After hearing someone say that fully engaging the choke on cold starts damages the engine, I wonder what the members of this community think is the best way to warm up the bike when the atmospheric temperature is at or slightly below freezing. I've just been following the method recommended in the owner's manual.
Who is this expert someone who owns a GS500 and knows all about starting them in cold weather? What is this damage which is supposed to occur?
If you are following the advice from the company who made the bike - Suzuki owner's manual - which says to put the choke on Full - you are doing it right. :thumb:
My start method regardless of temp is...
1 - Choke on full
2 - Start
3 - Let rev to whatever it wants to rev to
4 - after 30 seconds to a minute, lower revs to around 2000rpm
5 - put on jacket, helmet, etc, while bike idles at this speed
6 - ride away sedately
7- after a couple of clicks, turn choke fully off
My bike is totally stock - apart from an adidasguy chain guard and fork brace :icon_mrgreen:
I've put over 60,000kms on my bike doing this and no problems with the engine at all.
I personally try to start first without choke;
if it starts and maintains 1000 RPM or more then I leave the choke off
If it starts but idles rough, I'll add a bit of choke to get it between 3000 and 4000 RPM
If it doesn't start, then I start with full choke and then decrease to keep it below 4000 RPM
If I needed choke, I generally turn it off after 20-60 sec of riding
Some of my bikes, because of using performance plugs, start only without the choke but then immediately need the choke to rev a little higher for 20 seconds or so to warm up.
For that reason, I'm now modifying all my bikes to start without holding in the clutch lever if in neutral. If not in neutral, clutch must be pulled in. (It is tricky to have to hold in the clutch to start and immediately flip the choke just when it started.)
Note: This uses a relay and is not the same as bypassing the clutch switch.
Also note: this is quite handy when working on a bike (unless you use a strap to hold in the clutch lever or bypass the switch.)
Almost the same as mister above except to add one important step:
5.5 - Get on bike and make quick final choke adjustment. I close the choke while making quick throttle blips as far as I can with it still taking repeated blips. Now as I leave a 100' drive I can hit the street ready to go and I can give it all or as little throttle as I want and still when I get down to a stop a couple blocks away it won't load up. After that stop I close the choke and take off and ride.
My bike is also totally stock and has over 100k miles on it now.
Full On, then once it's running my goal is to use as little choke as possible, as the Rpm starts to climb I keep it down by using less choke, adjusting multiple times per minute if needed. Excessive choke use can wash the lube off the cylinder walls.
I think we can see what to do has a lotto do with the personality of your bike. main thing is
1. Don't let it sit revving over 4000 rpm. Keep RPM's reasonable
2. Don't sit warming up for 5 to 10 minutes. Wastes gas, is too long and your pipes might start glowing red if you're sitting at 4000 rpm for 5 minutes (seen it - especially at night - pretty, but not something I suggest doing)
3. If really cold, the start-wait-start-wait.... to warm the battery really can help.
In fact, recalling my other bikes, friends bikes and Dora (previously known as Trey), they all have the same characteristic because they all have Brisk plugs and shorai batteries. Start without choke then quickly get the choke on if necessary.
Learn what your bike likes.
Quote from: Suzuki Stevo on January 03, 2014, 02:56:53 PM
Excessive choke use can wash the lube off the cylinder walls.
... ummm .. what? ... im not disputing the statement! .. i mean can you explain that further?! .. :icon_question:
ive never heard that description/situation ... i seek clarity of meaning on this bro!
:dunno_black:
Everyone's got a different method, and to be quite honest it doesn't really matter too much as long as you let the bike warm up sufficiently.
How much choke you need to use depends entirely on the ambient temperature as your engine will most likely be the same as the temperature if it hasn't been used in about 6 hours or so. I can't remember how much choke I actually used as I no longer have a GS, but practically if it was fairly cold outside I would use the full choke, start and then reduce it to bring the RPM's to around 2000.
1) This prevents it from stalling and having to start again
2) Let's the bike warm up safely, revving it 3K - 4K upon start up is far too much IMO
I agree with what adidasguy said.
Experiment a bit.
Quote from: Janx101 on January 03, 2014, 06:47:03 PM... ummm .. what? ... im not disputing the statement! .. i mean can you explain that further?! .. :icon_question:
ive never heard that description/situation ... i seek clarity of meaning on this bro!
:dunno_black:
Excessive fuel can remove the thin layer of lube on cylinder walls..or
"wash" them
http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/gallery/image/105-washed-cylinder-walls/ (http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/gallery/image/105-washed-cylinder-walls/)
http://www.hastingsmfg.com/ServiceTips/fuel_wash.htm (http://www.hastingsmfg.com/ServiceTips/fuel_wash.htm)
Excessive fuel, as in flooding. Yes, that's bad. Choke (or enrichment circuit) if functioning properly will not flood IMO.
Quote from: Suzuki Stevo on January 03, 2014, 07:33:56 PM
Quote from: Janx101 on January 03, 2014, 06:47:03 PM... ummm .. what? ... im not disputing the statement! .. i mean can you explain that further?! .. :icon_question:
ive never heard that description/situation ... i seek clarity of meaning on this bro!
:dunno_black:
Excessive fuel can remove the thin layer of lube on cylinder walls..or "wash" them
http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/gallery/image/105-washed-cylinder-walls/ (http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/gallery/image/105-washed-cylinder-walls/)
http://www.hastingsmfg.com/ServiceTips/fuel_wash.htm (http://www.hastingsmfg.com/ServiceTips/fuel_wash.htm)
Ah ok.... They talking about fairly heavy fuelling errors though? ... A basic choke ... (Yes I know we have a fuel enrichment circuit rather than a butterfly thingie) ... Shouldn't provide THAT much more fuel? ... :icon_question:
Quote from: Suzuki Stevo on January 03, 2014, 07:33:56 PMExcessive fuel can remove the thin layer of lube on cylinder walls..or "wash" them
This is probably the reason. For a warmup the oil starts out plenty thick, and the engine isn't under much load. If you start riding (putting it under load) the carb starts running more on the other circuits anyways so jetting goes back to 'neutral'. Only time I'd worry about it is if you run the choke for a while then suddenly start running the engine hard (which you shouldn't do to an engine not at operating temp anyways).
Quote from: Janx101 on January 03, 2014, 11:37:30 PM
Ah ok.... They talking about fairly heavy fuelling errors though? ... A basic choke ... (Yes I know we have a fuel enrichment circuit rather than a butterfly thingie) ... Shouldn't provide THAT much more fuel? ... :icon_question:
I never wanted to find out, I use as little choke as possible , there is nothing beneficial in using excessive fuel/choke at start up.
I use as much choke as necessary.
When I start my bike in really cold temps (<0F, -18C), full choke is not an option. It's required. But after running for 30-60s, I can usually go down to 1/2 or 1/4 choke to keep the revs at ~2,000 for 5-10mins before heading out into the cold...
I would find it hard to believe that the choke would be doing any measurable damage...