My bikes been out of commission the whole summer and what's the verdict?
Dirty gas tank. Too much sediment was choking out the gas flow to the carbs. Let me give you a little advice, if you tank has junk in it, you can clean your carbs till your fingers are nubs and your bike will still run like crap!!!
I had the engine apart to fix the base gasket originally, then re-ringed the pistons, check valve clearances, and all that fun stuff so I thought something was really messed up. Timing, valve clearances, no compression etc, etc. Nope!
Turns out all the work I did was fine - I even set the timing right. I cleaned out the tank, put it back together and shoot dang it runs like a dream - sweeeeeeet :mrgreen:
Just in time for winter - DOH!!!
I also seem to have a leaky right side crankcase cover. So I need to replace the gasket which isn't too big of a deal. It's always something isn't it?? :dunno:
Oh well, happy to be back on the road. Snot running down my face and all! Man I need a warmer jacket. The Joe Rocket mesh jacket just doesn't cut it at 50 degrees and 70mph!
Okay, I'm done. Thanks for listening! Ride safe! :thumb:
w00t!! I already bought the tank cleaning stuff, and I know I need to clean the carbs, so I guess I'll do both at the same time to be sure that I don't waste the effort on either! :)
Quote from: stephanJust in time for winter - DOH!!!
What's this "winter" thing I keep hearing about? :lol:
Anyways, I'm glad you at least got it diagnosed. I'm sure that will save other people here LOADS of trouble.
Is there a tank cleaner you can mix in with your fuel and just run your bike normally with it in?
Man do I understand that story. I had the same thing happen to me with my yamaha radian. The stuff I normally use is Kreem, but people have differing opinions about this stuff. It worked great for me. It has a cleaner, that removes the rust, a prepper, and then a coating for the inside of the tank. 3 step process. I highly recommend the Kreem treatment, its 30 bucks at motorcycle shops. a couple of things I learned for next time though, is to make sure you plug the place where the petcock mounts and any other fuel exits out of the tank, and also, fuel tanks need to breathe to replace the fuel its losing out of the tank with air. So every gas tank has these little holes, usually in the top of the tank around the fuel cap, so they can vent and breathe. I accidentally filled these holes with the kreem coating, and it took me forever to figure out why my bike would quit running on me during the middle of a ride. Turns out the fuel hose would fill back up with fuel gradually after I shut the bike off, and would run that fuel through the carbs, but the fuel hose and carbs would essentially "run out of gas" during a ride because the tank would could not vent itself creating a vacuum inside the tank holding the fuel in the tank and not letting fuel run through the lines to the carbs. Thats about all the advice I got. I have to Kreem my GS tank too, its got bad rust. Good luck!
-Patrick