Hi everybody,

I'm Karl.  I'm 42, married with 5 children.  Yes 5 children.  I live in the St. Louis area.  I'm glad to see there is an active forum relating to the GS500.

I just bought a 2004 GS500F with 15,700 miles on it.  I'm impressed with how well this bike handles in the twisties.  The suspension and brakes feel decent and overall I'm very happy with the bike.  The engine wants to die whenever I come to a stop and the idle isn't very consistent.  I suspect the carbs need to be cleaned.  I plan to remove the carbs and spray them out.  I hope that will be enough otherwise I guess I'll have to take them apart and soak them.  I'll be reviewing some of your posts for help on that one.

I also own a 2005 Honda 919.  I bought the GS with the intention of teaching my teenage son how to ride.  He's ridden a dirtbike so he is already accustomed to the workings of a bike- clutch, gears etc.  He's going to take a MSF course this spring and then ride with me until I feel he is competent and responsible enough to go out on his own.

I rode dirtbikes growing up.  I bought my first street bike when I was 20.  I rode it for about 20,000 miles or so and then sold it shortly after getting married.  Ten years later I bought an 02 Shadow Sabre.  Two years and 40,000 miles later I bought an ST1100.  Two years and 50,000 miles after that I bought the 919.  I put 42,500 miles on the niner and it still looks and rides like new, other than the suspension is worn out.  I'm looking to replace the rear shock and upgrade the front suspension this winter.

In order to save money (did I mention 5 kids?) I try to do most maintenance myself.  Unfortunately, I'm a bit mechanically challenged so I'm looking forward to learning from all of you.

If any of you are in the St. Louis area let me know and we'll go ride sometime.

thanks

Welcome Karl!  You'll find the GS500 is a very forgiving and easy machine to work with.  Mechnically, its pretty straight forward.   


5 kids huh?   A business friend of mine has that many, 3 are in college now.  OUCH!!

Welcome! always like to hear that someone's willing to wrench!

lots of gs info on here, and some great stuff on the gstwin's wiki page:
http://wiki.gstwins.com/

also don't forget to check your valve clearances, as tight valves can lead to tougher cold starts:
GStwin's Wiki - Valve Clearances

A GS AND a 919. A man after my own heart. Welcome brother. Got any pics of the bike to share? Themz the rulez. Pics or it didn't happen.

Michael

Welcome to the asylum!  Well, once we see the pics (of the Honda, too!). 

So, your stalling problem:  Could be carbs.  Maybe valves out of spec.  When were they checked?

Try a dose of SeaFoam.
And check the idle screw.

or beat the living crap outta your engine till it works properly, you have kids, you know.

Quote from: Karl with a K on January 26, 2012, 11:13:33 AM
  I'm looking to replace the rear shock and upgrade the front suspension this winter.

cbr954 front end swap!!

Welcome to the forum!

I removed the carbs today.  So far so good.  I also changed the spark plugs and will probably replace the air filter.  I may take the advice given above and check the valves since she's dismantled already.

I'll post some pics soon.

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone.

Ok here are a couple of pics.  Sorry I'm in there and you can't see the bike's real well, but I don't have time to search for a better one right now.


Here's me trying to disconnect the throttle cables from the carbs



And this one is me triumphant in tearing out the heart of the poor girl.  I only hope I can retrace my steps and get her back together.  "What could possibly go wrong?"


hmmmm? something didn't work right.  my pics didn't post.

I'll keep trying

Quote from: Karl with a K on January 26, 2012, 10:39:29 PM
Ok here are a couple of pics.  Sorry I'm in there and you can't see the bike's real well, but I don't have time to search for a better one right now.


Here's me trying to disconnect the throttle cables from the carbs


And this one is me triumphant in tearing out the heart of the poor girl.  I only hope I can retrace my steps and get her back together.  "What could possibly go wrong?"

Fixed it for you!

The issue was you had multiple img and /img scattered about and it confused the system. Also, the links to the pics were not direct links but links to the website containing the pictures.

