83 suzuki GR650

J

jacksonsmith

New Member
Hello to any and all that may read this,

Im fresh to the motorcycle world and have just recently (1 week ago) bought my self a road worthy bike to start learning the ins and outs on with.

In saying that, I have a few problems with my bike that need attention.

i picked her up for just under 2grand with 50,000+kms on it, im the third owner, it had been sitting in this guys garage for a year not running, it started first go, i registered it and took it on as a project and my main mode of transport.

The bike ran like a dream for the first few days, but then things started to go wrong. All instruments went out, lights, turn signals, taco, horn etc. The bike starts first go, but nothing works electrically aside from the speedo. I have a new reg/rec on the way, multimeter is here tomorrow so i can start eliminating things and find the root cause, but the more concerning thing to me is the amount of smoke my left exhaust has decided to start puking out when i start her.
I have been too afraid to ride it incase i blow it up and am waiting on tools to arrive so i can clean the carbs and check out the damage from its year of storage.

Any help and knowledge put forward is met with complete gratitude.

Im really just looking for some insight and opinions that anyone may have as to possible problems i should start investigating.
She is a great bike and im happy as larry to have her.

I did buy her from up a fair way from sea level, i live on the coast basically a few meters above sea level.
could this be a contributing factor?

Cheer legends
Jackson (AUSTRALIA)
 
The electrical problem is most likely fuse related. Get a manual if you don't have one already.


The smoke could be from a leaking float valve letting fuel to enter your combustion chamber - do you rest the bike on the side stand? It's smoking from the "lower" cylinder, right? Only at start up?


First thing to do is check your fuses and then check the charging at the battery - you should have around 13v at idle but more importantly 13.5 - 14.5 v DC at 5K rpm.


Then you'll probably need to clean / service your carbs.
 
Ive got my service manual, printed out and ready to take notes.

The main fuse was blown, i replaced it and another that was corroded but nothing came back.
My multi meter arrived today, but i missed the delivery and will have to wait until tomorrow to start going over the wiring.

The bike rests on the side stand, is it better to have it on the full stand?

Carb clean is happening tomorrow :)
Ive been tutoring myself as much as possible online and referencing my service manual and taking notes as i go.

Thanks for the reply hillsy.

Any recommendations for changing the air intake?
I plan on customising the aesthetic a fair bit and having the airbox isnt really up my alley, any troubleshooting tips from anybody out there would be awesome.
 
CV carbs generally don't respond well to having pods fitted. Your bike will run it's best with the air box.


You should check out the float valves in your carbs - and most likely replace them if you see any wear. Also check your fuel tap - it should be a vacuum type that stops flowing when the engine is stopped.


That's assuming of course that your smoking issue is flooding.
 
Oh really?
Is that an issue that can be adjusted? as in the ratio of air and fuel has changed so the valves need to be recalibrated?

Lets hope that my smoking issue is just a case of dirty carbs and sitting on the wrong stand, the bike is great! i believe it was a military motorcycle due to the QLD transport tags on the frame. Would this assumption be correct? i cant find too much info on it.

Heres hoping today goes well and i get a few things done, my multimeter is down the road so ill be picking that up and playing with my wiring to see if i can fix the faulty instruments.

I'll upload some pictures as i go :)

Thank you Hillsy, legend.
 
The QLD Transport plate probably just means it's been converted to single seat registration at some point (QLD is the only state where you can do this - and it halves the registration cost).


There's a thread on here somewhere that talks about pods and why they generally don't work that well - if you are going there anyway open your wallet and get K&N's or Unifilters. Steer clear of the cheap ones as they tend to block the air flow to the diaphragms.


Back to your fuel - yes to cleaning the carbs and make sure your fuel tap flows and stops when it should. Also check your oil to see if there's any fuel in it - if fuel has overflowed from the carbs into the cylinders it will go past the piston rings and into the oil. Smell the oil to see if it smells like petrol - if it does then you have leaking carbs.
 
Ahhh i see...

I will consider the modification carefully, thanks again for the tip.
I ended up having a much fuller day today than expected so the carbs have to wait until the weekend.

