Ok well here is the history of my bike. I bought it new in 05 and put 6300 miles on it between May and November of 06. I then moved and kept the bike in a shed covered with the side stand down. The bike sat there until summer of 2007 when I traded my friend an old bicycle frame for an oil change and a nice wax job... bike ran fine when he took it. When I got it back I maybe put 50 miles on it before storing it again.
         
 I then moved from CT to FL and I left the bike under the deck at my moms house covered with the center stand down this time. I had it transported to FL this past April.  From April until now I have put maybe 50 - 75 miles on it and those 50-75 miles were a little rough.. never really ran that smooth and I always had to really get on the throttle to get her going. So that's the life of the bike I never really did anything else besides add some oil. I know I was a poor owner operator 
         
So I sold my car back in July and was pedaling everywhere... that is how I fell back in love with the bike.. it was effortless! So the past 3 months have consisted of me removing fairings, cutting the frame, relocating wires, replacing spark plugs, painting exhaust, and waiting on a battery and push rod. Last week I finally had a fresh battery in and a new push rod, 15t sprocket and the chain was clean and adjusted. I thought I was good to go after a couple turns of the idle screw.. I road the bike for a day and a half then it rained. I went to start the bike but it was idling very low ~ 1000 rpm with full choke and any throttle would kill it. I pulled the plugs to find it was only running on the right cylinder. I was then thinking it may be an electrical problem and after it dried a bit I started it again and to my surprise it was running on both cylinders... sweet I was good to go. NOPE, the bike would rev to 4-5000 with full choke but didn't want to idle without the choke. I thought that maybe I got some water in the air filter then to the carb so I removed that and checked it out.. didn't look like it got wet but it may have dried.
           
While I had the air filter out I sprayed some carb cleaner into the carbs. I started her up and she back fired a bit but that is expected. I shut the bike down for a little while then when I tried to start her up again she wouldnt and it is still acting like that now. I checked the plugs, the right one is ashy with a white tip where the spark actually is... the left looks fine. I tried removing plugs and starting it thinking maybe somehow I flooded her.. no fuel out of the cylinders. Right now I am busy with school and I will not be able to work on the bike for a few days but I thought I would start here and hopefully get some answers to my problem. I did go to drain the carbs but the screws are on tight and I was fearful of stripping them, decided to wait until I had the correct tools for the job. So other than drain the carbs what do you guys think I should do?
           
Clean carbs because there is probably a bunch of junk clogging it up from sitting on its left side for so long? That confuses me because she ran beautifully until it rained. There is also no rust in the tank that I can see... draining the carbs will tell me more I guess. Maybe I sucked something into the jets? I don't know I'm just hoping this is a carb issue and not anything more serious. Thanks for the help.

How about that return button? Now read up folks!

Woah, hitting return more frequently would increase the number of people who read your post all the way through... Sounds like you should start with a good carb cleaning. It is very likely that the gas that sat in there for so long turned to varnish and clogged a bunch of stuff up. If you're in there already, you should probably rejet to make it run a bit better. After you've got the carbs all clean and put back together, check your spark and make sure that is good. If the bike really only acts up in the rain, wait until it is raining, then check the spark. You might find that you've got some wire somewhere that has bad insulation that gets unhappy in the rain... Just work your way backwards from the spark plug and try to find the offending wire. You can also try switching coils, which will at least tell you if the fault is before or after the coil...

Also, if all you've done is change the oil you should do a few other things. You should really take a look at your brake pads and rotors and make sure they are alright. After that, you should seriously consider replacing your brake lines, but at least you should bleed your braking system. Take a serious look at your tires as well to make sure they don't have any dry rot or flat spots. Even though they don't have many miles on them, your tires might not have done so well sitting so long and it is way better to find out in your driveway than it is to find out on the freeway... You're also up for a valve job, so you should do that too.

None of these things are all that hard. I've done all of them myself in the last year with a Clymer manual and some basic tools with no previous experience. Even at the slowest speed with the maximum number of trips in the middle of the job to get more tools or parts, none of these tasks should take you more than a three or four hours. I do all the work on my bike on the weekends and if I were you I'd expect to do all this in a couple of weekends, perhaps one if I were really motivated and had good luck getting parts from the dealer's stock instead of having to order them... One parting tip: it is really handy to have a helping hand. Extra points if he or she knows something about wrenching. Find a willing friend and bribe them with beer, food and whatever else you can think of to keep them happy, it will be worth it.

 Bumpp 

Pulled carbs off today... why does every screw seem to want to strip? Do I need a high impact screwdriver? I just picked up some Vanadium steel tipped philips head drivers and was able to only get 3 screws out. Any tricks? I don't want to have to drill every screw out.

I have a set of needlenose vice grips that I lock on to the screw, then turn the screwdriver and vice grip at the same time. 

I read somewhere that they strip because they're not a phillips #2, they're something else, but I'm sure junk metal doesn't help either. 

Quote from: JHoffy8 on February 20, 2009, 03:46:06 PM
Pulled carbs off today... why does every screw seem to want to strip? Do I need a high impact screwdriver? I just picked up some Vanadium steel tipped philips head drivers and was able to only get 3 screws out. Any tricks? I don't want to have to drill every screw out.

replace them with hex or steel phillips.  Then be careful not to wreck the threads.

