Found a motorcycle, don't know anything about them...

[mrchristian]

Hello everyone!

My friend had an old Suzuki GS850 in his driveway for a couple of years and we've both looked at it and commented how we should fix it up, but alas nothing has ever come of it. It was his dads who bought it for $500 and he rode it until something broke, and he never dabbled into motorcycles again. We were looking at it on the way into his house and I suggested that we try and start it up. Neither of us knew anything about motorcycles, but we did manage to figure out where everything was (clutch, transmission, brakes, kickstart).

First we tried the electric start and threw out the battery and hooked a car charger to it (probably not a good idea), but nothing worked. I added some gas to the engine. We left it for a couple of minutes and came back to find that the lights were shining brightly, the turn signals were on and the display was shining brightly. I tried to start it a couple of times, but the thing will just click a lot and some sparks will jump from the connection to the battery charger. I got the transmission to work eventually and stuck it into neutral and tried kick starting it. After a million times, we eventually got it to start for a couple seconds before it dies. God knows what we did to the poor engine. A fuel line or something started spraying some sort of fluid (probably gas) and a couple of places started leaking red fluid. Plus, a ton of black flakes flew out of the exaust. Hey, at least its got compression!

We also tried rolling it down his driveway and releasing the clutch to no avail (which was probably good since the throttle is stuck, and its got no brakes) Now that I think of it, we were complete idiots.

Uh, this is pretty vague, but what should we do? I know we have to replace that hose, but I don't think neither of us would spend $100 to have some guy throw one in. We've got tons of time to mess around though. Maybe we could get a shop manual or something?

The transmission works from what I can tell. I can get to all four gears and neutral (unless there are more). Either that, or the little dashboard light might be burn out for all I know.

I need to put some oil in it probably. First of all...where do I put oil in?

Obviously its not starting. I have no clue why. Perhaps you all can shed some light on my situation.

Sorry for the total ignorance of this post. If i'm too much of an idiot, you can just skip this post (which might even be in your best interest ) but if you do decide to help us, thats cool also.

Thanks again!

[mrchristian]

Sorry about the double post but...

Oh yeah, if you think we're going to ride this thing...well, your wrong. While we were trying to get it running it fell on my leg. Nothing like 550lbs crushing you to wake you up in the morning. Yeah, i've seen some stuff on TV about bike training courses where they show people zooming around little cones on little motorcycles. I think it is going to be a while before this thing goes zooming anywhere.

[vulcanman500]

hmm....maybe you should look at another one Sorry it didn't work.

[mrchristian]

Seriously, you don't think we can get it working? I guanantee you it will be a long time before either of us consider buying a bike. My mom's a registered nurse who worked the ICU, so a new motorcycle is out. That and my dad cracked his skull on one a long time ago and now has a nice metal plate.

I was hoping for one of those insperational movie endings, like, "two boys friend a motorcycle in a driveway and beat all odds and get it to work and race it in the top event in the state, eventually becomming professional riders"

Ok, maybe I wasn't, but i'd still like to get it to turn over. Is this even possible?

[Nibblet99]

The red stuff is probably coolant for the engine. But if it's leaking fuel (you should be able to tell, just by the smell of the fluid), and the battery is sparking, you might just want to be very careful about where that fuel is leaking .

Apart from that, you'll probably want to start by cleaning out the carbs (they're the blocks between the air box, and engine, with fuel lines going to them). Also, you'll want a manual (recommend either haynes, or clymer), to tell you how to set up the carbs, after you've cleaned them (with a nylon brush, not metal).
Next remove the spark plugs, and make sure the tips aren't covered in a sooty deposit (if it is, twenty seconds with a wire brush will help). And finally replace the battery (they don't like being left uncharged, and also have a life-span of a few years)


After that, you should have spark, fuel, air, and compression. so any more problems are likely to be either the basic controls, or terminal...

Finally GOOD LUCK

[mrchristian]

Hey, thanks for the help!

Some questions:

-Are motorcycle batteries universal like car batteries?
-Whats the absolute lowest price we could pay for one, but still have it work for a while?
-How hard it is to get the carbs out? Do we need any special tools?
-Any good websites for parts?

[DivideOverflow]

I dont know any answers to your questions, since I am new myself, but this site might be useful:
http://www.dansmc.com/mc_repaircourse.htm

[kar_the_terrible]

Getting carbs out can be a pain. I learned the hard way:
Tools:
WD40 and lots of it, get those robo-grip or vise-grip pliers from an auto-store.. they're super handy. Maybe even hex-keys. Shouldnt cost you more than 20$ total.

Spray all the bolts/screws with WD40 and let it sit for an hour, then spray it some more .... and more and let it sit overnight. The carb screw can get easily stripped/sheared and then you're done for..prolly have to drill em out, which isnt pretty either, coz you'll need a left handed drill bit.

Normally carbs shouldnt have counter-sunk screws, so you can use the pliers to get a good grip on them. The vise-grips are good, because you can adjust the grip with a screw. So for stubborn screws tighen the pliers like a vise and they should come right out. consider replacing the screws with new stainless steel ones.

Next get some carb cleaner and a haynes manual(actually you should have done this first), and spray the carbs with carb cleaner around the jets. If there's a rubber diapraghm in your carb, be very careful removing it, and whiile refitting it, make sure it seals tight.

Use the carb cleaner outdoors, those fumes get you really high (unless you enjoy talking to leprechauns)

you should be good to go!!

[rwp]

Honestly I think you guys are out of your league. However, if you go ahead with this project, the first step is to stop messing with the bike until you have a manual and a plan. You don't want to break anything that's not already broken. Step two is to get some money. This isn't going to be free, even if you do all the work yourself. The good news is that the Suzuki GS850 is a great bike that is well worth fixing.

This is an air-cooled bike so the red stuff is not coolant. If it's a shaft drive (which I think it is), then you might have a gear oil leak. Anyway, your first step is to get a chilton or haynes manual. Before you're through you'll need to remove and clean the carbs, replace the spark plugs, change engine and gear oil, brake fluid, lube the control cables, get a new battery (they're not universal), fix all the fluid leaks and replace tires. That's the bare minimum. Then you'll need to track down whatever broke and caused it to be parked in the first place.
It's going to be a lot of work but not impossible. Good luck.

[mrchristian]

Hey, thanks for the tips on the carburetor, and that website. I've been reading through it and its very useful. I'm reading their article about tuning the carbs. Holy crap. Really complicated.

Lucky for me, I already own a vice grip and have a ton of WD40 in my garage. I can already see that this is going to be quite a project.

Still wondering about the oil. I'm pretty sure a bike as big as a 850cc would be a 4 stroke, but I checked some pages anyway. What kind of oil do you guys think would be appropriate? Probably some mega high mileage synthetic stuff. Oh yeah. Where do I put it in?

Thanks for all the replies. If I can really get this thing going, that would be beyond cool.

Man, I really should order that shop manual.