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My roommate bought a 2000 Suzuki gs500e about 9 months ago. After barley riding it his battery died, so he ordered a new one and after a few months put it together incorrectly (only put acid in one of the 6 holes). Long story short it just sat all winter out side without being ridden.

Fast forward to now

He just moved out and couldn't take the bike with him so I agreed to help sell if for him but I decided to take a shot getting it running first. I fixed the battery and got it charged works fine now. I noticed the gas tank had a bunch of rust in it so I took it off emptied it out and cleaned the inside with water and rocks to break up the rust (I read to do that somewhere on the interwebs, hope it was an ok idea). I let it dry out put it back on and filled her up with gas and a little Heet incase of any leftover water.

That is where I am now. It cranks but dosent start. The oil light is on but I figured I wouldn't try changing that until I got it to start. I tried choking it and not choking it I gave it gas (though I read some where a couple min ago that these things dont like to be given gas when starting).

Basically what I want to know is what you would try to get it going. I dont want to put any real money in this thing unless I know I am going to be able to get it going. I dont really have any automotive/bike repair experience but I am good with my hands and like to do DIY projects. I have access to most basic tools to work with if I need to rip this thing apart. I dont really want to mess with the carb, at least not at this point.

Also is there any way to prime this thing to make sure gas is getting to the engine? I know the stopcock(? thats what I call it but I think you guys have another name for it) is in the right position as gas is getting down to the fuel filter.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Well I got it to "run". If I crank it at full choke and no throttle it will start up and idle but it I let of the choke at all or even think about touching the throttle it dies. Any suggestions?

your carbs are partially clogged. As a last attempt before taking them apart to clean them run SEA FOAM ( at walmart or a lot of parts store chains) in the gas 2 oz per gallon of gas run it for just long enough to get it through the carbs. Then let it sit overnight then restart for a few minutes. If you keep repeating this and working the throttle a little till it will rev you may get them running enough to sell it. This procedure has worked for me a few times for people who didn't want to disassemble them for cleaning.

agraebner wrote:your carbs are partially clogged. As a last attempt before taking them apart to clean them run SEA FOAM ( at walmart or a lot of parts store chains) in the gas 2 oz per gallon of gas run it for just long enough to get it through the carbs. Then let it sit overnight then restart for a few minutes. If you keep repeating this and working the throttle a little till it will rev you may get them running enough to sell it. This procedure has worked for me a few times for people who didn't want to disassemble them for cleaning.

Thanks for the help. Would it run well enough to ride for a bit? I was thinking about keeping it for the summer maybe to have some fun on it. What do you think about aerosol carb cleaner? How much do I need to take apart to access the carb to spray that stuff in there? Also I saw that some one ran their bike on straight sea foam for a bit to clean it out. Does that sound like a terrible idea?

thurstmw wrote:

agraebner wrote:your carbs are partially clogged. As a last attempt before taking them apart to clean them run SEA FOAM ( at walmart or a lot of parts store chains) in the gas 2 oz per gallon of gas run it for just long enough to get it through the carbs. Then let it sit overnight then restart for a few minutes. If you keep repeating this and working the throttle a little till it will rev you may get them running enough to sell it. This procedure has worked for me a few times for people who didn't want to disassemble them for cleaning.

Thanks for the help. Would it run well enough to ride for a bit? I was thinking about keeping it for the summer maybe to have some fun on it. What do you think about aerosol carb cleaner? How much do I need to take apart to access the carb to spray that stuff in there? Also I saw that some one ran their bike on straight sea foam for a bit to clean it out. Does that sound like a terrible idea?

Agraebner is right and has the proper way to get it running again.

Aerosol carb cleaner requires the carbs to be off of the bike and apart on a workbench to use.

I personally wouldn't run anything on straight seafoam. Not sure if it's even possible.

I thought for the aerosol carb cleaner you just took the air filter off and sprayed it in

Well there are a bunch of itty-bittsy holes that were drilled into the carb's body that pass gass. All those holes need cleaning out.

Thurst: Nope

JohnJ: Yup

Was that in response to the carb cleaner? I literally have a can in my hand that says remove air filter and spray. It's like 2 bucks so I'm going to get that and try it if the sea foam dosent do the trick.

Hmmmm what you have is probably starter fluid. I've never heard of something that claims to clean carbs without going through either the gas or having you pull them apart.

That said, hopefully it works!