Help, I posted here about a week ago with starting problems. The buddha and others thought maybe battery related. Charged up the sealed battery witrh a trickle charger and all went well. But  again this weekend the problem persists. I am beginning to think it is in the carbs. If I pull the plugs they are dry and I only get the faintest wiff of gas from the left cylinder and nothing from the right and at this point the heads should be flooded.
If I open the screws on the float bowls gas runs from both sides, so i assume gas is leaving the tank but not being picked-up and sent to the cylinder. Once i get it started it runs, but sometimes it gets sluggish around 6,000 rpm. If i give it more gas the engine just bogs down more. Lay-off the throttle and it clears up. And then goes away. Is this dirty carbs.
On the advice of a friend yesterday, I started the bike by pulling the plugs and shooting some fuel in the opening with a syringe, the bike fired up and ran fine all day except for the hestitation problem i spoke about. Once it is warm it starts fine.
Looking for advice.
Thanks

Two things to check that I was guilty of not doing right myself......the diaphragm in the fuel tap, and the attachment of the fuel vacuum hose to the carbs. The GS has way too many fuel lines and getting one on the wrong connector leads to all sorts of weird fuel issues like this...........ask me how I know..........

Quote from: twinotter on October 12, 2008, 06:06:02 AM
Help, I posted here about a week ago with starting problems. The buddha and others thought maybe battery related. Charged up the sealed battery witrh a trickle charger and all went well. But  again this weekend the problem persists. I am beginning to think it is in the carbs. [b1) ]If I pull the plugs they are dry and I only get the faintest wiff of gas from the left cylinder and nothing from the right and at this point the heads should be flooded.[/b]
2) If I open the screws on the float bowls gas runs from both sides, so i assume gas is leaving the tank but not being picked-up and sent to the cylinder. 3) Once i get it started it runs, but sometimes it gets sluggish around 6,000 rpm. 4) If i give it more gas the engine just bogs down more. Lay-off the throttle and it clears up. And then goes away. Is this dirty carbs.
On the advice of a friend yesterday, I started the bike by pulling the plugs and shooting some fuel in the opening with a syringe, 5) the bike fired up and ran fine all day except for the hestitation problem i spoke about. Once it is warm it starts fine.
Looking for advice.
Thanks

1) ok, you're likely a little lean, and i'll bet your enriching (choke) circuits aren't working
2) cool, good diagnosis !
3) yes, sounds like the choke isn't helping on startup, and you're either a little rich or lean (betting lean) around 6,000- this might be because your MAIN jets are partially clogged.
4) yep, sounds like the MAIN jets are clogged a little, or someone monkey'd with the vacuum slides (dynojet crap)
5) this sounds like the choke circuit again.

things to try:

is your choke cable moving freely ?
are your mixture plugs drilled out ?  (this is a sign someone monkeyd with things)
do you have a stock air filter ? is it clean ?
are your plugs gapped correctly  ?
are they a nice pretty biscuit brown ash, or are they ugly WHITE ash (way lean) ?

take a peak, hope i helped.

Thanks guys. Here is another wrinkle. When i checked the spark, the blue spark was extremely faint and this was with new plugs. It has been cool in the morning and the dew on the bike has been extensive, so I wonder if it is a moisture issue. I am sure all the connections would be wet as well. And the bike will not start. I moved the bike to the end of the drive and into the sun. Went and did some errands, about an hour, and came back. The bike kicked over first time but with a bit of sputtering. The investigations continue. I think maybe it just needed to dry out. My neighbour suggests spraying all the wiring with a spray? Anybody heard of this fix.