I'll start out by admitting I'm a fairly new rider, only about 2 years.

So towards the end of last years riding season I was going to take a little trip out riding, so I stopped to fill up. Previously I had realized some issues where it was a little difficult to shift into neutral.

First admitted mistake - I filled up with 87 instead of premium. I could immediately tell there was some issue with the gas where i hadn't really had much of an issue with 87. It was a little bit hard to start so I pulled out the choke a little bit and after a while got it running - or so I thought.

I go down down the road a little bit and start experiencing some backfires. I pull over, have issues getting it running. It seems like I can get it started with no issue, but when I try sitting down on it it dies. Or if I don't give it enough gas it dies. My friend recommends me to try using some fuel cleaner that they sold in the gas station I stopped at so I figured why the hell not, I'll give it a try. Didn't really help the issue too much.
There were a couple of times I tried starting it hoping it would take effect and at some point whenever I tried to start I would get this nasty grinding sound from the bike.

I figured that this might have been the issue where I was having trouble shifting around the lower gears and neutral, and it had just gotten more severe since I was starting it a lot trying to fix the issue with the gas. I towed it back to my house.

SO. Here's where I'm at. It still has that grinding sound when I try and start, and it starts sometimes and it doesn't. I figure I'll just drain the tank, put in some fresh premium, maybe replace the air filter (seems like it needs it anyways) and maybe use some seafoam and try and run the bike a while and hope that stuff runs its course.

What do you guys think about the grinding? Just tow it into a suzuki dealership, or do you think it might be a repair I can handle? Anyone had similar issues.

By the way, I feel like a jerk for just registering and my first post is this long winded technical issue. Sorry. My name is Wes!

-Thanks

first most of us use regular, some don't but very few.

check your air filter
use sea foam
remember you don't have a 20 gal tank, only use about an ounce of cleaner at a time.  and it'll take a tank to clean it out. seafoam is good.
check your petcock and vac line, one little crack is all it takes, better yet replace it once a year.

shifter, if you're having trouble shifting down it needs adjusting.  but the trick to shifting easy is to put your foot on it, not stomp on it, operate the clutch and it should fall into gear.  same thing with up shifting.

grinding don't sound good, (it's ok giggle) you know you haven't told us a darn thing about your bike, what's the mileage, what year?  stick out your tongue and say awh.  nope can't see what color you eyes are either.  

BTW, for a newbe you done all right, posted your question in the right place.  

Framtid001 wrote on 02/03/10 at 21:32:49:


Danger will robinson danger.

Are you sure the grinding is coming from the left side?!?!

Well known amongst us long timers is the cam chain maintenance issue on the clutch side.  There's a tensioner that if you let go to long will fall out and start grinding.  See the cam chain adjuster check in the tech sect.

the petcock has a vacuum operated valve in it.
a line run from the back of the petcock to the carb
when the engine is on, the valve is open
if you run the carb dry, say if you run out of gas, turn it to prime to fill the carb up prior to trying to start the engine.  then back to on when full.

yours is an 87, plenty old, take the vac line off of the carb if any gas drains out, the petcock is bad, plug up  the vac line and use prime to run.

if you can take off the rear fender you can do the cam chain check.

Now you're telling me that you painted the tank and fender, really this can be the cause of your problems.  not getting those lines back to where they belong can cause issues.  vac line from the back of the petcock goes to the right side of the carb.  fuel line on the bottom of the petcock goes to the left side.  if you got a california model, there's a tank vent line that goes to a carbon canister.  and a purge line from the canister to the right side of the carb (small line)

ls650v wrote on 02/04/10 at 03:14:48:

True, pre 90's have a problem with the starter.  If the engine kicks back on shutoff it can breakout the mounting for the starter.  And some said it can chew up a gear.
Someone came up with a circuit to combat the problem.  But you need to check your starter gears.

Update - today is my day off (thank friggin' god!) and I'm finally getting some work done.

All of the connections from the petcock were right, as I thought they were. I actually used some pliers to pull the tubing extra tight against the petcock.

I'm draining the tank as we speak and connecting a battery tender. Simple things first!

-Thanks for reading,
Wes

  Forget the battery tender and put a real battery charger on it.

Give over, Bill - a Battery Tender IS a real charger. It happens to be a low rate charger and an automatic one, both of which you decry, but it IS a real charger and it WILL do the job.