Quote from: Jerka on March 31, 2008, 09:09:53 PM
Thanks to everyone for the great info.  I will definitely keep you posted and hopefully someday I will be able to help someone out with the same problem.

One more quick question...

Do you think it is safe to drive the bike like it is...I mean safe for the bike (I need to run the carb cleaner through it, right)?  My biggest concern is that I might cause some severe damage.  Is it a big deal that there is only a drop or two of gas in one of the carb bowls and that the same cylinder had a fouled plug?  I've checked the oil level and everything else seems okay...it starts right up and idles great when it's warming up.

I wouldn't ride it until you get the problem cleared up.It may led to engine damage.Lean conditions can burn valves and pistons.I've burnt holes in pistons because of excessive running of a lean running engine.

The white-tipped spark plug worries me a LOT; you HAVE to correct the lean condition, or you risk burning the exhaust valve, which would be an EXPENSIVE repair, or doing even WORSE damage, by holing the piston. I URGE you NOT to run the engine until you've corrected this; we're all willing to advise you, so if you take your time and ask questions when you hit a snag, you'll do just fine. You've gotten good advice so far, and you have to be patient now if you want to avoid doing MAJOR damage; the reward will be a fun, RELIABLE GS you can be proud of, and have faith in.

Many of us have learned some very expensive lessons the hard way; we don't want you to suffer through that. If you possess any mechanical sensibility at all (judging from what you've written so far, you DO pay attention to your machines), then even the possibility of a holed piston (and the resulting engine tear-down and rebuild) should make you CRINGE. Pistons are tough and durable under most conditions, but lean carburetion will DESTROY an engine. Even if getting the GS repaired didn't cost you a dime, you should want to AVOID damaging it in the first place.

You're on the right track here; you can do this, and we want to help you succeed. The basic GS engine design is pretty much bulletproof, and the few flaws can be corrected with some time, patience, and (of course) money. You should get some new sparkplugs; Champion 809's are the BEST plugs for the GS. They were originally sold as Champion RA6HC plugs, but Champion changed the numbering system; get four of them (which should cost about $12 to $15), so you'll have spares.

Don't rush this; being patient now means more fun this riding season. You can learn a lot before you begin by reading the wiki, so start here:

http://cgi.stanford.edu/~sanjayd/gs500/

and be sure to read this:

http://cgi.stanford.edu/~sanjayd/gs500/Upgrades/Rejetting

then search this forum for more advice. I don't know if any other GSTwinners live near you, but we're all as close as your computer, and once you get started on this, solving these problems should be pretty straightforward.

You're off to a good start; you found GSTwins.com. Now, let's build on that success; the best advice I can give you now is to buy a repair manual (Clymer, Haynes, or the Suzuki shop manual). It will help to guide you through this, and can REALLY help to reduce the stress level while you learn and work. I finally got my old Clymer manual back on Sunday; it was like seeing an old friend again.

Riding season is approaching; that means that it's time to roll up your sleeves, and make that Suzuki GS500 YOUR Suzuki GS500. NOTHING beats the feeling of a job well done, unless it is a job well done, followed by a motorcycle ride.

Good luck with this; we're here to help, so if you have ANY questions, fire away... but DON'T ride the GS, or even run the engine, until you're ready to start the repair process.

Just to give you an idea of what my spark plugs looked like...

http://www.dansmc.com/Spark_Plugs/Spark_Plugs_catalog.html

If you look at Dan's spark plug page, my good cylinder (good carb) was somewhere in the 12-16 range.

My bad cylinder (carb with no gas in the bowl) was a 1, 2, or 3.

Also, I bought NGK DPR8EA-9 spark plugs last night and gapped them to 0.725.  Is that acceptable?

What do you think...still don't drive it or drive it and try to get the carb cleaner moving throught that carb???

funny fact: Ducati FI supersports run the same NGK plug as the GS

Is the plug from the bad cylinder wet or just sooty?  If it has oil on it, you have a problem. If it's sooty you still have a problem just not as much of one.

I'm going to say sooty.  I'm at work right now and don't have it with me, but I'll double check it when I get home.  I don't remember any oily residue wiping off on my fingers.

Can you post pics of the bad plug?

Look for some pictures tonight.  Thanks.