GS500E loss of speed and Idle problem!!

[MotorbikerTom]

So yesterday i went out for a ride on my GS500E with IAM's (about 100 miles to be exact) and my bike was running absolutely fine. On my way home afterwards i was overtaking a car on the a5 and as i passed, the bike slowly began losing speed. Now before anyone says did i close the throttle off by accident, no i didn't, i pulled on more throttle as i thought i may have Anyway the speed kept going down until about 55 mph and then it just stayed there and was kind of rocking

I pulled into the parking area and stopped for a few minutes, checked the bike over and couldn't see any visual damage on the chain or anywhere. I got home okay and just took a look over it in more detail and couldn't find anything from my little knowledge of bikes that i could identify as a fault. Now this morning i started the bike and had the choke on for a few minutes, turned off the choke and the engine just sounded like it was going to die. It did, so i started it again and held a little throttle on to try perk it up, off the throttle, then about 10 seconds idling and it dies. It rides fine, i mean i did my 10 mile commute and it ran fine, but as i stopped to lock up my bike i left my bike idling again and it died after a few minutes

Now it's just a pain!! My inline filter is old and leaking the slightest bit so I'm replacing it with a new one as soon as possible so that's the only thing i can think that may be kind of reducing the flow of petrol to the engine to make the idling poor?? The loss of speed i have no idea about and i know I'm most likely wrong about the idling.

Any information would be much appreciated

P.S sorry for the life story ^^
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CBT: 19/02/11 - Mod 1: 27/03/11 - Mod 2: 01/04/11
'97 GS500E > '03 Hornet 600 > '16 Street Triple 675

[Thom]

Partialy dirty carbs leading to dirt in the main jet restricting fuel flow and power?
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Current Bike: 1996 Yamaha TRX850 (The Japanese-Ducati One).
Previous Bikes: 1990 Honda NSR125 'Rothmans' (The smoking one), 1990 Suzuki GS500e 'Caf? fighter' (The loud one), 1987 Kawasaki GPX400r (The quick one), 1997 XJ600s Diversion (The reliable one), 2000 Kawasaki ER-5 (The spontaneously combustive one)

[MotorbikerTom]

Cheers Thom, i'll have a look
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CBT: 19/02/11 - Mod 1: 27/03/11 - Mod 2: 01/04/11
'97 GS500E > '03 Hornet 600 > '16 Street Triple 675

[temeluchus]

Try draining the float bowls on the carbs before tearing them off, may just be water in the fuel. This has the effect of starving the motor of fuel as the water is heavier than petrol and settles in the bottom of the float bowls reducing the amount of fuel in the carbies. Kangarooing along is a usual sign and is paticularly acute if there is more water in one carb than the other.
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Some shite cruiser. Now with guns and FREEDOM!

[JonnyFoxtrot]

If you turn the petcock to prime does it run fine?

The vacuum gubbins in the frame petcock and the vacuum line on the GS500 are notorious for going bad or being loose and this will cause fuel starvation. Switching to prime will negate this effect as fuel is forced into the carb rather than fed through the vacuum which may be dodgy.

I had similar running problems so swapped mine out for a newer petcock and its been fine since.
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'89 Honda NS125F (SOLD) -> '92 Suzuki GS500E (SOLD) -> '03 Kawasaki ZX6R B1H (SOLD) -> '96 VFR 750 RC36 (SOLD) -> '02 Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird

[chris-red]

[sickpup]

[chris-red]

[MotorbikerTom]

Cheers guys, i'll try it on prime tomorrow when warming it up.

Being a nooooooobie, i presume i turn it off before i set off
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CBT: 19/02/11 - Mod 1: 27/03/11 - Mod 2: 01/04/11
'97 GS500E > '03 Hornet 600 > '16 Street Triple 675