Although I haven't posted much, I read this site often. I followed the advice here to clean my air filter! I have two questions for you wonderful experts.
Recently I took my 2001 GS500 with about 3500 miles for service at Suzuki of Oakland (which gets good reviews on the Bay Area Riders Forum BARF.) The bike ran fine, would always start with choke, and never stalled. I opted for the 4000 mile service, cuz I'm moving to Boston and plan to sell the bike in December.
The service folks there found the fuel chicken assembly was all gummed up; the original owner of the bike stored it for 2 years, probably with gas. (The bike's been ridden at least weekly for the last 1.5 years.) They replaced it, cleaned the carbs, changed the oil, etc. Unfortunately ($400 later!) when I left the shop, the bike wouldn't idle! Specifically, it would idle for about 30 seconds at 1300 RPM, then the RPMS would steadly decrease until she stalled. Also, I've noticed that fuel drips from the tube I've circled in the figure below whenever I open the bike's throttle (I don't know what that tube's called; it connects to the black plastic box I've labelled in the second pic.) The service folks diagnosed this problem as a faulty needle in the valve assembly; they expect that the rubber end of this needle hardened. So the carbs slowly fill with gas and spew over --- out the tube and onto the beautiful streets of Berkeley, CA. So the first question: does this seem correct?
Second, my gas tank is rusty. I plan to use the POR-15 Cycle Tank Repair Kit (I'm too scared to follow the srinath poison acid path.) In the meantime, can I insert some type of filter between my gas tank and engine to catch the rust and gunk before it hits the carbs?
Thanks, everyone!
(http://www.me.berkeley.edu/~mkramer/leak_out.jpg)
(http://www.me.berkeley.edu/~mkramer/leak_out_zoom.jpg)
Hopefully Kerry or someone will answer your connection question. As for a filter, head for a local shop that sells or specializes in dirtbikes. You can get a small clear filter that will do exactly what your after for cheap. Like $2 or $3 cheap. Since it's translucent you can see when it's getting dirty too. Myself and Dragonlover have them on our bikes. Works great and small enough to tuck out of the way.
http://www.gstwin.com/fuel_hose_routing.htm has the carb hose routing.
well, that's one of the fuel drain hoses. So yeah, fuel is overflowing somewhere and draining out there.
Seeing as how it sat for 2 years, I'm not surprised something in the carbs hardened. I also get my service done at that same dealer, and I trust them.
What color is your bike? I see a red and a blue GS in berkeley all the time.
I just had the same problem the dealer showed me the tip of the float needle, It was cracked, and my o-rings that hold the float jet in place was hard and flat, and not doing it's job. This caused the gas to slip by, and not shut off = overflow.
A bike setting with old gas for a long time, can do great damage to o-rings, and rubber needle tips.
Seems like for $400 they could replace the needle.
Quote from: rrittersonwell, that's one of the fuel drain hoses. So yeah, fuel is overflowing somewhere and draining out there.
That's the airbox drain, the carbs are overflowing back up into the airbox. Have the float needles replaced (both of 'em).
Quote from: rrittersonSeeing as how it sat for 2 years, I'm not surprised something in the carbs hardened. I also get my service done at that same dealer, and I trust them.
Unless they were drained for storage (kudos).
Yea they screwed up somehting in the float assy ... gas is getting into the airbox and that is where that drain hose comes from ...
Now the fact that it was great before and fooked up after makes me think ... some gorilla was fitting it together ... and in fact you'd be surprised at how bad the dealers are ... the worst troubles I have had, and the biggest mistakes have been in bikes that were " professionally maintained " anyway ... open the carbs and do a pressure test by blowing into the fuel inlet hose ... and you'd see whete its leaking from ...
Cool.
Srinath.
Quote from: scratchQuote from: rrittersonwell, that's one of the fuel drain hoses. So yeah, fuel is overflowing somewhere and draining out there.
That's the airbox drain, the carbs are overflowing back up into the airbox. Have the float needles replaced (both of 'em).
Quote from: rrittersonSeeing as how it sat for 2 years, I'm not surprised something in the carbs hardened. I also get my service done at that same dealer, and I trust them.
Unless they were drained for storage (kudos).
And see draining carbs ... see the O rings dry out ... draining them makes it not gum up, yea but it dries them out ... I actually like to have some wd 40 in them ... I usually spray wd 40 in the outsides on the carbs every 2-4 weeks if its sitting, and I also take off the drain and spray inside ... I guess as good as you can expect ... with my vulcan I did it that way and it helped me to never take off the carbs ... that thing was a nightmare ... and Keihein carbs hate being dry, they spring leaks if you look at it funny ... between the carbs 1-2 or 3-4 ... horrible.
Cool.
Srinath.
If the bikes been standing for some time, it could be as simple as some crap from the tank sticking the float up :)
Turn petrol off!
Drain float chambers.
Remove the float chamber and give it a proper clean.
Fiddly but can be done without stripping everything off.
Worth checking if you have a fuel filter between the tank and carbs, Dead easy to fit one if you aint :thumb:
Thanks for the advice y'all! I trust the service folks, and I'll finish this project with them, but next time I'll do it myself.
I love this site.