What's up everyone, new member and super new to doing my own maintenance on my bike. I can do oil changes, air filter, spark plugs, chain, etc. basically I only know how to do as much as the owners manual will tell me.

So here's my problem, bought the bike new about a year and a half ago. It has 13k miles and stalls at every stop lately. I start it and have to leave the choke on until I'm ready to go, and I have to play with the throttle at every stop or it dies. Also when I use the throttle to hold the rpms steady at like 2k, every couple seconds it will let out a little pop and the rpms drop to 1k and then back up to 2k for a few seconds......another little pop or hiccup drops it back down to 1k or 1.5k then back to 2k etc. It's not like a backfire pop, but more like a pop corn pop low and muffled.
Then I take off and every time I pull the clutch in to approach a stop it drops and dies.

So any input as to whats wrong would be great but more so my question is whether or not a newb like myself could handle working this problem out or should I take it in to someone who knows what there looking at?

Have you ever checked/adjusted the valves?

what rpm does it idel at???

No I've never checked the valves...guys seriously it's almost embarrassing how little I know about auto shop. To give myself credit though, no ones ever taught me and I'm trying to learn by the owners manual but I don't see anything on checking valves in there and so I don't even know what you're talking about when you ask that.

As far as where it idles.....I would say that when it doesn't stall it will idle strong at just over 1.5k rpm, but that is at maybe 1 out of every 7 or 8 times I attempt to stop w/o playing with the throttle to keep it from stalling.

I've changed the air filter, plugs, and added a couple carb cleaners over the last few tanks of gas. I think I would be able to take the carbs out and clean them if I had a good step by step on how to. I'm not totally incompetent and theres nothing I can't learn but I've just never had experience with this stuff.

Don't know if this matters or helps troubleshoot, but the 13k miles I have on it have been a rough 13k, %90 of it on freeway that averages speeds of 75-80 mph. It did sit for a couple months when I had money issues and couldn't insure/register it, and it did rain a few times on it (my bad).

Your valves are out of spec.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2015554469142545363&q=gs500+valve+video

Yeah, at 13K, your valves are out of spec.

First: Welcome!  You've come to the right place to learn more about taking care of your bike.

Second: Order a Clymer repair manual from the amazon link on the main page (GStwin.com)... good book and a bit of the money gets donated to the site

Third: Look at this maintenance schedule and watch the video Jarrett posted while you're waiting for your Clymer manual...

Fourth: Go ahead and attack the valves if you think you're ready, otherwise wait for the manual

Fifth: you don't have to keep up with the maintenance schedule I linked to to a T, but it doesn't hurt to keep it in mind and check a few of those things here and there as you have time

You guys are awesom, thanks!

I can only find the clymer manual for the GS500 up to 2002, will that work or is the 2005 much different?

the bikes have some differences but not alot

So is it bad to be riding around with my bike in this condition? Should I get it fixed asap or could I ride it like this for a while?

Quote from: largeli on April 02, 2007, 04:09:00 PM
So is it bad to be riding around with my bike in this condition? Should I get it fixed asap or could I ride it like this for a while?

Quote from: scratch on October 11, 2006, 03:33:14 PM
If the exhaust valve clearance is too little it wont be able to transfer enough heat to the head in the small amount of time it's in contact with the seat, resulting in a burned valve.  There's a reason why it is called preventive maintenance.

Get it fixed ASAP!

Welcome, largeli! 

Do you have an update for us!? 

Whats up Pandy, no update. My bike sits until I can come up with the money to have the work done. Hopefully by end of this month.

I saw the clymers manual on the amazon link from this site but the feedback on amazon was that if your bike is newer then 2002 then beware.....someone also posted that its not a big difference so i dunno. I will wait till I can afford to have someone look at it who knows whats up.

Your in San Jose? know of any good bike mechanics that know their stuff and wont rip me off? If you do send me an email if you dont mind.

there are probably a few GS riders in San Hose-A that'll walk you through a valve check for little more than your willingness to learn and a few beers shared between new friends.

scratch is a whiz kid when it comes to fixing the Baby G, but he's really, REALLY busy. He likes cherry coke, cashews, walks on the beach, sunsets, er...wait..what were we talking about again?? Oh yeah....he loves snackies, and he won't take payment, but I force a donation on him whenever he works on my bike (yes, I have to throw him on the ground and force the donation into his pocket, but that's the fun part ).

When scratch is crazy busy (which is always  ), I've taken my baby to Evolution Suspension...they're fast, reasonable, and honest.  And they have an adorable dawgie!

But no matter who works on your bike, always check it over yourself. Ask me how I know this.... 

All that being said, if you download Kerry's valve-adjustment video, you can do the valves yourself. If I can do it, YOU can do it!  And if you run into any problems, there ARE a lot of us in the bay area who can lend moral support, if not a hand...but the video is fantastic...truly fantastic!

Do yourself a favor man, DO NOT get a clymer manual, they are no where as good/visual as the Haynes manual. I know, I own both. My haynes is covered in grease and has bent corners from use. My Clymer's is is pristine condition on my shelf. I used it only to thumb through. Haven't touched it since

here is a link

http://www.themotorbookstore.com/suzgs500etwi.html


good luck. 

thanks for the info.....do they have a manual for the 2005 though?

Valves are not correct

Do you guys think that it's a valve issue if I have a similar problem bogging (between 1200 and 2000rpm) and trying to die everytime i take off from a stop on a bike with slightly less than 4000 miles? My set of feeler gauges doesn't go quite that accurate, but all of the clearances are between 0.05mm and 0.1mm with 0.05 going almost perfectly and 0.1 not even close to fitting in any of them.

For any of you with good memory, I finally got the bike that sat for 12 years running only to run into this    . So thank you all for the advice.