I just took my bike in for initial service, and and in addition to the dealer having to adjust all of the valve clearances, I also asked them to look at the cold-start/choke issues that I was having. (I did the chain and the oil change myself, but didn't want to mess with valve clearances... at least not yet).
Well, it was not just my imagination - thank you to everyone who had posted their cold start experiences. This is what the dealer reported...
"Checked CO reading and found it to be only 0.3 Removed carburetors and removed blanking plug over fuel mixture screws. One mixture screw was set at 0 turns out and the other screw was set at 2.5 turns out form factory. Ran machine and adjusted CO reading to be 3.0. Bike runs OK now."
The dealership tech tells me that both screws should have been set about the same, and given that the blanking plugs were still in, it was like that leaving the factory. (And, of course, when I raised the starting question with them originally I got a pat on the head and a suggestion that I just needed to get used to using the choke).
Obviously a warranty issue, but it bothers me with the problems that I have had that were factory errors. The head gasket going at 175km (basically the first time I took the bike on the highway) as well as what I can only conclude is a major error on the part of the factory on setting the carb.
Obviously this would mean that the bike was running really lean, and it would have been running at a much higher temperature than it should have.
Now, my question is how the carbs work on the GS500 - is it one carb that is feeding both cylinders (which would mean that one screw sets each, and one was running super lean and the other would have been close to flooding as I kept the bike running), or is it a dual carb setup?
The bike is running ***SIGNIFICANTLY** smoother now - I was almost wondering if the dealer had given me the same bike back.
no one carb PER cylinder, left carb left cylinder. and rightcarb right cylinder
Oh yea ... they screw up all the time.
BTW the design of the head gasket ... 1 blade instead of 3 on the old ones ... total BS IMHO. Head gasket should fail and let the motor live ... a 3 blade can do that, a 1 blade will not. A head gasket failure is unacceptable with a motor that is running normally, but with one that is detonating its a sacrificial part. My friend had a old bullet in India ... one fine day it blew the head gasket and sprayed him with oil. He was so mad, and when he got it to his house and had his dad and the mechanic open it ... they both decided it had gasoline mixed with crap like kerosene and what not and it was detonating ... he said it ran first like it had more power but soon it lost power and then this happened. Anyway, they re used everything with a new gasket and it ran well.
Anyway, I have seen errors on honda carbs too, and its almost a design feature.
The bike has to be redone by hand almost immediately upon purchase.
Cool.
Buddha.
So, the head gaskets you get now are a single piece type, not multiple layers? Hrmm... any aftermarket companies offering better head gaskets? : )