Hi guys. I just bought this 1991 GS500E from my brother. He's had the bike for a few years now and it's stock. It used to work great and now it does absolutely zero. That's why he sold it to me for $150. It hasn't been used for years. He first started having problems a few years back. He was riding on the expressway and the bike started sputtering and then just turned off. It did not overheat. He started it up again and it turned back off. He walked the bike to the nearest exit to the nearest gas station. He filled the tank and waited a minute and it went merrily on it's way. He figured it was just gas but it was to happen again well before the next gas-up was due. He did a few things like change a solenoid. He doesn't remember what the part was or if it was actually a solenoid. He said it was not the starter solenoid since I have scanned the forums and someone said that was common for these bikes. He also bought the coils. I imagine he meant ignition coils??? I work on my own cars but I'm new to working on bikes. By the way, he bought both parts on ebay.  Don't know if he got bad parts or not. Anyway, he left the bike sitting for about 2 years with only an occasional turn on  where it would barely start when he tried just for the sake of turning it on. We tried push starting it a couple of months ago and it would not turn on. We even tied it with a rope to his car while I sat on the bike so we could get really good speed to pull-start it. We got some sputter but nothing going. It is not doing a thing.  I have to mention that he took off the tank and we turned it upside down and could not believe the amount of gook and rust shavings that came out. We refilled it and started shaking it more and more junk came out. We repeated this using every hole available to get as much of the stuff out until no more came out. I don't know what cavaties inside might still have the junk but we turned it up, down, side to side, etc. With that info, where should I start looking first? Although I have noticed most people are happy with this bike? What are it's most common problems, and such?

OK all that junk in the tank ... is also in the carbs ...  first step ... take those off and clean ... And while you have it off rejet ... 125/40/3/1 for a stock bike ... Read the FAQ for the rejet threads ... might be a 1000 on that and the GD ... Then Valve check, oil and filter change, Air filter clean if paper slosh it in gasoline for 2-3 seconds and dry it, New battery and plugs ... then lets see if it wont start ... I'll do that on anything that's not running ... almost always works like a charm ...  
BTW Trying to start it with a car towing it is just asking for trouble ... say you had hydrolock ... you'd have 2 bent connecting rods by now ... Gentler is better ... I'd take the plugs out, squirt a shot of oil in the cyl and turn with starter before doing anything ...
Cool.
Srinath.

Hi Srinath. Ok, everything you said sounds promising. Well, with the exception of the bent rods. That's sounds real scary. I have my car & my wife's car both broken right now so there's no hurry with the bike yet. Also, it's at my brother's and may have to be brought by pickup to my house first.  Like I said, I know cars but I'm confused on some of your bike lingo.
1)Am I taking off two carbeurators to clean?
2)What the heck does rejet mean?
3)How do you know when I'm at  125/40/31/1 rejet setting?
4)What might be a 1000
5)What's GD?
6)What is hydrolock?
7)So squirt shot of oil in cyl and turn with starter, but how with starter?
8)Step number 7 is to be tried before all the other things mentioned?

Please number your answers as well so you know you've covered every question. As you can see, I know NOTHING about motorcycles but will understand after explanation and will be able to do the work myself. Thanks for responding.

1)Yes there are two carbs - you take them off to clean them.  

2)Rejet means to take out the various fuel delivery jets in the carburetor and replace them with different jets.  The bike will generally pick up a bit of power and better ridability if it is rejetted from the stock configuration - which is a compromise so the bike will meet emission standards.

3) 125 is the generally accepted best size for the main jet on a pre-2001 GS500 - its a bit larger than the stock jet size.  40 is the generally accepted best size for the pilot jet (that is the one that controls how much gas the engine gets at very low throttle openings) - it makes the bike run better down low and need the choke for a shorter time.  3 is the number of turns out from lightly seated that the mixture screw in each carb should be set at when you put the carbs back together - the actual absolutely correct setting will vary a bit from bike to bike depending on equipment, state of tune, altitude etc.  This is a good place to start.  1 is a reference to placing one small machine washer under the clip that holds the jet needle in position in the slide.  Lifting the needle slightly makes the mixture slightly richer throughout the throttle slide's travel.  

4) 1000 is an estimated number of times this topic has had threads covering it in detail - if you do a search you will  find much advice and specific directions - even pictures.

5) Not sure what he meant by GD - perhaps a bit of senile brain freeze.

