Resurrected 2000 GS500e tuning/diagnosing

[struckjm]

So, I bought this non-running bike last summer. I have worked my way through a number of suspected issues (see below)

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php/topic,73491.msg883083.html#msg883083

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php/topic,73525.msg882993.html#msg882993

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php/topic,73526.msg884337.html#msg884337

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php/topic,73646.msg884308.html#msg884308

to arrive here:

https://imgur.com/sK84FFn

this was a 2:45 video, so that's the first minute above, and the last minute below (there's a missing 45 seconds in the middle)

https://imgur.com/axs8552

Major points about the current status video:

When the bike is COLD, it will not start without a little starter fluid, but with a 1 second squirt we get the start up you see at the beginning of the video. With 2-3 minutes of warm up time, the bike begins to smoke. Near the exhaust manifolds, on the pipes below the bike, and out of the muffler. Mostly light, white fluffly smoke.

Once it does this, its hard or impossible to get it to start again. So, basically, idles high and smooth while cold only.

Hopefully the audio provides more clues.

I just fully rebuilt the carbs: 40/150 with lunchbox and V&H full exhaust.

I've never really seen this bike run properly, so I am working from scratch here. Any help, insightful questions etc are all very welcome.

It's taken me 9 months, but I do feel like I keep getting closer and closer to making this bike run again, and the sense of accomplishment would be significant.

[chris900f]

Hey there, I just had a quick look at your threads/videos,

I read, fluffy white smoke and then it dies: I'm guessing water in the gas? Condensation building as the engine heats up?
What's coming out of the vent tube from the valve-cover when this happens? Is the vent valve working properly?

But then I see from another video in one of the threads that the "smoke" is very likely
atomized fuel vapor. Is that correct? does it smell like fuel? If so be careful around it.

In that video it appears that one cylinder loses spark and just starts pumping unburnt fuel mixture
out of the exhaust port until the other running cylinder finally stalls.

I would troubleshoot that by identifying which cylinder is dying. it can be as simple as checking the
headers. Is one a lot hotter than the other? To be more certain, after it stalls pull the plugs asap.
Are they clean and dry (the bike was running lean before it stalled), or black and fouled? (too rich)
Oily?(bigger problems) or wet with fuel?(spark failure). Can you smell fuel at either sparkplug port right after it stalls?

Ignition problems can be tough to nail down because of intermittent failure, for example a coil or an igniter may work
at ambient temperature but fail at full operating temperature. I had an issue on my 4 cylinder bike, where 1 coil (2 cyls)
would fail about an hour into a ride...not fun. I went to work checking plugs/boots/cables/coils in that order, but it turned
out to be my Dyna ignition box. I sent it off to Dyna for testing, meanwhile my riding season was fading so I bought
another Dyna2000 box off ebay, installed it and sure enough the bike ran perfectly. Problem diagnosed/problem solved, but then
Dyna gets back to me and tells me that they can't get the original unit to fail on the bench, so it must be ok, some other
problem with the bike blah blah blah. but they came around when I showed them the receipt for the new dyna2000.

Moral of the story being that even Dyna couldn't verify their own CDI on the bench. Sometimes the only way is to substitute
a known good unit for the suspected bad unit.

[The Buddha]

I can guarantee you if I had that dyna box I'd get it to fail on the bench. Heat it with a hair dryer. Duh ... it needs heat cos 1 hr into a ride that b1atch is warmer than a college girl after 10 shots of tequila.

I'll also guarantee you, I'd have fixed that dyna unless if was potted the Fcuk to kingdom come. Open and replace transistors. Usually the ones that look burnt but not always, hook a tranny tester (no not that kind of tranny - get your mind out of the gutter)

I've fixed many a ignitor in my life, they are simple, modify it - not tried yet, but I am sure I can if the chip is available with a different map. Or a programmable chip.
Usually there's a transistor that fails. A little 1/2 of the size of your thumb nail that dies - sometimes when hot, sometimes all the time. If it dies when hot, that = poor fcuked up soldering or poor fcuked up circuit board made by corona virus china.

Anyway, I hope the dyna you have works forever, but its fixable, and the problems replicable, just that those fools would rather blame you than actually think.

You know what they say about thinking people right. 5% of people think. 10% of people think they think. The other 90% would rather die than think.

Cool.
Buddha.

[chris900f]

Yeah, companies hate to admit fault, but once I showed them that replacing the unit was an instant fix
they made a deal. The old unit was obsolete, the new programmable unit was more expensive so they
gave me a new one for the difference plus shipping. I have the programmable one on the bike
(~44-46deg@4000) and the stock ebay unit as a spare.

I have it mounted in the toolbox under the battery. I need to remove it to program, so I mounted it with
heavy duty plastic velcro used for holding guitar pedals to pedalboards. It's been like that for years and
I think the velcro connection dampens the vibration and protects the unit a little better than just having it
screwed to the plastic wall.

Also these things feel like solid bricks of epoxy in an aluminum shell, heavy and not hollow. So, yes probably
a $5.00 transistor and no way to replace it.

[The Buddha]

Oh those potted things are a huge PITA. The vibration killed the first one ? And you're saying the softer velcro absorbs it Definitely sounds like a bad solder joint which has been potted to fcuk so it held up a few yrs before it died out of warranty (or that was their hope).
The old ignitors were lighter than a pack of cigarettes. They had clear glue on some of the components. When you take it out its obvious to see what died cos it would look burnt, flip it over and the bad solder joints would look like pin pointed eyes. That was common on yamaha's in effect the 80's RZ350's and nearly everything else. The clowns that knew nothing about electronics would zip tie a bolt to the box bending it into a C shape making the contact by pressing the wall into the bottom of the circuit board. Basically you walk by pit row in a race every bike in every pit, the winner to the guy that crashed on the first lap would all be ziptied.

Cool.
Buddha.