Okay so a few months ago I posted I was having trouble with my bike only running on one cylinder at low speeds, well since I'm lazy I never got around to doing anything much about it. Well my front forks started leaking oil so I was forced to replace the seals, I did that on Monday, I also replaced the springs at the time with some progressive units. Okay So I ride it Wednesday and today while I was out riding I stop grab some lunch and I go to take off and BRRRRRughhh, WTF!? why won't my bike rev over 5500rpm? So I spit and sputter all the way home and it never gets better. :x  Alright so I decide to take the carbs off and clean them up thinking that maybe there is some dirt in them, (I have already replaced the fuel lines and added an inline fuel filter) I take them apart, clean them up and reinstall, no my bike wont start . What now??


Aaron
1995 GS500E
10,250 Mi

Did you turn the pet chicken to prime before trying to start it?  You have to give it a few seconds for the gas to fill the fuel bowls

Yeah I truned it to prime let it sit, tried to start, and BOOM!, my what a lovely eardrum shattering backfire :lol: , still won't start.

Edit: I unscrewed the pilot screws, but returned them to there original position

plugs are fowled with gas...get another set of plugs.

Quote from: werase643plugs are fowled with gas...get another set of plugs.

yep, this is what i think too.  It has happened to me.

Also check your slides. I had a similar problem once, and it turned out the slide springs got kinked somehow, and my bike would stutter, and then not get gas until I let it sit, cranked it....and BANG!!!
Good Luck

Check all of your connections in the wiring harness. I had an intermittent spark problem associated with a corroded connection. Cleaned all of them and applied some electrical grease to each of the connections. No more problems.

Oh yes 1 cyl ... the extra connector to the negative side of the battery... goes from negative to wiring harness... that being screwed up makes for a GS 250... Also if that fails, swap coils side to side and see if the problme switces sides, if not swap the coil leads but cross the wires back... so the right crank trigger fires the left coil whihc fires the right cyl... that way if the problem switches sides... bingo... crank trigger.
Cool.
Srinath.

Well if I can get it started I hope the problem will be gone with the 1 cylinder thing, Srinath are you still rebuilding carbs man, I might have some for you if I can't get this fixed

It's not too uncommon to miss something when cleaning the carbs for the first time (although, usually such mistakes just make the bike run really lean or really rich).  Be sure that your choke is fully closing, or that could do it.  If a slide got stuck, that might also do it.

Regarding fouled plugs: that can happen, even without the carb rebuild.  You can take the plugs out and blow them off with canned air, and put them back; often, just letting the bike sit overnight will fix a gas-fouled condition.

Also, if your float levels are way too high, that could cause it to foul during starting.  Always recheck the float height, with the U-tube method, after reassembling the carbs.  Just because the level looked right when you had the carbs apart, doesn't mean it's right now.  If you find one float way too high, it's possible that the float isn't travelling up/down, leaking the float needle open (this happened to me after reassembling my carbs).  Tapping on the float bowl with a hammer handle helped it come unstuck, and the float level dropped to where it should be after I cranked it over a few times.

Yea I am doing carbs... now that I know your situation, I'll look at the carbs to see if anyhtign was making it happen in the carbs.
Just print this thread out and tag your carbs with your name and address ... cos I have got a bunch of requests, so if they all send it... there is a very good chance that some else gets your carbs of course I might get them all over the next few months instead of like a stampede in the next week...  :mrgreen: ...
Cool.
Srinath.

Just a thought, but check the vacuum line going to the fuel valve, when you try putting the air box back on it has a tendancy to get ripped off.

Srinath, you want a chance to jet 36mm carbs on a GS500 rack? it has no needles and no jets installed at the moment.

I had a similar problem where my left cylinder wasn't firing at idle because gas wasn't getting through the left carb.  At higher throttle openings both cylinders fired.  Will both cylinders fire if you open the choke up a little?  If so, something's probably gunked in your carbs on the low end.  If not, I'd put my money on plugs, or maybe timing?

Quote from: ponchopirateI had a similar problem where my left cylinder wasn't firing at idle because gas wasn't getting through the left carb.  At higher throttle openings both cylinders fired.  Will both cylinders fire if you open the choke up a little?  If so, something's probably gunked in your carbs on the low end.  If not, I'd put my money on plugs, or maybe timing?

Yay! the bikes running, stupid me, I'll not even put on here why it wasn't starting .

Anyways

Yeah man, it runs fine at higher RPM's also it will run fine if I let it sit over night but as I ride it thru the day, after each stop where i turn the bike off it seems to take longer and longer for it to get that cylinder firing even at higher RPM's. I was told by a couple of other people that this was caused by the pilot jet being clogged, well cleaned the carbs still does it... :dunno:

Hmmm... I hate it when it's not the obvious stuff.  If the left cylinder still isn't firing when you have the throttle opened up (say more than a quarter turn) it's something besides the pilot jet.  The pilot works primarily in the lower throttle openings, after that it's your mains, needles, etc.  Did you check to see if your throttle valves are opening and closing properly when you pulled the carbs off and if the screws holding them on are tight?  However, it might not be a carb problem at all.  I was told by a mechanic that running on one cylinder is generally a timing issue (at least that's the first thing they check).