Background:  
'92 GS500E
Cleaned the carbs due to rough engine noise, sputtering, chocking and cutting out at high speeds...but it would restart
Novice rider and mechanic

Symptoms: Now the engine will start.  It will make a few sputters but sounds pretty good.  It will last for a few minutes and then it will tease me to try and ride it ... when I do it dies ... and then it won't start back up for a while.  (Of course, after doing this a few times I have to jump it.)

I did put in new plugs.  The old ones had black tips.  The new ones are gapped at .7.  The Suzuki dude said this is better than .8 that it says in my manual.

Things I think may be dorked up:
Floats - I have bent the pins so maybe they are incorrect.
Fuel lines - I have checked them but maybe they are wrong.
Vacuum line in reference- My buddy mentioned this but I don't know what he means..."I believe the switch is vacuum operated which means if the vacuum line is connected to the wrong place it will starve out of fuel and die"...the switch he is talking about is the "PRI/RES"... I don't understand the difference in the settings in terms of vacuums and floats filling and emptying ....

Any help is greatly appreciated....

chirp...chirp...was my note for help not desperate enough???

HHHHHEEEEEEEEELLLLLLPPPPPP....I am in Germany and have wasted the last 3 weeks of phenomenal weather without my bike and, by law, there are only 4 weeks of good weather allowed....

try pretending to be a cute girl;  you will immediately get like 30 responses (and probably some Google stalking).

Sorry, Shakes, I did go back over your previous posts, but it is difficult diagnosing a bike that I can't get my hands on and hear with my own ears, but I'll (we'll) try.

Begining with the vacuum line, one end is supposed to go on a spigot on the right side of the left carburetor, and the other end will only fit the small diameter spigot on the fuel switch. You may place the fuel selector to PRI (prime) to fill up the floatbowls before you start it, then switch to On or Reserve once it starts running (if it starts running).

This is the method that I use to set my floats (scroll down): http://gstwins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5591&highlight=float+heighth+height

Quote from: scratchThis is the method that I use to set my floats

Is this the right direct link?

Dagnabit! How do you do that?

html tags maybe?

Quote from: scratchDagnabit! How do you do that?

Ya really wanna know?  OK, here goes:

* Go to the post that you want to link to.

* Identify a unique phrase in that post (like the first word in your post above ).  The closer to the beginning of the post, the better.

* Right-click (almost) anywhere in the thread and choose "View Source".  The HTML code for the ENTIRE page will come up in Notepad.

* Do a Ctrl-F search for the unique phrase you identified earlier.

* Check the surrounding text to make sure you're in the correct post.

* Now for the trickiest part: Back up in the source until you see the most recent "viewtopic" reference and grab the associated numbers:

* Up in your browser's Address bar, replace everything after viewtopic.php? (usually starts with t=) with the stuff circled in the screenshot above.  In this case the full URL would be
http://gstwins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=175652#175652

* Hit Enter or click the GO button to make sure the link works.

* Copy the entire link and paste it into your new post.[/list:u]Easy huh?  

Thanks for the info on the bike.    

And thanks for the Bill Gates-type info...I will have to read that one again later to understand it...it was making my head hurt  

Quote from: Kerry
* Identify a unique phrase in that post
* Right-click (almost) anywhere in the thread and choose "View Source".  
* Do a Ctrl-F search for the unique phrase you identified earlier.
...

If I understand what you're trying to accomplish, there may be a better way.  You want a direct link to a posting, somewhere in the middle of a thread.  Look at the post in question: at the top of each post is a line reading something like "Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2005 8:26 pm".  To the left of that line is a tiny icon, which looks like a sheet of paper.  Right click on that icon, and copy the URL to the clipboard.  Paste the URL into your own post.

Regarding the bike idling, but killing if you twist the throttle: that happened to me once, when the fuel hose was a little bit pinched.  Make sure that the hoses are all loose enough that you can move them all a bit back and forth.

Quote from: Rema1000Right click on that icon, and copy the URL to the clipboard.

THANK YOU for that!    I always wished there was an easier way.

And I thought I was being SO clever for figuring it out all by myself....  

I havae gotten my kitchen pass to work on my bike for the afternoon.  (It's still in the middle of the night for you guys in the States...so I won't hold my breath for a reply but....)

Yesterday, I went ahead and started it up.  And as usual, it started right away.  It lasted for 8 minutes...(my wife would be happy with that  :mrgreen: )

I don't know enough about how the fuel system works to understand why it starts for 8 minutes, then dies, and then won't start for awhile (exactly how long I haven't figured out because I usually leave it alone overnight).  After it dies and I try and start it, it sounds like it wants to start and with the starter button pushed in, it chugs (fires) but it will not "start".  It will keep doing that until I run out of juice and have to jump it.


