New (used) bike problem-sound familiar?

[Mike Harman]

I finally got my sparkly clean 2001 GS500 out for my first ride Sunday. Somewhat hard to start, finally managed to get moving...BUT...

It was running sort of rough, and cutting out a lot. Finally I pulled it over and flipped the fuel vale to "prime."

That did the trick. It ran great, so I proceeded to put about 100 miles of mostly ridge top riding around Putnam County, WV.

I suspect that the vacuum operated fuel valve is sticking or otherwise not working properly. I thought I read somewhere that this was a common problem with the GS. It doesn't act like there's a vacuum leak, the engine seems smooth and did not get overly hot. I managed to remember to move the valve back to the normal setting after I parked it but I don't want to have to manually keep turning it on and off. How do I fix this thing? Or where is the discussion on this list? I tried the search but did not find it.

Thanks for any advice!

[CasiUSA]

Sounds to me like a vac leak. The symptoms you are describing are exactly what I was experiencing. I had the same problem with mine, and it turned out that when I had disassembled the carb, I forgot a tiny rubber washer on the vac hose that caused this.
If you haven't taken the carbs apart, it could be the outer vac hoses. Take your tank off and check all the hoses. The vac hose on the Petcock tends to get loose every now and then from rubbing on the airbox. Good Luck

[conradvr]

You can easily test the fuel petcock's operation.  Just connect a hose to the vacuum connector on the fuel petcock.  Disconnect the fuel line that runs from the petcock to the carbs at the carbs and place it into a container to catch any fuel that flows.  Switch the petcock to On or Res and either suck or use a syringe to create a vacuum, if the fuel flows your fuel petcock is most probably fine.

I too have recently had to replace my fuel petcock because it has a small leak in the membrane (Suzuki don't have a replacement membrane, you have to buy the whole damn unit).  To inspect the membrane you can easily remove the petcock and open it up after taking out two screws.

Good luck in chasing down the problem and let us know what you find

Cheers
Conrad

[aslam]

How much did it cost to replace the whole unit?

ASLAM.

[CasiUSA]

I've seen them go on Ebay for around $10 on a number of different occasions. If you're willing to wait till someone puts one up. :dunno:

[conradvr]

How much did it cost to replace the whole unit?

ASLAM.

In the US the price from Bike Bandit is ~$60 for a new unit, here in Australia we naturally pay a lot more  :x

Cheers
Conrad

[yamahonkawazuki]

mwahahahahahahaha, the price gods like us better :nana:  :mrgreen:  :nana:  :nana: