) and decided he would leave that little detail out of the sale! Awesome!

haha if it is indeed sand that would be nutso. give them a good cleaning! Ethanol crystals look just like sand, btw.
might want to check the FUEL TANK for the sand too!!! you can pull the petcock off and dump the fuel into a container then rinser her out with more fuel/seafoam if you find more sand. DEFINITELY add a fuel filter if there isn't one. Make sure its a see through one that flows easily. Run some clean fuel through all the fuel lines too! rinse em out.

I've cleaned the same ethanol sand out of one chain saw, six bikes, three outboards, and countless weed whackers. it'll f%$k yer day up.

I bet shell be right as rain after the carbs and tank are cleaned.

[The Buddha]

Signal generator usually dies with heat. If it was starting to go, it would run great when cold, and if you got on open road before it got to the breaking point in temperature it will run great as long as you kept the throttle open and the revs above 4-5k. The instant you shut the throttle though, it will lose 1 cyl after it got hot. Of course it will progress rather rapidly from there to where it never fires on that 1 cyl.

You likely have carb issues, not electrical.

Cool.
Buddha.

[garyg199]

Hey guys thanks a bunch for all of the help. Seriously. Tomorrow will be the day I see if cleaning everything out has done the job. I sure hope so!

@bigrich listen man...I just took a bit of offence to your comment..not trying to start trouble and I appreciate your concern for my knowledge and lack there of.

Also..@funderb. Super cool that you're confident it will be all good. Definitely makes me a lot more confident to! Not gonna lie I've been pretty darn nervous that I bought a 1200 sandbox on wheels but I think she'll be just fine. Not the first robe I've heard that these bikes are "bulletproof" . Awesome.

And that picture of that drain is pretty much what mine looks like. I'll try to get a picture of mine up to. It very well may be clogged as I didn't know it had an opening in it at all. I'll check it out and see what the deal is.

Side note: so gas IS supposed to go into the air box? Figured that would be a big no no because of how a car air filter would work and should stay dry right?

One more thing...I know this may be redundant but I'm going to have to adjust these carbs once I get them on correct? Can anyone point me in the direction or recommend a good video/page on how to do it? I use the search function here but I can never find exactly what I need.

Thanks again