The previous owner just put a new battery in the bike before I bought it and I noticed that the breather hose is on the wrong side and it is routed up and the open end is next to the airfilter box.  I tried to reroute it correctly, but the tube is too short.  Can I replace the tube with a longer one or add to it?

Also, the bike didn't come with an owner's manual.  Is there one online anywhere?  Not a maintenance manual...just the original owner's manual.

The battery drain hose can be done either way you ask about.Just make sure it hangs low enough to clear the bottom of the swing arm.I have mine off and repainting it as of this writing.The battery acid will eat paint and powder coat like nothing else.

As you have already figured out, you have a non-standard replacement battery with the breather hose on the "wrong" side.

Some relevant info that might help (emphasis added):

Quote from: gsJack on March 19, 2007, 08:22:35 AM
I buy batteries at the Walmart or a Auto parts store that carries them.  The GS500 takes a YB10L-B2 battery which has the drain tube down the right side and is sometimes expensive and hard to find locally.  I just get the more common and available YB10L-A2 instead which is identical except drain tube is down left side.  Usually about $30.

Quote from: gsJack on October 24, 2007, 12:49:16 PM
GS500/E/F come with a Yuasa YB10L-B2 battery which has the vent on the right side. I get a the YB10L-A2 or equivelant which has the vent on the left side from the Walmart or a local auto parts store which has the Everyready batteries and the part number is the same as the Yuasa except the first 2 letters are different. Just pull the drain hose up a bit and run it over to the left or pull it out and drop it down the left side. Batteries are identical otherwise. About $30-35 at the Walmart or the auto parts store. I forget the name of the one Walmart carries but you can tell it from the number. 10L-B2 is the expensive OEM with vent right and 10L-A2 is the more common lower priced left vent battery.

I gratefully took gsJack's advice       and got the cheaper battery, and just threaded the breather hose down the other side. It was like $40. vs. close to $100. for the Yuasa battery. I'd rather swap the side the hose goes down!   

My GSf didn't come with a manual either, so I went down to the local dealer and bought one for like $8.

Quote from: MBP on March 31, 2008, 08:39:59 PM
My GSf didn't come with a manual either, so I went down to the local dealer and bought one for like $8.

Most of them are under the seat.Did you look there before you started riding?It may have fell out.You should have went to your dealer and told them when you purchased the bike you never received the owners manual.Some times they will give you one.

Quote from: ben2go on March 31, 2008, 08:51:10 PM

Quote from: MBP on March 31, 2008, 08:39:59 PM
My GSf didn't come with a manual either, so I went down to the local dealer and bought one for like $8.

Most of them are under the seat.Did you look there before you started riding?It may have fell out.You should have went to your dealer and told them when you purchased the bike you never received the owners manual.Some times they will give you one.

I didn't buy mine new, and forgot to ask the guy I bought it from if he still had it.  It was more worth it to just go to the dealer and buy one than take a trip back to the seller anyway.  But yeah, I checked the whole bike over, inside and out, before I bought it.

Mine didnt come with a manual i went to the stealer and he wanted to charge me $20 for the owners manual.  Ill just get a shop manual instead.  Is there a diffrence in shop manuals for the E and the F models?

should be a difference.. not major but there are some small differences in teh bikes so the shop manuals will have differneces.

Get a shop manual not the owners.