Just wondering if this is normal...when the bike is dead cold I'll choke it (about 1/4 choke) and it'll be at 1500ish, then after a few seconds start revving up to about 2500.  Play with choke, get it back down to 1500, but the engine speed will bob around a bit.  Like 1500 to 1800 and back again, or 1500 to 1300 and back ( and fourth). Once it's warmed up and I take it off choke it'll sit there and idle at 1300ish all day.  

Yeah, it's normal for what you're doing.

What you should do is use Full Choke to start it.

My routine is: Full choke to start and for about a minute - then - reduce choke until idling around 2k - put on jacket, gloves, helmet at leisurely pace - hop on bike, click into gear, then turn choke to off, then ride away sedately and for a few clicks (ie, no revving the crap out of it).

The Owner's Manual says: Full choke to start; adjust to keep revs between 2k - 3k for 30 seconds; may need to run choke longer in colder weather.

Michael

Quote from: Pelikan on December 19, 2010, 01:59:55 PM
Just wondering if this is normal...when the bike is dead cold I'll choke it (about 1/4 choke) and it'll be at 1500ish, then after a few seconds start revving up to about 2500.  Play with choke, get it back down to 1500, but the engine speed will bob around a bit.  Like 1500 to 1800 and back again, or 1500 to 1300 and back ( and fourth). Once it's warmed up and I take it off choke it'll sit there and idle at 1300ish all day.  

Like the other post said....use FULL CHOKE to start.   RPM may be low at first but will increase as the engine warms up....keep reducing choke to keep the rev's down.  Once fully warm, no choke....

Cookie

Cool cool, thanks guys.  I was told never to rev the bike while cold, but I guess that means above four grand...not 2k lol.

Quote from: Pelikan on December 19, 2010, 02:56:14 PM
Cool cool, thanks guys.  I was told never to rev the bike while cold, but I guess that means above four grand...not 2k lol.

2K to 3K is not really reving for this engine......if you just let it run in neutral and warm up.  No load on the engine.

Cookie

I don't know if it is me or now but Flick seems to be taking longer and longer to warm up. I will turn it on full choke for a minute, leisurly put the gear on, fuss with the garage door opener for what seems like an eternity for the door to close. It is at 4,000 rpm bring down the choke and he dies. Ok starts up again, I usually have to ride for about 15 minutes. Then Flick is okay. What gives!

Mary

What do the plugs look like?

How long has he been sitting?

Run some fuel injector cleaner through the gas tank...er, dump some fuel injector cleaner in the gas tank.

Yeah, Flick has been sitting a bit. It will be a few weeks though had surgery on my knee yesterday.

Mary

Seafoam is fantastic for helping with that.  I put about a fourth of a bottle in my tank and it really smoothed out the idle.  Mine was always hanging a bit too after reving the motor and after the Seafoam it completely went away, good stuff!

You can also put just a little in with your engine oil and it will help to clean the valves, etc. 

+1 on the Seafoam in the tank, not sure about the oil though, I've heard good things about doing it right before an oil change, but not running it in there constantly. I put it in the air filter in my car too, which also seems to help, not sure about the airbox on the bike though.

I talked to Buddha on the phone for a while about Seafoam.  I've added it to the gas in the tank, and the engine oil.  When adding it to my rusty tank with low gas, it'll shake some of the rust out for sure.  That rust goes into the carbs, and can clog the jets.  So I'm of the opinion that you don't want to run Seafoamed Gas from a rusty tank through your carbs.  YMMV

I've also added an ounce or so through the sparkplug holes, because I knew I had a bunch of carbon on my cylinder heads.  I added a bit to the oil too.  When I changed my oil maybe 300 miles later, it was black-black, but no sparklies in it.  I think Seafoam in the oil and on top of th cylindars before an oil change is likely OK.  Opinions?

Other than that, my GS is running great!  It seems I've been letting it rev too high with a full choke for about a minute.  Now I'll try to keep it at 2K.

In oil I would say it would clean the sludge up, so its good to use it a bit before an oil change. Like 20-30 mins of light use ... though You should be changing oil when its very hot, like ride for a good 30-40 mins normally, then sit for 5 mins and drain. It has to be too hot to touch. That does a great job of de sludging when you do that everytime.
In the carbs yes its a detergent that cleans, and will clean the carbs, however I wont ride the bike, that totally flies in the face of reason. Cleaner is to clean, you dont swallow after brushing your teeth, if it was OK to run through the motor, you dont need to clean the carbs.

Just ... fill carbs with 1/2 seafoam and 1/2 gas, and sit for 1hr-2 days, then drain.

In the tank, you better be certain you dont have trash in the tank. Like norcalbarney said, it will end in the carb. If its clean and your carbs are a wee bit dirty, seafoam in the tank will likely get the crap out of the carbs and run through your tank, but over a tank full, aka 150 or so miles, not immediately. So it can do what you want it to do. But you better be certain no crap is in the tank.

Cool.
Buddha.

Since this has turned into a seafoam thread, I have a question:

I use seafoam regularly in my Jeep by pouring half a bottle into the throttle body while it's running, then turn it off for 10-15 mins. Start it up again and watch the smoke show. It does a fantastic job of clearing out the carbon in the combustion chambers.

I would like to do the same for the GS. Can you pour it in somewhere while the bike is running?

That would be likely very hard on a GS, but maybe in the airbox.
Maybe filling the bowls and draining would do the same. Then for giggles put in a mix of say 3-4 parts gas to 1 part seafoam in the carb and run it.
Cleaners work best if removed after cleaning.
Lubricants work best when they are applied when beign run.
I dont think seafoam is a lubricant. I'd really drain it and not bother running through the motor. Yea it will de carbonise it, but so will a nice mist of water into a hot motor.
Cool.
Buddha.

Hmmm...not a bad idea. Maybe shut off the gas at the tank, fill the bowls with a nice mix of seafoam and gas, fire it up till it dies, wait a bit and turn the gas back on and start it again. I want to see the "seafoam smoke-out"!