Hey all,
I put away my bike for a good year or so to goto college but I decided to fire up the beast again. Well, the problem is that during the storage, I just had it on the kick stand and pretty much just left it there (I  couldn't drive back all the way from college just to start it up and leave it running). I decided to replace the batteries, so I know that it isn't a problem, but when I start it up, the bike just dies. After many tries, it finally stays alive for a few seconds, but if I open the throttle, it just dies again. What could be the problem? After a while, with the choke on, it kept on going but I decided to turn it off. Is it normal to take longer than 10 minutes to warm up the bike if it's  been in storage? What other things should I check to make sure I'll be riding safe? Thanks

-Yohan

If it was in storage that long the carbs probably need cleaned and your gas probably isn't up to snuff either.

So I replaced the gas by siphoning it out and getting some new gas at the station. Now it'll start, but with the choke on, the rpm fluctuates from 2000 to 3000 and it'll shut down if I lower the choke or if I try to give it some gas. When I open the throttle, the rpm drops dramatically and if I get lucky, it'll kind of "catch on" and raise the rpm, but if I'm not dramatic enough, it'll shut down. What's going on? Do I need to take it down the shop?  :guns:  :x

you need to pull the carbs off and clean them out -- leaving the bike sit for that long, the gas turns gummy and builds up a varnish that will clog the jets in the carbs (can gunk up the petcock as well).

I believe Yamaha makes a carb cleaning liquid that you can add to your gas that will help get rid of the varnish -- you can also try plain jane carb-cleaning gas treatments that any auto parts store sells, like Techron or Gum-out.  The ones that say "fuel injector cleaner" will supposedly work OK too.

I would agree. yor carbs are most likely dirty. Mine was in storage for 3 years. The pilots were gummed shut, and the needle jets(I think that is what they are called, its the part that the needle goes down through to the main jet, and has a bunch of little holes in it) was completely varnished over. I replaced the pilots, and cleaned the needle jets with a piece of high "E" electric guitar string (9 guage), worked great, but they are hard to get out, and must be reinstalled correctly with the little nocth that is in the carb body. see:

http://gstwin.com/carb_work.htm


before I cleaned it, it exhibited the same symptoms.

I'm trying to take the easy way out without going broke, SO, I bought some STP carb cleaning liquid and added it to the motorcycle. I guess I need to keep it running for a while. Would it be ok to just run it in the garage and have it in idle with the choke on? Or, would I have to ride it around the town for it to take effect? :-p

you need to vary the throttle to get the cleaning stuff to go through the different jets; also, since the gs is air cooled, they don't take well to running for long periods of time while sitting still - if you're going to let it run in the garage, set a fan up to blow across the engine.

And, follow my posts in this thread next time: http://gstwins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4354&highlight=storage

Somebody want to take my posts and put them together in the FAQ?