Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Hi everyone

I picked up a GS550ES a month ago and have been trying to get it up and running since. It's been problematic, but I bought it knowing that it would be a bit of a project. It's also my first bike so I am itching to ride.

Anyway, when I got it, it ran - but if I gave it throttle it would die. So I pulled the carbs, cleaned them out well, and after issues with the sticking float and having it pour gas out of the airbox, three days ago I finally got it going. Put about 150 miles on it, ran really smooth and was a ton of fun.

Today it started sputtering and dying on me, and from trying to start it the battery died. So I had my buddy push start it and that worked, but it kept dying. Realized (or I thought?) it was low on gas, and my petcock does not work right so I can't put it on reserve, so I filled it up and that fixed that issue. Rode it for about 30 miles and it died on my again, at a stop light when I was trying to get going. Got it started again with a push, and it died while slowing down but not stopped a few miles later. Then it ran fine.

Got it home eventually, thankfully and surprisingly, and there is gas coming from the carb around the float bowl seals. Seems straight forward, needs new seals. Could that be the issue here? Some kind of vacuum issue from a float gasket?

TLDR; bike dies when given gas, sometimes, but then it will run perfectly fine. And then the same issue.

Any ideas?

Hello mzeffex and welcome to the forum. Sounds like you need to clean your gas tank and put a fuel filter on it. How about a picture of your bike?

Okay thanks, I'll give that a try.

Here it is:

huh I got a shytload of 1989 parts don't know if they are interchangable but if your close to nj you can have em.

I'm in Colorado, but what do you have?

So I took the carb out, fixed the leaky seal, made sure the boots were on tight and everything and took it for a ride. With the choke off it idles at like 5000, whereas yesterday it was at least running properly around 2000. Apart from that it ran ok, then it cut off when going around a corner in first but with the clutch pulled in. What???

Update: just put 20 miles on it and it ran perfect apart from the high idle... hmmm

High idle indicates an intake leak.

Good looking bike. It'll be worth it when you get it sorted.

Where are you in Colorado?