6) Hydrolock is when the cylinders are full of an incompressible fluid - like gas, oil or water.  The pistons cannot move and things break.

7) A small amount of oil will help loosen the rings - which might be rusty by now - and also help to seal them a bit giving you compression and some chance of firing even with bad rings.  It also lubricates the piston and rings for the first few strokes so there is less chance of damage to the cylinder wall - the key is just a bit of oil - no more than a teaspoon.  Too much will foul the plug.  WAY too much and you could see hydrolock.
Once the bike has had the oil in the cylinder for quite some time, with the plugs out, put the bike in a higher gear and push it a bit to see if the engine turns over - in other words, is anything frozen in place.  If it freely turns, then install a good battery, put the plugs in, turn the ignition to on and push the button.  If the engine does not turn over that way, post back with what it did/sounded like when you pushed the button and lots of folks will try and help.

8 ) Yes, you do #7 first on a bike that has been in storage for several years - you are not really trying to start the bike yet - just making sure that it is not frozen, that the starter works etc.  There are a lot of tests you can do to see if you have good spark etc before you get down to the harder and more expensive efforts.

You said "As you can see, I know NOTHING about motorcycles but will understand after explanation and will be able to do the work myself. "  Buy a manual - there is a link from this site to a good repair manual - it will make things much easier.

I will be buying both manuals as I do for my cars. I buy both the Chilton and Haynes. In this case I will buy the Clymer and the Haynes. By the way, which one of the two is better? Please be objective since I know the Clymer helps the board funding. Thanks

Quote from: mannydingoI will be buying both manuals as I do for my cars. I buy both the Chilton and Haynes. In this case I will buy the Clymer and the Haynes. By the way, which one of the two is better?

From an email that I recently sent to a GStwin.com user:

Quote from: KerryBefore you decide on which manual to get, you may want to read a few of my GStwin posts on the subject.  If you want to find most of them, do a Search for the keywords "Clymer Haynes both" (be sure to click "Search for all terms") by author "Kerry".  I did that search just now, and there are 17 message threads that match those criteria!

If you don't have time to read them all, be sure to look at the following 3 threads:

    Wiring Diagram

    Owners Manual

    Paging Mr. Clymer!...

You will learn that I think it is a great idea to own both manuals, but in my opinion anyone who is not trying to be a full-time mechanic (or a racer who tears their bike down over and over) is better served by using the Haynes manual.  The Clymer has great information, but it is so hard to find what you're looking for....  (See the "Paging Mr. Clymer!..." thread for sample pages from both manuals, and a sample walkthrough as though you're trying to solve a particular problem using both manuals.)

I bought a Haynes manual first (because I didn't anything know about Clymer then, and I had previously owned a Haynes manual for my Datsun B210 hatchback automobile).  With the Haynes manual I went from knowing NOTHING about motorcycle maintenance to doing all of my own maintenance so far - including carburetor cleaning and valve adjustments.

When I bought a Clymer manual I was somewhat disappointed as I flipped through it.  Later on, when I tried to actually USE it, I got frustrated!  "I can't find anything!"  "Why aren't the photos at least as nice as in the Haynes manual?"  "I thought Clymer was supposed to be the premier manual!"

Again, the Clymer manual is very thorough for most procedures.  For the more involved procedures that I have tackled, I have consulted both manuals.  They tend to take slightly different approaches, and both shed a little light that the other one doesn't mention.

But if I were to start over from the beginning, knowing what I know now, I would still buy the Haynes manual first.  If I ever needed to take the engine apart, THEN I would get the Clymer.  (And use both!)

For what it's worth!

The way mjm responded by numbering the answers the way I numbered the questions, as I asked, and the way Kerry explained about the manual differences was top notch. You guys are two pros. I still want to hear anything anyone has to say about the bike problems if you want to add something. About the manuals, with cars I found that the Haynes explained well and the pictures are way better. The Chilton added a line or two of info which is helpful but as the saying goes, a picture says 100 words. The Haynes takes it, just not hands down. The fact our local auto parts stores don't carry Chilton anymore speaks for itself. However, that's not good. It's great to have both manuals because sometimes the Haynes will leave me confused here and there and the Chilton will cover that loss. I now have to order Chilton online or do a mad search to find it locally at a greater price.

GD is General Discussion ... this section of the board ...
The bikes have clymers not chilton manuals ... I think they are by the same parent company ... but for a GS I like the clymers ... haynes is better ... but doubt its easy to find ...
Cool.
Srinath.