So after a winter of not bringing the GS out (except for the rare occassion to warm it up a bit), I've encountered a problem. The bike runs great, idles smoothly and all that, but the the friggin bike will barely go! By this, I mean that I'm barely getting any response when I twist the throttle, even when it's all the way open. It will accelerate smoothly through all of the gears, but it takes forever to get up to speed and it seems like the engine just isn't getting enough gas. On top of that, in the highest gear, the bike will barely do 50 mph. The exhaust smells entirely too much of gas, but I'm hoping it's not a jetting problem (srinath jetted my carbs a while back and the bike had been great since then). The bike responds and revs almost exclusively on the first flick of the throttle, while continuing to turn the throttle does very little.

Do you guys have any ideas as to what may have caused this and how I can fix it? I put all new gas in, so I know it's not that. Thank you greatly for input!

Sounds like a GS running on one cylinder, half the gas is coming out the back unburnt.  At idle pull the spark plug wires off one at a time to see if it's running on one only.  If one kills the engine and the other doesn't have any affect it's running on one.

If it's not that look for gas in the airbox or coming out the drain hose on the right side of bike.  Could be a carb float needle valve sticking open.

Then Is Your Bike Done For? Or Just Have To Get It Fixed?

Yep...I pulled my left spark plug wire and the bike continued to run as normal. I pulled the right and it died. So...I'm scared to ask, but where does this leave me?

Had the same problem, was a loose sparkplug wire in the coil.  These are bonded in real tight when new but come loose with time.  They screw into the coil on a threaded post, take the dead cyl plug cap off again and see if you can turn it clockwise to tighten it up.  If it won't tighten then pull the tank and cut a half inch off the coil end of the wire and screw it in tight.

Mine caused trouble mostly when damp or riding in the rain, I cut it off and put some diaelectric grease into that connection for a temp fix.  Got some new plug wire to replace them with when I adjust the valves next week.

Okay...let me see if I know what I'm looking at here. When I take the cable off of the spark plug and look inside the cable I see a copper(?) screw looking thing with notches for a flathead to turn. Is that what I should try turning clockwise?

No, turn the whole cap and wire clockwise with your hand, you want to try and tighten the wire up above into the coil.   That's where I've had the problem, where the coil wire goes into the coil gets loose.

Hmmm...well I tried turning the entire cable and I thought I felt it turn a little, but it didn't make any difference. So you're saying I should take the tank off and try what you said?

I Have The Same Problem , Like , I Noiticed one of my downpipes was really hot , and the other wasnt before , then i did the test , and im hoping its not a major problem ,

same with the engine , one side was warm, and the other was hot ,

damn it

Adjusted the cable , and i can feel spark in my hand thro the lead, on the dead side, so it cant be that, maybe a dead spark plug?

Quote from: Jay_wolf on May 18, 2007, 04:41:42 AM
Adjusted the cable , and i can feel spark in my hand thro the lead, on the dead side, so it cant be that, maybe a dead spark plug?

To rule the spark plug out I'd suggest swapping the two plugs...
If the hot/warm sides swap consequently,then it's a bad plug.(Or just a weak spark?)
Otherwise...may be an idea to check coils out as gsJack suggested?
Just my 0.02 €, though.
Lamps,
simon.

No Just One Side Isnt , So its running on one , i think , *Hope* its just a spark plug issue , i will be kicking muyself if its worse, but it was fine b4 , completely fine , one side is fine , the other isnt working , i can feel the head of it buzzing , but i dont understand what he means by cutting it , like , where it is near the plug socket, or at the top in the frame...


Thanks

G'morning folks, doesn't sound like you fixed them while I was sleeping.     I had a 4 cylinder Nighthawk 650 before the 97 GS that I rode home quite a few miles on only 2 of the 4 cylinders one day.  When I got home and took off the gas tank I saw that one of the primary wires had fallen off a coil and I simply plugged it back in and all was well again.  I had a CM400 twin that would loose one cylinder when caught in rain,  turned out that one of the rubber seals that keeps the water out of the plug cap was old and dried out and let the plug get wet and short out.  The problem usually has a simple solution.

Time to check compression, if you have good compression you'll know it isn't real serious like something mechanically wrong with the engine.  Quick and easy, pull the plugs and stick them back in the plug caps and lay them against the cylinder head so you can check spark at the same time.  Then you can cover one spark plug hole at a time with your finger pressed firmly over the plug hole in the head and crank the engine and the finger will be blown away with a loud pop if you have good compression.  I tie the clutch lever to the grip with my hanky to check compression since I only have 2 hands.     If you have little or no compression in one cyl check the valve clearances next.  If you have good compression then pull the tank and check the coil wires to see if one of the high tension wires to the plug have come loose in the coil or if one of the primary wires has come unplugged from a coil, the 2 smaller wires that connect to the coil with spade connectors.

What I was talking about above was a fix for a spark plug wire that has come loose in the coil and the screw post has chewed away inside the wire so it will no longer tighted up by turnig it into the coil.  Cutting a little off the end of the wire will allow it to screw back into the coil tightly.

Switching the plugs like suggested and also switching the coils between sides is a good way to see if one is bad after checking for a loose connection.  The 2 coil and spark wire assemblies are identical and can be switched side to side to see if the problem changes cylinders along with the coil.   

Twas A Dirty Plug , Thanks Jack  , it was dirty and i tidyed the wiring up , and it went straight away , i mean, it sounds like a 600 with the nexxus on it , im not even joking , like it must have been dirty for a while, because i havent rode it for like 6 months, but i looked after it , is there any damage i could have done , by just starting it up , and leaving it to idle? from one cylinder , i havent started her up that much and i havent driven her,

Im A Lil Worryed , Its Only Done 13,500 anyways , Thank You!!!

I wouldn't worry about it Jay, I rode my 02 GS home about 10 miles on one cylinder last time I lost a cylinder in the rain.  The real challange was a steep hill about 2 blocks long close to home.  I got a running start and gave it all it had and then revved it up slipping the clutch nearing the top to keep it going.  I'm too old to push it home.  The GS has a rugged little engine and it takes much abuse to injure it seriously.