FFR you can use www.tinypic.com and use the "direct link" URL. Then you can C&P them into the post, then highlight the whole link and hit the Mona Lisa button

That aside, you're gonna fit right in here bud. Much respect is deserved for someone who'd rather fix something themselves than pay someone to do it.

I should also mention that you're better off cleaning the carbs and doing whatever else than just throwing seafoam or stuff like that at it (no offense Adidas). That way not only will you have an understanding of the carbs, you'll also fix the problem instead of the symptom! Can I also suggest that you re-jet the carb while you're in there? Here's the jetting information: http://wiki.gstwins.com/index.php?n=Upgrades.Rejetting (you'll receive benefit from increasing the sizes to the recommended for you setup, even if it's stock - these bikes are jetted very lean to begin with)

The hanging or floating idle can be quite a hassle to sort out. The root cause of this is a lean condition. There's a thread in the FAQ section pertaining to this very issue, though. Leaking intake boots can cause this, as can missing/worn out vacuum o-rings, particularly the ones on the tops of the carbs between the diaphragm (black and round) caps and the sync ports (covered by tapered black rubber boots). Aside from that, a clogged idle or pilot jet can also cause the issue.

You'll want to replace the float bowl gaskets just to be safe. Also, I'd recommend (as many do) replacing the float bowl JIS screws with stainless steel cap-head (allen/hex) bolts. These can either be ordered from Adidasguy (I think he has several dozen..er...hundreds...?), The Buddha, or perhaps your local Ace Hardware might have it. I know for a fact that the Home Depot near me does not carry the correct size in stainless steel and only regular steel. Also be sure to pick up a few locking washers:

Here's a few tips I can offer while disassembling the carbs:

-Lay down a big sheet or something and disassemble on top of. There's a few tiny parts inside that can be easily lost.
-Keep parts separate from left to right carb - don't mix the parts up. It may be easier to clean them one at a time.
-Disassemble tops first - remove CV/Diaphragm caps first. Then after you've removed the diaphragm and needle, you can remove the float bowls.
-Lube the diaphragm by spraying some WD-40 around the seating edge and let them sit for a few minutes before trying to peel them off. If they're dried out, they'll crack and tear.
-The floats are held in by nothing more than an o-ring and luck. Be gentle with them! Pull straight out.
-Remove the jets, hold them up to a bright light and look through them. You should be able to see light for each one and the holes should be completely round and not jagged. It would be best to go ahead and soak them anyway. B-12 Chemtool works great for cleaning jets - and it's only 2.99 a can at walmart. After soaking, take apart an old lamp cord or audio cable and remove one long strand of copper wire. Resist the temptation to use anything harder than copper - you could potentially scratch the brass which will ruin the jet(s).
-Good luck removing the JIS screws on the float bowls. While they appear to be philips head, they are actually what is known as "Japanese Industrial Standard" or JIS screws. Yes, they are a huge pain and many of us have resorted to using a hacksaw and/or a pair of vice-grips to remove them. I was able to remove 3/4 of mine with a good fitting driver bit and a LOT of downward pressure. The 4th one (always the last one) stripped. I used a hacksaw and cut a huge slot in it and tried to use a big flat-blade. That didn't work either. I ended up grabbing the head with a pair of vicegrips and turning that way.

We're here to help you every step of the way if you like. There are a LOT of very knowledgeable people here.

Let us know how it goes and just remember, we love pictures!

Thanks for fixing my pics and all the great tips

When I saw the screw heads on the bottom of the carbs I remembered reading something on this site about those screw heads being soft.  It saved me from stripping them out.  Is there any way to get the proper tool to avoid having to replace the screws?

Is this some form of Japanese humor?  Were they giggling as they put these screws in, thinking of how frustrated we would be when we stripped them out?  The screws holding the tops came out fine.

Good advice on keeping all the parts in order.  I also took pictures at different points so I can remember where all the hoses attach and how to fit everything back together.

