Hey guys.  I got a job out of state and had my '06 GS500F in storage for the past year.  Prior to storage I siphoned as much gas as I could get out of it and switched the petcock to res.

Fast forward to yesterday.  Bike wouldn't turn over but knew it was a battery issue as the battery was old and needed replacement prior to storage.  So I've got a brand new battery in there, filled it with fresh fuel (with a touch of seafoam) and go to start...and it just turns.  Sprayed some starter fluid into the air intake and it will run off the fluid for a few seconds (or as long as I spray it) then cut out.

There was a guy at the storage place who happened to be a mechanic and he suggested I leave it on prime for a bit to maybe give it time to get gas down into the carbs.  If it doesn't start when I get back to the storage place tomorrow morning where do you think I should begin?

If it sat for a year with fuel in the carburetors, there's a pretty good chance they are gummed up and will need to be removed and cleaned.  None of the fuel additive cleaners will do it, they need to come off the bike and get taken apart.

Edit:  I guess I'll have to see if she starts tomorrow.  If not it's about due for a valve adjustment so I guess I can go ahead and do the whole enchilada.

I had a old 81 CM400 Honda I used for a few years after my CB750 was used up and when I replaced it with a used NH650 that I rode for 3 years that CM400 just sat in the garage for 3 years with no prep for storage,etc.

I traded my smoking old Nighthawk in on my first GS a 97 bought new that I didn't want to ride all winter splashing thru the salt water so out came the long stored CM400 to become my winter bike.

Tried to start it and no go and after grinding away for a while a neighbor came over with a can of sarter fluid and the bike started to run and would keep running on the starter fluid like yours yesterday.  Shut it down and opened the carb bowl drain plugs and some white molasses like stuff oozed out.  So we drained the gas tank and refilled it with fresh gas, opened the carb drain plugs and let it it flow until the jelled gasoline was flushed out, rode it a short time around the parking lot and put it back in the garage and it became my winter bike (JAN, FEB, MAR approx) for the 4 years and 80k miles I ran the 97 GS sitting in the garage for about 9 months out of the year.  Never touched the carbs except to drain them on that bike and it still ran as good as it always did.

I'm not totally disagreeing with tntmo's post and the many who agree with him, there is a point where carb jets become totally blocked and carbs must be torn apart and cleaned but I don't know where it is so I don't rush into messing with carbs until I'm sure it's necessary.

The ethanol and other additives in modern fuel causes more issues these days.   I have a bunch of dirt bikes, I won't let them sit for more than a few weeks without draining the float bowls. 

I do a lot of side jobs fixing motorcycles, most of my business lately has been removing carbs to clean them due to bikes sitting for a few months.   Carbs full of nasty green stuff, yuck!

EIther way, best of luck.  The GS500 carbs are not difficult to remove or to work on.

I would vote toward setting the petcock to prime, opening the carb bowl drains, and letting them flow till you see good gas on each side and then a little more (just make sure it drains into a container for discarding the fuel).

My bike sat for about three months and I had treated the gas with seafoam and let it run for a while before storage... When starting it up again, I had just set the petcock to prime for a min and tried to start it... it just kept sputtering acting like it was starved for fuel.  So I decided to drain the carb bowls for a min or so on each side and try again.  Started up no problems after that... and the first fresh tank of fuel, really roared it to life. I know this was a shorter storage time period and had treated fuel, but trying this first is definitely worth the time and trouble it could save.

As tntmo noted though, our GS carbs are simple to work on if you have to - but being just because they are carbs, naturally they are a pain in most cases with less experience with them - all the tiny parts and passageways, its not hard to miss something.

- Bboy

Hmm.  I opened the drains on each carb earlier today and maybe a tablespoon of gas flowed out each side then the flow stopped.  This was with the petcock set to prime.  I turned it to res and on as well just to see and I got nothing except for that initial bit...yet the tank is nearly full.

Is there a separate off switch aside from the petcock I may have flipped?  It seems like something is preventing flow between the tank and the carbs.  I suspected this.  Without starter fluid the bike won't run at all, won't even attempt to run.  Even gummed up carbs tend to sputter a bit.

Did you turn off the petcock under the gas tank when you put it in storage?  Screwdriver slot is horizontal for off and vertical for on, lift back of tank to check.

Jack asked what I was thinking.  And if that's not the case - the leftover gas may be just so spent, you'll have to take the carbs off and clean out the bowls at a minimum... but if you go that far, you may as well do a full carb clean.

- Bboy

Smack the float bowls with the back of a screwdriver.  It's possible the float needles are just stuck in the closed position.

Quote from: bombsquad83 on October 08, 2014, 08:05:31 AM
Smack the float bowls with the back of a screwdriver.  It's possible the float needles are just stuck in the closed position.

I believe that is exactly what happened.

+1




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