Gs500 running like shite

[natefz6]

Hi All,

So for a little while now my bike has on occasion had a problem where after starting it if I give it throttle its will bog and then die. If I give it full choke and get it past about 3000rpm it will catch and then I can ride it OK although sometimes a little boggy.

Friday when riding home in the wet it seemed to lose half its power and and it was running very very rough, it was pissing it down and I put it down to the rain getting in somewhere. When stopping at lights there was a strong smell of petrol and I think that it must have only been firing on one cylinder.

I washed the bike on Sunday and then started it to see if it would run OK. It started out very rough and even with full choke would not go above 2000 RPM. I gave up and went to eat tea, on returning to the bike it started ok and while not running as good as it has in the past it was idling well and had no problems when I gave it throttle.

Reading online some people with similar problems say it points to a blocked main jet or a leak of sorts around the carbs.

Now I am planning on getting a new bike imminently but had planned to keep the GS as a back up. I am no mechanic and have no idea how much it is likely to cost to fix the problems it has. Does anyone have any tests that I could run to narrow down what the problem might be?

I don't want to take it to the garage and spend a fortune on diagnosis and repair if possible as I might as well put the money to a new bike, the problem is that with the bike off the road it costs me £100 a week to commute .

Thanks for your help!
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"no I didn't steal it that's just the way I ride"

[RhynoCZ]

From what I can read, you're GS runs on 1 cylinder only.

Find out which cylinder is not firing, easy job, start the engine and check the temperature of the headers. The cold one means the cylinder is not firing the mixture. Now, take off the spark plug from that cylinder and check it visually and then check if you get spark.

If you get spark, strong enough, then check the rest. It could also be the valve clearances and carburetor blockage.

Telling us the bike got worse in wet means, the problem is electrical. So check the spark caps (no cracks there), the leads and where the leads go into coils. It should be sealed up, so water won't make short circuit there.

TL; DR check if you get spark, then check the rest.
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'87 Honda XBR 500, '96 Kawasaki ZX7R P1, '90 Honda CB-1, '88 Kawasaki GPz550, MZ 150 ETZ
'95 Mercedes-Benz w202 C200 CGI, '98 Mercedes-Benz w210 E200 Kompressor