so i got a 97 gs500e a couple weeks ago. i bought it from a man i believe to buy crashed bikes an fixes em. he said it was rode lean. which the white on the pipes leads me to believe. the curved ends of the plugs were a bit white as well.  i had a hanging idle and exhaust popping on down shifts that has gone away for the most part after adjusting the idle screw but the idle is very low at about 800rpm after 15 min ride. this seemed to fix the idle getting stuck at 3000rpm when coming to a stop but seems too low from what ive learned on here. the man also states that it was rejetted for the vance & hines exhaust. im not sure what he had used to rejet it or what ones are suppose to be in there. which jets should i be using? only the exhaust and stock air filter and box.

as of lately ive been having problems when riding on the highway. the bike runs fine on the roads around my town (speeds of 25-60mph) but once i get on the highway at about 70 mph with in mins the bike starts to stumble and if i put the clutch in the bike dies completely. ive listened for the woosh noise from the gas cap but its hard to hear on the side of the highway. it has only done it twice but those are the only two times ive rode on the highway. ive been looking at the forum for a while now. i think im going to try cleaning the gas cap vent and rerouting the carb vent hose. can someone show me which hose is the vent for the carbs?? thanks for any help and advice!    ive never worked on a bike before. lots of car engine work tho.

I'm not sure what to do as I'm still kinda new but I can tell you the carb vent hose is the upper hose. The bottom one is your fuel line from your side petcock. The one above that should be attached to the carbs and run over your stock airbox.

thank you for the help. im going to make things easier on myself by spending the 35 dollars on the lunch box filter an use the jet guild on wiki instead of trying to figure out which jets needed to keep the stock air box

Fuel starvation doesn't mean you need to re-jet and change the air box.
Possibly, you have dirty fuel lines or dirt in the petcock or in-tank fuel screen.
Possibly your fuel lines are pinched. That is way to do - pinch them between the air box and the frame.
In-line fuel filter? That can cause it.
Weak, cracked or pinched vacuum line from the left carb? You can try running on PRIME. If that works, check the vacuum line. Maybe clean out the frame petcock.

Re-jetting and changing the air box will result in worse fuel starvation. Why? When you do that, you will run richer which demands more fuel. If fuel has problems getting to the carbs now, there will be more problems when fuel demands are higher.

Fuel is flowing - but slow. At highway speeds, fuel can't get to the carbs fast enough. Check the items mentioned. That should cure the fuel  starvation.

Old style GS petcocks are prone to the diaphragm failing so it won't suck enough fuel in which sounds like your problem, try running it on prime on the highway and if it runs fine on highway on prime then put new plugs in and do a 20 mile ride on prime and check the plugs. This will tell you if it's running lean due to jetting or if it is a vacuum problem.

i could of had a pinched line from the front tank cushion  missing? i havent rode the bike since i installed the new one. it was missing before
ill check the lines tonight after work. so i have a lil list of things to do this weekend i suppose. ill check the screen in the tank as well an run some compressed air thru the hoses. it doesnt have a fuel filter.  all the fuel and vacuum lines look brand new. thanks for the advice on were to look. i think yall might be right on something easy.

Shouldn't be the tank rubber I ran my 97 without one for a few thousand miles without issue. Hope you sort it

how did you deal with the horrible noise? mine squeaked an rattled i couldnt stand it lol. i rode it for about 30 mins today before putting it on prime for a short lil ride on the highway and i had no issues. so i take it that the petcock is the problem i was having while highway riding? 

Quote from: rexpepper651 on May 23, 2013, 06:53:45 PM
how did you deal with the horrible noise? mine squeaked an rattled i couldnt stand it lol. i rode it for about 30 mins today before putting it on prime for a short lil ride on the highway and i had no issues. so i take it that the petcock is the problem i was having while highway riding?

Funny you should say that mine squeaked more when I put the rubber in haha but it was only I. There for a day or too before I stripped it down so maybe It hasn't finished settling.

Yeah it's either your petcock or a vacuum leak somewhere else but the most common (and very common) problem is the diaphragm in the petcock and it sounds like that's your problem.

haha thats really weird! ill have to look into find a new one! ill still go threw all the hoses an clean my vent cap. its suppose to rain  an mjj ill try your tip on the new plugs an see if im lean or not. ill post the pics later this week! thanks for ann the info an help everyone.

well the bike has been running fine untill today. i was on my way to work and i lost power big time. like i had to hold it at WOT to keep the speed i was going. it seems like one of my cylinders stopped working. i pulled over stopped and waited a min. then started it and ran just fine? this bike is really getting on my nerves.

OK. You have a 13 year old bike so wear and tear on a lot of components comes into play. Thus far you've concentrated on fuel and air. What about spark? Are your plug wires originals? Over time they harden and get brittle and cause erratic spark.  Wires are inexpensive. I would replace them just to be sure. Coils can go bad too.

they dont look very old at all. look new spark plugs are new i changed them when i did my oil change after buying it