No fuel in the oil, non that i could see/smell. oil filter has been ordered, should be in by Tuesday so ill do an oil change next week.
Im afraid it may be a piston ring, is it worth putting the work in and changing it?

Can you give me anything else to keep an eye out, or some general maintenance to do on it? It seems to have an up and down idle when its warm, any diagnosis for me Hillsy?
 
Does it smoke all the time or just at start up? If it's all the time then could be rings or valve seals, if it's just at start up it could be the flooding thing.


Pull out your plugs and look at them - are they oily? Do a compression test - is it low?


Surging / uneven idle could just be dirty carbs, or inlet manifold leaks. It's unlikely to be ignition related as your system is electronic (they tend to just not work rather than run erratic).


There should be a trouble shooting section in the manual that will give you some tests to do.
 
Its just at start up as far as im aware? I havent had someone ghost me to see if its happening at load or not. might try and organise that for this afternoon.

i dont have the tools to do a compression test right now. my grandad has how ever and im spending the day at his garage tomorrow.

I can smell fuel in the oil, i let it cool down and i can definitely smell fuel, even a second opinion from my partner to confirm im not going mental.
 
You need to service your carbs by the sounds of things. Probably the LHS float valve is leaking. Or maybe the fuel tap is leaking (if it's a vacuum one, then it may be leaking straight into the intake port). And change your oil.


Keep the bike on the centre stand as well for the time being.
 
i cant for the life of me figure out how to remove the choke and throttle cables on the carb, have got this far and im stumped on this? nothing in the service manual about this particular part, and nothing online. it must be common knowledge, i dont have it unfortunately...


i want to get this done so i can get out to my grandads tomorrow to sort the electrics

help hahaha
 
Take the cables off at the handlebars - this will give you slack in the cables to remove them at the carbs.
 
Hey Hillsy, ive had a fantastic running bike for a few weeks now. Up until today, took her for a ride for an hour or so then on the way home i started her up and she felt sluggish, then continued to be sluggish for my return journey. Loss of power, what possible reason could this be? Carbs again? Air box?

I did notice a slight oil leek from my where my oil filter sits, i had trouble getting one of the acorn bolts on as it was stripped. And ive noticed a small amount of oil on the right head of the engine, where the fromt right hex bolt is.

Despretely want to fix it as its my daily.

I havent changed anything, excpet oil filter, carb clean and have no desire to use pods or re jet.

Cheers buddy
 
The flasher relay was the problem with the electrics. Shorting it out when ever the blinker were engaged.

Replaced it and no issues what so ever.
 
Double check your oil level...I thought my GR only had a slight leak, but when the bike was being run I was losing a fair amount...poor guy behind me had a brand new Kawi 1000 and I peppered him good...if I hadn't noticed the bike losing its "umph" I never would have checked. Led me to a top end rebuild and new gaskets...all good so far. You're right to stick with the air box, I tried pods and rejetting for a while and was glad I still had the box on the shelf. Good luck, the GR650 is a reliable little beastie.
 
My oil window is really dirt so i cant actually check the oil level within the resivour, i have a new cap with a dip stick on the way. For now ill just use some wire and gauage it off that?

It was puking gas from all over the place, all on the right side, ive pulled the carbs out again and soaked and cleaned them for 24hrs, fair amount of rust sediment in the bowls. Im going to de-rust my tank and coat it today, hopefully its just that and i dont need to pop my cherry on the engine.

How did you go with the top end rebuild and gaskets, did you find it on the challanging side?

Im in love with the bike. She sounds, feels and rides amazing on her day. Just gotta sort this out asap as i ride her every day.
 
The top end wasn't too tough. I have a hard copy service manual-now covered in oily finger prints-that is essential for me. New rings from Bike Bandit, gaskets from e-bay, a lot of shop towels and nitrile gloves. If you haven't scored a service manual yet, you really should. Go slow, follow the Suzuki bible, and don't be intimidated. It was my first time working on a bike larger than 90cc and it went well.
 
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