So I bought this bike and it worked fine for about 750 miles
Then, it suddenly took 10-15 cranks to start up (i made a previous thread about it). Tried valve adjustment, new air filter, oil change, problem didn't go away (and it's still here). Whatever, no biggie, it rides fine anyway.
Well it rode fine until 100 miles ago, I noticed that the rpms would dip from 1,300 to like 500 randomly for a second then come back up. Also when I blipped the throttle quickly to revmatch for a downshift, it would make a "pop" noise (not from exhaust) and lag hard....
And now after 2 days in the garage I head over to my bike and see this.
(http://i53.tinypic.com/30wwl0k.jpg)
Red circle = gas leaked from side petcock (there was brown gas all over the petcock that we cleaned up) and onto the frame sometime in the past few days. wtf? Petcock looked normal
Blue circle = gas leaking from airbox drain hose...stopped after a short while
Green Circle = gas leaking from fuel lines connected to tank. I lifted the tank up to shut the main petcock OFF and the tubes and clamps were on tightly. EDIT: this was because one of the fuel hoses was screwed up on the end, got new one
It's like all of my paychecks have been going into buying stuff for riding and the motorcycle but look, it isn't even working right. I don't know if I should sell it or do some kind of complete fuel overhaul during the winter, cause I really wanna start saving up for a 600+. Actually I really wanna put a few thousand more miles on this bike but as you can see it won't let me.
Also
(http://i54.tinypic.com/14lk5zk.jpg)
The new tire came today, but I don't know if it'll be me putting it on and wearing it down or another person buying the bike and using it themself... :cry:
I know exactly what you mean, I also spent every dime I had on equipment and lots of other stuff in this bike. It's my first one and I've put 7000 km on it, but there was constantly something going wrong or some strange noise coming out of somewhere. I feel it's VERY high maintenance. Don't get me wrong I love riding a bike, even in cold and rainy Denmark where this year we had literally no summer, but I was just wondering, does a 2005+ year and a 600+ cc bike is as hard to maintain?. Mine it's a '92. Hope you get that fixed and get riding again!
Quote from: Ionatan on September 22, 2011, 11:56:33 AM
I know exactly what you mean, I also spent every dime I had on equipment and lots of other stuff in this bike. It's my first one and I've put 7000 km on it, but there was constantly something going wrong or some strange noise coming out of somewhere. I feel it's VERY high maintenance. Don't get me wrong I love riding a bike, even in cold and rainy Denmark where this year we had literally no summer, but I was just wondering, does a 2005+ year and a 600+ cc bike is as hard to maintain?. Mine it's a '92. Hope you get that fixed and get riding again!
I have a 2006 GS500F, most of my issues stem from an absolute ass of a previous owner. He only put 409 miles on it in 5 years. Ran it enough to keep the fuel from turning to gelatin, but never really maintained the bike. I'm finally getting to the point where the bike runs decent (minus a hanging idle, which I'm sure I have the fix for).
To the OP -
I'd start by checking fuel lines. Mine were cracked from the weather and needed to be replaced quickly. You may have a hair crack in the fuel line causing it to leak. In my opinion the factory fuel lines are sub par at best and should be replaced anyway. An improper fuel line installation could cause this too. I doubt it's the petcock failing, but it's worth checking out if you find your lines are fine.
Gas in the airbox is typically a problem with the floats. Is your petcock set to PRI? If it isn't, check the condition of your floats. You could very easily have a stuck float. In fact, check the floats anyway even if your petcock was left on PRI.
Before working on anything else after you look at those things pull your plugs and check the condition of them. Replace them if necessary. Usually plug changing is numero uno on a repair list, but in this case leaking fuel is a little bit more important (in my opinion).
Thanks guys, I feel a lot better now that I got my feelings out :)
The fuel line leak was because the fuel line connecting to the tank was really screwed up towards where the clamp goes, there was almost a hole, but enough for gas to leak everywhere, fixed that
I haven't ran the bike since I made that post so I don't know if the petcock will randomly strangely get fuel on the frame again
and for the floats...eh. I don't wanna take the carbs out because I've heard numerous horror stories about people cleaning carbs and putting them back in and their bike running even worse than before. I don't even know how to set float level at all, plus I heard that you won't really know if everything is right until you put the bike back together and run it meaning you may have to do it all over again. The bike has been left on PRI overnight a few times in the past but not lately at all..
Okay Ninja out with it. What's the fix for the hanging idle? I'm dying to know!!!!!
Mary
Quote from: Toogoofy317 on September 25, 2011, 09:32:48 PM
Okay Ninja out with it. What's the fix for the hanging idle? I'm dying to know!!!!!
Mary
My hanging idle is a lean condition caused by an improper fuel/air mixture. Seems obvious, but the short fix was to play with my idle adjustment screw and "bandaid" the problem until I get my jets swapped out when I install my exhaust. I say band-aid because even though the problem is solved - the engine is still running lean from factory jetting and the carbs need to be rejetted so it runs optimally. As it stands now I adjusted my idle while it was hanging and (knock on wood) it hasn't returned. Fully warm it holds a strong idle at 1,100-1,200. I adjusted it approximately 35 minutes into my ride when the idle started to reliably hang. The pilot jet is super tiny and can get clogged with nearly anything, and the mixture screw is messed with by the factory to pass EPA, and by EPA I mean California law. This causes a lot of idle problems, as well as engine heat problems.
Each case is different, but if it isn't a vacuum leak and you're certain, it's almost certainly a mixture/idle screw setting, clogged jet, or just poor jetting for the climate and condition it's in. Rarely is it ever valves (so I read), and I eliminated that as a possibility early on. My bike is still basically new, so the valves are new too.