Ok. at my wits end, but not enough to shell out tons of cash to take my bike to a shop to have them fix it.

I have a 2000 Gs500e, about 16k miles. Bought it back in February. It's been a labor of love, to say the least. Main thing was rust in the tank/carbs, which I've cleaned the carbs and added a filter, and will be fixing the tank soon. Anyway, it's gotten me to work and back reliably since February. No problems aside from getting 35mpg, and sometimes idling pretty bad. Been making adjustments here and there to get at that problem.

The problem that I'm here for started Saturday when I decided to do a rejet from stock jetting to 40/125. I think all went well, followed the instructions on the gswiki and such, but, idiocy struck and I forgot to set the fuel tank petcock back to "on".

So, here I am in my front yard, cranking away at the electric start, thinking it's bound to kick in sooner or later. I tried bumpstarting it to no avail. Finally realized Sunday night that the gas line was kinked, and then realized in a real "I'm an idiot" moment that I left the fuel petcock off. Genius.

So I get the fuel connected back, and it started up after a few tries. Changed out the oil, adjusted the idle speed, and parked it for the night.

I went out to the bike this morning, and nothing. The starter was turning it over, but it wouldn't start up. Tried for a bit, tried bump-starting it, and nothing.

so I took the car to work, read online a bunch and found that the problem may have been that I got a bleeder 40 pilot jet instead of a non-bleeding jet. Also thought, hey I 've had this battery for a while, so I bought a new one on the way home.

Just for kicks, I decided to try to jumpstart the bike from my car (not while it was running). My bike started right up, no problem. I put in the new battery anyway, because the old one was, well, old.

I changed out the pilot jet, and got it started back up, but now, after the initial getting it started and turning it off, it won't start again. When I press the electric start button, with the clutch in, with the fuel petcock on, the fuel lines all unkinked, sparks seem to be sparking, the engine seems to struggle to turn over at all, and does not start.

Sorry to provide so much detail, but who knows what will help diagnose this thing. Basically now, it won't start, it just struggles to turn over when I press the electronic start button. If I keep pressing the button, it sometimes seems to catch a little more and makes a few more turns, but doesn't start the engine going.

So, basically saying, what did I screw up...?

Battery was probably not charged when you got it. Charge with a trickle charger maybe. Try jumping it again from the car and see if it starts. Sounds like a battery problem.

Graham 

Quote from: gsatterw on June 17, 2013, 07:51:59 PM
Battery was probably not charged when you got it. Charge with a trickle charger maybe. Try jumping it again from the car and see if it starts. Sounds like a battery problem.

Graham 

+1 More!!

and yeah charge with a trickle charger .. or... go for a nice relaxing 3 or 4 hour ride!! .. (tell the wife you "just gotta charge the battery honey!.. back soon!!" ) .. 

Not to add to the dog pile, but that was my recurring thought while reading your post... chasing battery problem.

- Bboy

Hoping that's it. I'll try that after work.

Would it still not bump-start if it was just the battery though? Tried that for a while, going into 2nd gear and it wasn't doing anything.

My battery was dead...I mean....DEAD, and wouldn't take a charge, and the bike would run rough. I keep hearing that it should run, as it produces enough on i's own to keep firing, but a lump battery can suck enough juice to screw it up. When you bump start it usually takes a bit more room than one turn over, and is much easier to do in higher gears...like 4th.

Well, depends how this 'bump' starting went?...
Some folks have described this event in such nonchalant fashion, it is misleading. For one, there is no bumping to it... I had to run across half the parking lot 10 times before I got her to take off and stay running.  At least there wasn't a handy hill to help the trip back to try again when it didn't work the first time  ...

The operation goes like this:  Run across parking lot with bike in neutral holding clutch, hop on when you are at max running-with-bike speed, drop it into first (some say second is easier), remember to let go of clutch, hang on when bike sputters.... repeat 5 times before you realize you need to have the choke on  ... Set the choke, and try again.  Should start eventually if its just the battery.

I regular start mopeds like this, and they are really easy... That was my first experience doing it with the GS, and it didn't go well... apparently the GS is easier than most street bikes, but my experience tells me it isn't exactly a cake walk... but I could be alone on that one 

...Anyways, what I'm really getting at is just try charging the battery, or if you MUST, try jumping it with non-running car battery over the 'bump' start method...

- Bboy

Edit: Maybe my problem was trying to do it in lower gear  , but I couldn't get my bike to move in first or second with clutch in so I had to start the process in neutral, and first was the quickest gear to get it into before I lost speed.

When my battery was shot I would bump start in 3rd at full running speed and dump the clutch. But when my battery was totally 100% DEAD there was no bump starting it. Maybe take the battery to autozone or something and have it load tested.

... Not applicable to the GS500 .. but just in case anyone doesn't realise!!..And has a different bike ... With fuel injection !

You have a dead battery in a computer/injected controlled bike.... There is no bump start!! ... Depending on the deadness of the battery there may be no jump start either! ... Even if you take a battery out of another bike just to get it running .. And then swap batteries back 'while its running' ... It won't work ... 

Spent 3 hours on the outskirts of Sydney one night on a group ride... Mates Gixx 750 ... Fine up to there ... Stopped for 10 min so a few could fuel up ... And the Gixx was dead... Cost him $315 for a replacement battery .... Well $215 for the new gel cell and $100 for the call out! ...

Before he called the battery bloke, we spent 20 min with 3 of us pushing while he tried to bump start ... A helpful citizen passing by offered cables and battery jump ... Worked! ... Until disconnect cables... Not enough load left in battery to keep it running (and what if he stalled on way home in the middle of nowhere?) ...

So yeah ... Batteries can be fickle and contain nasty bad tempered leprechauns !! ... Look after ANY battery!! ... Ignore at your peril!

And Bocky!! ... That was an awesome description of bump starting!! 

It's running again!

Tried starting her up after work, and she would just turn over endlessly.

Pulled the plugs, they were wet with gas. Laid them in the sun for a while, manually cranked the engine a few turns to get out any remaining fuel, (don't think the engine was too flooded, just saturated from trying to start it without any battery power for god knows how long... and would rather not change out the oil again if I don't have to, as I did that just a few days ago).

Put the plugs back in, hooked the jumper cables to the car battery and gave her a whirl, started right up. Took a drive for an hour or so to charge the battery, and she started up fine this morning.

Still idles like crap, but I think that's because I need to rebalance the carbs after changing the pilot jet back to stock.


One other thing, is there anything inherently wrong with using a stock 37.5 pilot with a 125 main and a shimmed needle (1 washer)? Drove ok this morning, just wondering if I'm asking for trouble in some way that I don't know of.

no clue on the carbs, but you might want to open up the oil dipstick and stick your nose in there. if it smells like gasoline, youre gonna want to do an oil change. Should also check gas height in the carb bowls with the tube method to make sure your carbs arent leaking.

I bet a bump start would go easier if you override the clutch switch.

Then, when you release the clutch to bump it also press the starter. Even a weak battery will help a little and might make the bump more successful.