Quote from: JHoffy8 on February 20, 2009, 03:46:06 PM
Pulled carbs off today... why does every screw seem to want to strip? Do I need a high impact screwdriver? I just picked up some Vanadium steel tipped philips head drivers and was able to only get 3 screws out. Any tricks? I don't want to have to drill every screw out.

stock carb screws on basically all bikes suck, i've worked on kawasaki's yamahas and suzukis, and they all want to strip on me. after devirginizing the carbs, i always switch to some allen bolts or hex bolts.anyways good luck with those screws and remember vice grips, a hammer, pb blaster/penetrating oil, and lots of patience is the key to getting those screws out

btw it wasn't the rain that killed it, it was the slowly progressing onset of varnish that killed it. it just so happened that the day that the jets finally decided to clog lied on the same day that the weather set in

Quote from: daliumong on February 22, 2009, 12:05:40 AM
stock carb screws on basically all bikes suck,

If you use the CORRECT tools you wont have a problem.

http://www.centralhobbies.com/Tools/jis.html

Wish I had those screwdrivers right now.... a couple guys at Napa said they would get all the screws out for me for free since I've spent enough money there, that'll save me some frustration. After reading around a bit I'm pretty positive it is just the jets clogging... I'll let you know what I find tomorrow. Thanks for the help.

"That confuses me because she ran beautifully until it rained."

Suggests to me you have a water problem.  Was there any water present in the carb bowls?

Drain the tank completely and rinse it out with a bottle of 92% rubbing alcohol, from the drug store, Wal Mart, etc.  The alcohol will absorb and remove whatever water might still be in there.

Also, install an inline fuel filter between the petcock and the carbs to catch any rust or debris coming out of your tank.  You can go cheap, using a large lawnmower filter, or you can buy an aluminum sintered bronze filter made for motorcycles (my preference, as they are cleanable).

Be very careful working on your carbs.  It is easy to damage the hardware, as you're aware.  A new set of castings is around $450.  They are a precision fuel metering mechanism, treat them accordingly.

I assume you have the Clymer's or Haynes manual to guide your work?

I have not taken the carbs apart yet, I will post about the water. No manual but a certified A&P as a friend is probably better....

Quote from: JHoffy8 on February 22, 2009, 11:35:53 AM
I have not taken the carbs apart yet, I will post about the water. No manual but a certified A&P as a friend is probably better....

Ahh.

Yes, he should be very familiar with carburetors.   

Working at Piper there in Vero Beach, I suspect?

I hope you learned the most basic lesson in owning a vehicle you don't use daily.. NEVER store it for months without putting fuel stabilizer in the fuel and allowing it to run long enough to fill the carbs with treated fuel!  The weather is irrelevant.  Your bike is designed to run rain or shine, in all but the coldest temperatures.  I would bet a paycheck your carbs are full of varnish, as others have told you.

Pilot at Flight Safety Academy right next door to Piper... I relocated wires and removed fairings, hence why I thought rain could have been the issue. Will post tomorrow about carbs.

Ahh,K

Keep in mind, GS500 gas caps have a habit of leaking water into the tank though the gas cap.

If you're familiar with recessed gas caps on some Piper aircraft, then you probably know if the drain pipe clogs, the fuel tank fills up with water.   

Same thing on the GS.  Except, it will also leak though the key slot, regardless of whether the cover flap is down or not.  Cut a section out of a magnetic car sign to stick over the fuel cap on rainy days.

Quote from: GeeP on February 22, 2009, 04:03:41 PM
Ahh,K

Keep in mind, GS500 gas caps have a habit of leaking water into the tank though the gas cap.

If you're familiar with recessed gas caps on some Piper aircraft, then you probably know if the drain pipe clogs, the fuel tank fills up with water.   

Same thing on the GS.  Except, it will also leak though the key slot, regardless of whether the cover flap is down or not.  Cut a section out of a magnetic car sign to stick over the fuel cap on rainy days.

I have often wondered if California model gas caps are less prone to this. Since the tank vents out the bottom to the charcoal canister, the gas cap doesn't have a vent in it. This should mean no leak through the keyhole because there is no path from the keyhole to the outside. I wonder if the tank vent is the source of much of the leak on non California model bikes...

I hope Hoffy gets his carbs straightened out, but I noticed something else from his post from a few days ago.  He said his left plug looks good and the right plug is white and ashy.  His right cylinder is burning oil.  How many miles does he have on that thing?

Quote from: bill14224 on February 24, 2009, 06:34:28 PM
I hope Hoffy gets his carbs straightened out, but I noticed something else from his post from a few days ago.  He said his left plug looks good and the right plug is white and ashy.  His right cylinder is burning oil.  How many miles does he have on that thing?

Wow Bill, you've been on a roll with the problem solving. Very nice!

Bike has a little under 6500 miles...... So the jets have been cleaned and carbs reassembled. Overall the carbs were pretty clean the bowls were spotless and free of water and rust. I recharged the battery while it was off. I started the bike granted the idle screw is way out of whack (where should it be?) but the bike starts and is running on both cylinders but only with the choke on full.. I can back it off a little but it seems to want to die. When I do go to start the bike it seems to want to fire up right away. After it dies it is harder to get it to kick over the second, third, fourth time until I give it a minute to cool. When I am hitting the start button it is definitely trying to kick over not just doing the clicking sound like the battery is dead.

Could my problem be fouled plugs so it is not firing correctly? I'll have to post pics of the plugs tomorrow... I really doubt I'm burning oil. The right plug was mostly black sooty with a white spot where the spark is. Is my timing off? I'll have to check and make sure my throttle cables and choke cables aren't binding anywhere as well.

Any ideas/suggestions are appreciated.