I have been riding my 01 GS 500 to work pretty much every day to work for the last 3 weeks and am loving the 42-46 mpg's! I was on my way home tonight from work and stopped for a pic in front of my favorite BBQ joint for the picture game thread. This was after 25 minutes of mostly high way riding and the bike was good and hot. After the photo shoot, the bike fired right up and I rode the next 10 minutes with no issues to my neighborhood. I stopped a few blocks from my house to talk to a neighbor for about 10 minutes. When I went to leave, the bike would not start. I tried no choke, no throttle, choke, throttle, kickstand up/down, petcock on prime, on, res.....everything I could think of. The starter cranked but seemed like there was no fuel. Luckily I live mostly downhill from there so I was able to drift it home.
Once in the garage, I pullled both plugs which were a light brownish color and neither had gas on it. Both had strong spark and I noticed a bit of "dust" that came out of the left cylinder when I checked the plug. I only opened the bowl drain on the right carb and confirmed there was fuel in the bowl (did'nt check the left one yet). I tried popping the fuel cap thinking vacuum lock, but there was no whoosh of air and she wouldn't start with the cap off either,,,,,,,,And there is plenty of fuel in there....
Somebody throw some ideas out there for me to check in the morning.
I'd first put in more gas. Maybe your reserve fuel line is pinched.
Quote from: adidasguy on April 15, 2012, 09:42:48 PM
I'd first put in more gas. Maybe your reserve fuel line is pinched.
Thanks for the suggestion, I will try that too. What else could cause this abrupt no start issue?
Now I don't know. I went to the garage and noticed a bit of fuel soaking the towel that I keep under the GS for the slight oil drip. I cranked it and she prettty much fired right up as usual. I have never had any hot starting issues with this bike, and no cold starting issues since the last valve adjustment (about 1500 miles ago). Anybody have any ideas what might have happened last night when she refused to start? It seemed like a flooded issue but the plugs were bone dry and as far as I can tell, there was no fuel getting into the combustion chamber...........pinched carb vent?
I fired her up and warmed her up as usual to ride her to work. sam as always........ :dunno_black:
I topped off the tank per Adidas suggestion. While riding down the highway (70-85mph), it seemed to surge a bit like fuel starvation. I switched the petcock to prime and she ran a bit better. maybe the jetting is still a little lean, but I still cannot figure out the non-starting issue last night... :dunno_black:
Possible your petcock is going bad or you are developing a leak in the vacuum hose to the petcock.
Like any part, it is possible to go bad. Especially if sitting for a while with that crappy ethanol in the gas.
Maybe replace the petcock. Maybe the main fuel line from the tank is pinched. Maybe the under-tank valve is not fully ON.
Is there an in-like fuel filter? If so, try without that.
Quote from: adidasguy on April 16, 2012, 12:53:36 PM
Possible your petcock is going bad or you are developing a leak in the vacuum hose to the petcock.
Like any part, it is possible to go bad. Especially if sitting for a while with that crappy ethanol in the gas.
Maybe replace the petcock. Maybe the main fuel line from the tank is pinched. Maybe the under-tank valve is not fully ON.
Is there an in-like fuel filter? If so, try without that.
Thanks for the suggestions.
I relaced the vacuum line as well as all the fule lines when I bough this project. I did add inline filters to each of the lines coming from the tank, but the seem to be flowing just fine (I figured extra insurance against some crap that had sat in the tank during the year it sat prior to me buying her). Petcock might be a possibility......cracked diaphram would not give the fuel pumping when cranking if there were leaks.......I will switch back to "on" for the ride home and see how she runs.
Tank petcock is fully on as far as I know and has been since the last time I pulled the tank....cant imagine that would move on it's own but anything is possible.....
Try without the fuel filters or take one off and run that line. Filters could be clogged up. What type are they? Some do not work well for bikes. We are gravity fed - no fuel pump. Filter must flow easily.
They are from a tractor supply store and meant for this sized fuel line (5/16 as I remember). Lemme see if I have a pic of them. If you look under the tank on this side, you can see them....
(http://i595.photobucket.com/albums/tt35/craigs449/2012-04-08_13-00-06_745.jpg)
Others can give their opinion, however my feeling is to remove them and see if you still have fuel problems. It is worth a try. It will either show they are the problem or eliminate them as a problem.
Being gravity fed, is there more of a problem as the tank gets low?
Then
1. Replace scratched left emblem
2. Clean grease off of swing arm
3. Clean rear wheel rim
4. Add a fender extender /mud-flap to the front fender (they look cool)
5. and most important to improve the appearance of your bike: buy a stainless steel chain guard :icon_lol:
Quote from: adidasguy on April 16, 2012, 02:48:44 PM
Others can give their opinion, however my feeling is to remove them and see if you still have fuel problems. It is worth a try. It will either show they are the problem or eliminate them as a problem.
Being gravity fed, is there more of a problem as the tank gets low?
Then
1. Replace scratched left emblem
2. Clean grease off of swing arm
3. Clean rear wheel rim
4. Add a fender extender /mud-flap to the front fender (they look cool)
5. and most important to improve the appearance of your bike: buy a stainless steel chain guard :icon_lol:
To be honest with you, the bike has run fine with them on there...the only surging that I get is when I need to switch to reserve.....
1. I have a new emblem waiting to be put on, as well as a new one for the other side
2. Not grease on the swinger....looks like black paint....
3. I know, right :mad:
4. need to get around to doing the fork seals/sonic springs before any other add-ons
5. This is my commuter machine.....no bling on this sucker....pure commuter duty!
Well, then I'm kind of out of ideas unless there is an electrical problem that has to do with heat. A couple people have had timing pickups go bad with heat. I'd love to get my hands on one so I can do some bench tests and see what goes on with failure when hot. Maybe the ICU fails when hot. RR not the problem since you are charged and can crank the engine. Maybe a bad connection that flakes out when hot.
Quote from: adidasguy on April 16, 2012, 04:55:16 PM
Well, then I'm kind of out of ideas unless there is an electrical problem that has to do with heat. A couple people have had timing pickups go bad with heat. I'd love to get my hands on one so I can do some bench tests and see what goes on with failure when hot. Maybe the ICU fails when hot. RR not the problem since you are charged and can crank the engine. Maybe a bad connection that flakes out when hot.
But I still had good spark when I pulled the plugs when the bike was still hot........I really think it's some type of Jedi mind thing.....seems like everytime I am riding it and start to think, "Man, I really like how well this bike is running and I got it for such a good price", I get slapped in the face with some issue that rears it's ugly head!
Also, I rode to work today, 85 degrees, 30 miles.......shut her down for about 10 minutes, and then she fired right back up.
....I guess if I just always keep in the back of my mind, "What a piece of junk this heap of crap is!", It will run good forever :cheers: