Questioncamrymaker@juno.com
1997 Suzuki GSXR1100W. I bought this bike with a miss in it last summer. The seller told me that it had set on his showroom for almost a year and that I should run some carb cleaner through it via pouring it in the gas tank for a couple of tanks fulls. If that didn't clear it up then he would clean the carbs for me. That didn't work so I took it to him and he "said" he cleaned the carbs however the problem returned 1 day later.
So from there I continued pouring octane booster and carb cleaner in the tank until this past spring. I changed the exhaust with a D&D full exhaust. Friends of mine said that it wasn't breathing and that should help it. It didn't. I took it to the local Suzuki dealer and they sync'ed the carbs and changed the plugs but they couldn't get the miss out either and wanted to take the carbs off for cleaning. I didn't let them do it and picked the bike back up.
Then I bought a K&N stage 1 jet kit for the bike and had another mechanic put it in. He did and I got the carbs back on the bike. It fired right up and sounded better at idle and it had very increased throttle response but when I took it out it would start running (on what sounded like 2 cylinders) at 4000 rpm on up. At idle it sounded better but still sounded as if it were still missing but not as much. Actually, the bike has never ran right the whole time I've had it so I have no idea what it's supposed to sound like when it is running right. But after 4000 rpm it sounds horrible and is herky-jerky to drive. There also seems to be a lot more vibration in the handle bars (that could be something else). It drinks a lot more gas since jet kit was installed. A tank now goes 1/2 the distance it used to. I'm not sure if that's normal or not.
I bought a mercury carb synchronizer and plugged them up to the ports on top of the carbs and fired it up. I bought this because the guy who put the kit in didn't get them back in sync. So anyway, I plugged this thing up and now I'm not sure where the adjusting screws are that I'm supposed to be turning. I need to know what to turn and where the mercury should be up to on this tool. It starts at the bottom with the number 2 and by 2's it goes up to 54. But the mercury goes instantly to 18 on a couple of cylinders when started and 22 on 1 and 16 on the other. These numbers also fluctuate while it's running because of the missing. The 22 will go up to 26 and the 16 will go as low as 12. The directions said to get the levels as close as possible...I don't know how to sync these carbs..at all! The other thing is the air filter isn't that bad but I was thinking about replacing the whole box with individual filters. I'm not sure if this will help or hurt. It would seem this bike needs less fuel and more air but what do I know...that's why I'm here.
I'm sure this won't be the first and last time you hear from me.
Thanks in advance for your time.
AnswerHi Randy,
Great description. That's a treat for a tech. Thanks!
I'll try and send carburetor cleaning, tuning, and synchronizing files to your Juno email account. Some email hosts cannot handle my files do to their size. We'll get them to you one way or another.
When working with carbs, its important to make one change at a time to know what effect each change makes. Otherwise you end re-doing everything and staring over, repeatedly.
First thing to do is get a cylinder compression reading to me. Next, describe the appearance of the spark plugs with respect to the cylinder they reside within. Cylinders are numbered 1-2-3-4 from left, to right. You may need to perform a "plug-chop" before reading the plugs.
Keep in mind that we tune carbs by first throttle opening position: 1/4, 1/2, mid-range, wide full open (WFO). RPM's come second for fine tuning carbs air-fuel mixture.
Check your email for my files. Review the files before you begin working on the MC. Review them again as you work. Work patiently and methodically. Trust you can do the work yourself with a little help.
Synchronizing: It's important for valve clearances and cylinder compression to be with in specs. Carbs alone will not work properly if compression is not up to par.
Connect hoses, plug vacuum hos from carbs to petcock (if any), open vent on sych tool, keep fan in front of engine, deaccelerate or close throttle slowly to avoid getting heavy metal Mercury into engine (Mercury fumes are very toxic). With engine idling, adjust Mercury levels across tubes. They can be in the ranges of 20's and 30's and within two lines of each other, but we like to get them as level as posible. Adust the 1 & 2 carbs together, and the 3 & 4 carbs together, and then adjust 1-2 & 3-4 banks together. Adjusting may change idle. Leave it until those two carbs are level, then adjust idle down or up to specs. Repeat same until done. See files for detailes on synchronizing.
Respectfully,
Mark Shively
Dayton, Ohio
mshively1@woh.rr.com