Any clues or advice as to why this happens?

Thanks.

Try putting the frame-mounted petcock on PRI (prime).  You can also try running the bike with the fuel tank cap a little open.  

If I were going to run the GS for 10+ minutes, I think I might set a fan down in front of the bike.  It has no radiator or coolant to cool itself.

Quote from: Shakes....Yesterday, I went ahead and started it up.  And as usual, it started right away.  It lasted for 8 minutes...

I don't know enough about how the fuel system works to understand why it starts for 8 minutes, then dies, and then won't start for awhile .....  After it dies and I try and start it, it sounds like it wants to start and with the starter button pushed in, it chugs (fires) but it will not "start".  It will keep doing that until I run out of juice and have to jump it.....

Thanks.

Have you considered that it may be electrical rather than fuel related? A "hot" failure combined with a "cold" good function could easily be ignition related - as the electronics heat up, they fail - or a bad connection in the harness, or a bad coil or ignition wire (although coil or ignition wire should leave it still running on one cylinder)

Could it be the battery?  I feel like I have abused it a lot with this carb cleaning.  I have to jump it several times and I don't have a battery charger so I've been using my car...I am sure this is a no no but in Germany I can't run to Target or WalMart (although there is a WalMart about an hour from here).  And the bike shops have hours that bankers would be envious of....but not German bankers, they aren't open that long either.

My other thought is...could I be letting it overheat?

I had some similar troubles with mine. Clean carbs are a must, and yes, the floats need to be right. Mine gets real quirky if the carbs aren't just so. Also, have to warm it up in "prime" for quite a little bit or it won't keep gas going & vacuum started. Also, I had a gunked up fuel line from the PO getting paint in the gas tank. Installed a couple of small filters in my lines & all is well now.

I am still fuzzy on the "ON/PRI/RES" thing.  I understand "RES" gets the last gallon.  I understand "ON" is the "normal" setting but I don't understand what folks are talking about when they say that one setting keeps gas going to the floats and the other gas will dry up and the whole thing of what the vacuum does in either setting and why I care escapes me.  And I think I need to understand for me to fix this bike.  

Anyone?    :dunno:

By the way, just for giggles, I went and got a new battery, new air filter and some more spark plugs.  Which I will replace tonight and thenI will check the float level with the "U-tube" method, ensure my fuel lines are per the diagram and make sure that they are not kinked anywhere.

Then if this sucker starts I am going to take it for a ride and see if it dies after 8 minutes.  If it does then I should know that I am not letting it overheat and it is something else.  But if it does die, can anyone make an educated guess as to how long I should wait before starting it again?  (I know hard to say unless you know what the problem was and if I knew what the problem was then I could probably fix it ...)  I've tried to start it after 5 minutes but typically I have been waiting overnight.

ok I've just been dealing with fuel problems myself.
8 minutes sounds about right for the length of time to empty the float bowls of
fuel if you aren;t getting any (or much) from the tank. I guess your petcock is
slowly letting fuel through to the carbs, but VERY slowly.

My 1st suspect would be the tank mounted fuel valve.
Did you remember to turn it back on? I know I've forgotten before.
The slot in the screw should be vertical for the valve to be open.
2ndly  it could be a kinked fuel line.
3rdly it could be a problem with the petcock.

The petcock has 3 settings 'on', 'res' and 'pri'.
There is a vacuum activated valve inside.
There are 4 attachment points on the petcock
A vacuum line nipple, which is round the back where you can't see it.
A fuel out nipple which is the one at the back left as you look at the valve.
(front right with respect to the bike)
A Main fuel in nipple wich is the front left one, right next to the fuel out.
Finally a Reserve fuel in which is on the right of the petcock and has a 90 degree bend in it
so it points at the ground.

In 'on' fuel from the main fuel line is passed through the vacuum activated valve and out to
the fuel out line. This needs vacuum on the vacuum line or the valve stays closed.
In 'res' the fuel goes from the reserve fuel line through the vacuum valve and out to the fuel
out line.
In 'prii' the fuel come from the reserve line and out to the fuel out line but it bypasses the
vacuum activated valve, so you can get fuel to the float bowles without vacuum.

As I said, 1st thing I'd check is the main fuel valve on the tank.
Check it is open propperly otherwise you might get fuel, but only very slowly