Everything went pretty smooth.  It took me a little while to figure out how to detach the throttle cables and the choke cable, but I eventually figured it out.  This is the first time I've attempted anything like this without a shop manual. 

alright I can't get my pics to show up.  I can put links in though so here they are

http://flic.kr/p/bjcXyB
http://flic.kr/p/bjcY26
http://flic.kr/p/bjcYUH
http://flic.kr/p/bjcZme
http://flic.kr/p/bjcZLn
http://flic.kr/p/bjcHmx
http://flic.kr/p/bjcGYR
http://flic.kr/p/bjcHJg
to be continued...

Quote from: Karl with a K on January 27, 2012, 12:24:52 AM
Thanks for fixing my pics and all the great tips

When I saw the screw heads on the bottom of the carbs I remembered reading something on this site about those screw heads being soft.  It saved me from stripping them out.  Is there any way to get the proper tool to avoid having to replace the screws?

Is this some form of Japanese humor?  Were they giggling as they put these screws in, thinking of how frustrated we would be when we stripped them out?  The screws holding the tops came out fine.

Good advice on keeping all the parts in order.  I also took pictures at different points so I can remember where all the hoses attach and how to fit everything back together.

Everything went pretty smooth.  It took me a little while to figure out how to detach the throttle cables and the choke cable, but I eventually figured it out.  This is the first time I've attempted anything like this without a shop manual.

Well, I believe the screws are meant to be one-time use. I could be mistaken on that, however. To "properly" remove them you'll need a JIS screwdriver and I honestly have no idea what size it is. I have seen them online but never in any store. Think of it this way...for what you'd pay for the screwdriver you could replace the screws. In fact, I think I have a few extra I could send you for just the cost of shipping if you wanted. My advice would be try to find a good fitting philips head screwdriver, try to remove them that way. If not, get your vicegrips out and remove them.

The reason why the tops came off easily is because, even though they're the same exact screws, they just aren't under as much torque. A normal philips head driver will work fine for this.

As far as the screw's origin...here's what Wikipedia says:

"JIS B 1012

The JIS B 1012 is commonly found in Japanese equipment. It looks like a Phillips screw, but is designed not to cam out and will, therefore, be damaged by a Phillips screwdriver if it is too tight. Heads are usually identifiable by a single dot or an "X" to one side of the cross slot.

Specific "JIS" standardized cruciform-blade screwdrivers are available for this type of screw."

There is a wealth of information available here. Including fuel/hose routing information, just in case you get stuck!

cool, thanks. 

I guess I'll try the phillips, hammer, vice grips method

what ever you do.. don't cut them off with a dremel.. 

Karl,

before hooking into any X head screw make sure there is no small dot near the head...



That dot means it is a JIS screw - JIS stands for Japanese Industrial Standard and using a normal philips head on it will not work properly.

As for your pics. If you want to use flicker you need the image url not the page url. To get the image url go to the page. I'll use this link for an example http://flic.kr/p/bjcXyB

It then redirects to this http://www.flickr.com/photos/picsbykarl/6769597751/

Above the pic is a button called "Actions". Click it and choose "View All Sizes". For the sake of example we'll go with the 500 size. Click it and the new size will display for you.

Now right click on the image and choose Copy IMage URL or whatever equivalent it says in your browser. And for this example the URL is http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7011/6769597751_48cfa14830.jpg

Click the picture icon from above which will show two image tags...

[img][/img]

Paste the URL between those image tags...

[img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7011/6769597751_48cfa14830.jpg[/img]

When you preview or post the entry you will then get this...



Now here are your other images...









Remember to Label your hoses so you can put them back in the right spot. Some duct tape with a number written on it with a sharpie will suffice.

Michael

Oh that's right...forgot the newer generation has metal CV caps instead of plastic.

Karl, I double checked with Ron Ayers and it appears that the newer gen uses different screws on the float bowls than the older gen. I do have screws to give you if you want them, but I'd need to know if they fit or not. Otherwise it's just a waste.

Anybody know if the older screws fit the newer carbs?

Also, here's a link to the exploded parts view (FICHE) for your bike:

http://www.ronayers.com/Fiche/TypeID/26/Type/Motorcycle/MakeID/2/Make/Suzuki/YearID/45/Year/2004/ModelID/6807/Model/GS500F/GroupID/290246/Group/CARBURETOR_MODEL_K4