So lately, I've had what seems to be a fuel issue.  here's what's happening, maybe yall can give me some help...

1) with full choke, bike won't 'warm up' - idles never increase beyone 2g's.  However, after letting it warm up and riding for 10-15 mins, my idle hangs about 3.5 - 4 g's.
2) When letting clutch out I have to rev the hell out of it in order for her to move.  Or it bogs down.
3) and last, when starting and warming up, fuel is dripping from the overflow or breather tube.

does it sound like its not gettig enough fuel?  maybe a vacuum problem?

Quote from: LOUiE on August 18, 2008, 09:52:48 AM
So lately, I've had what seems to be a fuel issue.  here's what's happening, maybe yall can give me some help...

1) with full choke, bike won't 'warm up' - idles never increase beyone 2g's.  However, after letting it warm up and riding for 10-15 mins, my idle hangs about 3.5 - 4 g's.

See FAQ for some tips on hanging idle:
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=41199.msg463211#msg463211

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2) When letting clutch out I have to rev the hell out of it in order for her to move.  Or it bogs down.

Do you mean the clutch is slipping, or the engine stalls otherwise?

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3) and last, when starting and warming up, fuel is dripping from the overflow or breather tube.

does it sound like its not gettig enough fuel?  maybe a vacuum problem?

Ummm... sounds kind of like the opposite of fuel starvation! I suggest checking the float heights:
http://www.bbburma.net/FloatHeight.htm

QuoteDo you mean the clutch is slipping, or the engine stalls otherwise?

engine definitely dies...  clutch is OK.

The reason I brought up the idle is just to let you know that I don't have it rediculously low which could cause the bog-down effect  (i should have worded that better)  I had to adjust it higher than usual just to get it to start and stay running.

so if I have TOO much fuel going into the carbs... what are the symptoms?

Right now I've got a slow/bogged down take off in the low RPMs which turns into a normal pull in the highs and some leaking out the hose.

thanks for the float link... I'll check out the levels. 

Reading your post and symptoms, I'm with Roberto.
+1 on stuck floats.
my bike experienced that too, some months ago.

today is the first day I've been able to actually work on this!!

Here's what I did today..

1) I pulled my plugs and noticed the left is soiled but the right looks great... I guess I'm running too rich on the left.
2) checked float height via the cheaters method.  noticed it was about 1/4 inch higher than it should be... is that a big deal?
3) removed and cleaned frame mounted petcock (was noticing some fuel deposits on it, thought maybe there was something goofy there, but looked ok).

think this float height thats off a tiny bit is the problem?

I think I'm looking for a reason NOT to tear apart the carbs.     Especially because riding season is almost done.

Another note, today is alot warmer than previous days and it was running great today... would the float height also cause it to bog down in cooler weather?

Quote from: LOUiE on October 17, 2008, 03:22:31 PM
today is the first day I've been able to actually work on this!!

Here's what I did today..

1) I pulled my plugs and noticed the left is soiled but the right looks great... I guess I'm running too rich on the left.
2) checked float height via the cheaters method.  noticed it was about 1/4 inch higher than it should be... is that a big deal?
3) removed and cleaned frame mounted petcock (was noticing some fuel deposits on it, thought maybe there was something goofy there, but looked ok).

think this float height thats off a tiny bit is the problem?

I think I'm looking for a reason NOT to tear apart the carbs.     Especially because riding season is almost done.

Another note, today is alot warmer than previous days and it was running great today... would the float height also cause it to bog down in cooler weather?

For a float height, 1/4" (6 mm) is way off. The specified tolerance is +/- 1 mm (http://cgi.stanford.edu/~sanjayd/gs500/Maintenance/FloatHeight). I suspect that you will notice a significant improvement if you correct the float height.

You shouldn't worry too much about the carb work because you don't really have to dismantle the carbs to adjust the floats - you only need to take the carbs off the bike and remove the float bowls.

soo... I banged my knuckles around in the bike today and removed the carbs and adjusted the floats using cool little digital measuring device a friend of mine lent to me.

Put her all back together again and started it up.  It worked =) so atleast I put it back together right... except for forgetting to connect the ON hose before turning the tank petcock on.

i haven't taken her for a run yet (wife is out and I've got the kids) but when I do I'll let you know about the performance. 

Thanks for the info 

ran the bike for about 30 mins today... ran great... I was having trouble getting higher than 120kph before adjust the floats... hit 140 on the way home without realizing it.

I've realized tho that I need to keep a good level of fuel in my tank in order for it not get a chugging feeling when accelerating.  Is that part of the gravity/vacuum fuel system?