Hello everyone,
I recently picked up a 06 gs500f.
the choke lever was broken off by the previous owner.
so i replaced it and tried starting the bike with the choke, but I've having a lot of trouble starting it so i have to sit there and hold the throttle and manually warm it up.
after i finally get it warmed up bike runs great. even after 100 mile trip with the bike sufficiently warmed up, when i pull the choke the engine dies.
the bikes runs pretty rich so i checked the spark plugs and it was black confirming its been running rich.
and my MPG is about 40mpg not the 50-60 many are claiming to get.
so i checked the fuel valve needle which was turned out 4 times(probably by the previous owner) so i reset it to 2.5 turns.
the previous owner also installed a jardine full exhaust and a drop in k&n filter.
I've cleaned the carbs (twice) and checked the floats, but there was no change, and the choke still doesn't work.
So before tear apart the bike again. I thought I would try to pick the collective brains of all you faithful gs500 riders.
your suggestions and help is much appreciated.
With the exhaust and intake, it should be running lean. Not rich. Did you see if the PO rejetted? Might have the wrong jets in there.
i thought it would be running lean, too, with the intake and exhaust. but the mpg, black spark plugs and exhaust smell seems to point to it running rich.
the previous owner didn't mention about changing the jets,
and when i was cleaning the carbs i did see that the main jet was 130, which is the stock for the 06. so i'm assuming the jets are stock.
also the jet needle is set on the 4th notch. so it looks like the PO made efforts to make the bike run richer without changing the jets.
Just thought about it- can you adjust the choke cable at the carbs? Still doesn't explain the richness though.
Black plugs are caused by an incomplete burn so maybe the air filter is clogged (doubt it), the plugs have a weak spark, or there's something else going on. When did you check them, after it idled a while or after a good ride?
Quote from: outapsyt on January 22, 2011, 02:30:35 AM
i thought it would be running lean, too, with the intake and exhaust. but the mpg, black spark plugs and exhaust smell seems to point to it running rich.
the previous owner didn't mention about changing the jets,
and when i was cleaning the carbs i did see that the main jet was 130, which is the stock for the 06. so i'm assuming the jets are stock.
also the jet needle is set on the 4th notch. so it looks like the PO made efforts to make the bike run richer without changing the jets.
Notch.... You have Dynojet kit in there? If so, the number on the jet doesn't mean what you think it does. So you say 4th notch, is that counting from the bottom or the top?
You mentioned choke killing the engine when it was warmed up. This is normal, for me anyway. "Choke" is an enrichment device. So does it start without choke?
its the 4th notch from the top
figured it out. it was the floats. i adjusted the floats and seems to be working now
Mine was having a similar problem. The bike runs well, but the choke wouldn't work right. I had cleaned the carbs a number of times but never knew you could pull apart the choke slide and remove the plungers to clean all of that out. I pulled them apart entirely yesterday and thoroughly cleaned out all of the choke parts. Haven't gotten to try it yet, but hopefully it'll help.
If that doesn't help mine I'll have to try to adjust the floats. I've never done that before, so I'm not sure about the process, so had never really even thought about trying it.