i know this is gonna sound stupid but that what rookies do. I got a 1996 gs500e 2 weeks ago and im loviin it the bike looks sweet just beuatiful, but we bought it from a guy that havent rode it i a long time and said that it needs the carbs cleaned. after we bought the bike, my brother cleaned the carbs thouroughly we changed the spark plugs, oil/oil filter and a couple of other stuff but the bike is still running lean. no idle and dies whenever it starts and u give it a bit of gas, and whenever u take the choke off, so i was curious what might be the problem here, the bike right now is sitting in a special mechanic shop and he's gonna look at it, hopefully we'll know whats wrong with it.
Jets are clogged.. brother didn't clean carbs to well. Get it back from the shop you can do this yourself I just went thru it.
i had the problem that the PO had restricted it then derestricted it before i got it and not changed the jets so it was a 117.5 jet as apposed to the minimum of 120 or for the californian 122,5 which mine is.
Also another thing to look at is does it have the orginal exhaust or an aftermarket exhaust cause it could be that there has been a new exhaust but the carbs havent been balanced to run in sync with it.
check me sound like i actually know what i am talking about :woohoo:
this might sound like a dumb question but have you let it warm up properly. i start it with full choke, then wait till the rpm rise up to 4k, then adjust it so it sits at 4k for like 2 minutes, then it runs great but if i don't, then it does everything you're describing.
Are you letting it warm up long enough? Is the idle adjusted correctly?
Allow to warm up 5 minutes or more (a short 5-mile ride is even better). Then, turn the knob that hangs down between the carbs to set the idle at around 1,750 RPM.
Try those things and we can go from there!
Quote from: GeeP on February 27, 2009, 12:35:52 AM
Are you letting it warm up long enough? Is the idle adjusted correctly?
Allow to warm up 5 minutes or more (a short 5-mile ride is even better). Then, turn the knob that hangs down between the carbs to set the idle at around 1,750 RPM.
Try those things and we can go from there!
+1 ^^^
Could be incorrect float height as well
GS500e motorcycles with the older carbs, like yours, are notorious for taking a LONG TIME to warm up...especially if it is ANY kind of cool outside. I'd have to ride my '99 a good five to ten minutes with the choke on before I could even think about turning off the choke. The bikes are jetted very lean stock to pass emission standards. Some of the first recommendations made on these bikes is to put progressive springs in the forks, and rejet the carbs (search for the jetting matrix or find a lot of information in this thread (http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=35237.0)).
If the bike is mostly stock, and PO didn't rejet your bike, then there is NOTHING wrong with it...it's the nature of the bike. Read up on rejetting the carbs and then get your hands dirty. You will love the change in the character of the bike, and the near 0 warm-up times your bike will then need. :thumb:
+1 on either letting it warm up longer, or warming it up with the choke on during a short ride.
ok here's the thing its winter time here and thats what we thought at first because we read that the bike is cold blooded it wouldnt even start in cold weather, so we waited for a fairly chilly day to clean the air firlter and add some starting fluid (ether) to help it start and it did and it warmed up on the choke we left it for like 10 minutes but ecen on the choke if u dont give it a bit of gas it would die out, after it warmed up we tried taking the choke out and it would do the same thing, we tried doin it gradually by taking the choke out a bit and giving it a bit of gas at the same time, it wouldnt work. And when my brother took the carbs out at the mechanic shop under his supervision, he cleaned the jets, all of them, he adjusted the gas floaters and even synced it and we were confident that it was gonna work but to our disappointment it didnt, the mechanic checked the temperature on both headers it was different so he said that the valves need to be adjusted!!! but would that problem have these symptoms??? the bike has around 9000 miles on it and i doubt that the previous owner ever adjusted the carbs, so that next on our list. We thought of rejetting it but it has the stock exhaust so it wouldnt make a difference.
OK...I don't mean to offend, but did you adjust the idle screw? After that description, it sounds as though it's not getting enough fuel at idle. :dunno_black:
If one header is colder its not firing properly, could be bad valve adjustment. Compression check is easy and quick to do and will tell you if one cylinder is low. If you get the valves adjusted and good compression on both cylinders, then you can start on the tuning, otherwise you're wasting time and money!
Good luck. :thumb:
Quote from: streetfighter on February 27, 2009, 07:05:01 AM
ok here's the thing its winter time here and thats what we thought at first because we read that the bike is cold blooded it wouldnt even start in cold weather, so we waited for a fairly chilly day to clean the air firlter and add some starting fluid (ether) to help it start and it did and it warmed up on the choke we left it for like 10 minutes but ecen on the choke if u dont give it a bit of gas it would die out, after it warmed up we tried taking the choke out and it would do the same thing, we tried doin it gradually by taking the choke out a bit and giving it a bit of gas at the same time, it wouldnt work. And when my brother took the carbs out at the mechanic shop under his supervision, he cleaned the jets, all of them, he adjusted the gas floaters and even synced it and we were confident that it was gonna work but to our disappointment it didnt, the mechanic checked the temperature on both headers it was different so he said that the valves need to be adjusted!!! but would that problem have these symptoms??? the bike has around 9000 miles on it and i doubt that the previous owner ever adjusted the carbs, so that next on our list. We thought of rejetting it but it has the stock exhaust so it wouldnt make a difference.
Well, if you just cleaned your carbs out and you're sure they got put back together correctly, valves might be a good thing to look at next. You should also check for spark on both sides. If only one side is firing, it could be a spark issue, and that's easier to check than the valves are (not that they're hard). Compression would be a good indication of valve adjustment problems, so it is worth doing for sure...
Quote from: GeeP on February 27, 2009, 12:35:52 AM
Are you letting it warm up long enough? Is the idle adjusted correctly?
Allow to warm up 5 minutes or more (a short 5-mile ride is even better). Then, turn the knob that hangs down between the carbs to set the idle at around 1,750 RPM.
Try those things and we can go from there!
I thought idle was supposed to be 1200rpms? Maybe?