GL1000 Idle at 2000ish

Not familiar with the 1000, a couple things come to mind though.

Did you do a bench sync and verify throttle plates were working together correctly before install or possible linkage problem being installed backwards, upside down etc.

DriverRider said:

Not familiar with the 1000, a couple things come to mind though.

Did you do a bench sync and verify throttle plates were working together correctly before install or possible linkage problem being installed backwards, upside down etc.

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At this point, this is about the simplest thing you can do.
Remove the intake tubes and see where your throttle plates are at rest. Check for one more open than the rest. The plates should appear very nearly closed. Ten minute visual inspection.

I took a look at the carbs like you said. They are closing correctly. Ran the bike for a while, still won't idle below 2000. also there seems to be a enormous amount of fuel that is still making its way into the crank case. I guess that I still have the floats off. I did notice that one of the intake tubes seemed to be still wet from fuel today. I'm gonna pull the carbs and go through them thoroughly again. Making sure everything is open and not clogged. Could have been fine when I attached them, but due to bike sitting up maybe I got something in them.

If the carbs are not the issue with the fuel, I don't know what to do next. I replaced the fuel pump thinking that was why it was getting so much fuel into the case.

After I go through the carbs again I will work on syncing them. Never done it before though.

Is there some setting or screws I am missing. I adjusted the 4 screws correctly on the each of the carbs.

The fuel travels through the plenum halves on the 1000. Did you replace the gasket or separate the plenum?

Syncing them is probably your best bet. Every time I take my carbs apart they get out of sync. The bike will run very funny until this is done. It is pretty easy if you have the vacume gages setup right for it. Good luck

Was this ever resolved? I've got the same problem with my wing. Idles around 2200 according to the tach but other than that it seems to be running great. Engine and all carburators are 79', air mixture screws are 2 turns out as they should be, carbs are synced as well as I could manage with it running at such high rpms. Idle speed screw is completely out as well... Is there anything I'm missing? Trying to get a list of things to check today while I'm out there. So far I'm going to check the throttle plates.

Kifer, what exactly have you done to your rack of carbs?

Chances of finding a answer from the OP of this thread is slim to none being that it wad almost a year ago with the last post...

Lets start over with what you've done.
Could be many things happening, but what have you done to this point with the carbs so we know where to go....

Have you synched them? If all the plates are adjusted too high it's never coming down to where it should be. Pull the elbows and do a visual check. There are the infamous three holes on the bottom of the carb throat. The plate should be covering all but a little of the nearest hole. If it is open a bit more, the engines vacuum can pull more out of the back two holes. Normally though, a hanging idle is an air leak. Did you remember to tighten the rubber boots? It usually pays to tighten them all again after a good warm cycle.

Ok so I've rebuilt the carbs with Randakks complete carb rebuild kit and video, replaced the ignition coils from a parts bike (tested them before install), the jets are correct in the carbs with the exception of the slow jet under the rubber cap in the float bowl posts being unlabeled, and I cant remember which one (primary or secondary) nozzle in the float bowls was marked with a 62 instead of 60.

ekvh said:

Have you synched them? If all the plates are adjusted too high it's never coming down to where it should be. Pull the elbows and do a visual check. There are the infamous three holes on the bottom of the carb throat. The plate should be covering all but a little of the nearest hole. If it is open a bit more, the engines vacuum can pull more out of the back two holes. Normally though, a hanging idle is an air leak. Did you remember to tighten the rubber boots? It usually pays to tighten them all again after a good warm cycle.

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I attempted to sync yesterday and got them relatively close, its my first time syncing a carburetor so I'm sure it wasn't perfect. So I'm supposed to pull the elbows to check for smooth action? I'm guessing the 3 holes in the carb throat are the 3 holes under the puck in the float bowl? If so I did not do a bench sync, I figured I could just do it with my vacuum gauge set. I'll make sure to check the boot clamps while I'm out there this afternoon.

Yes, the three under the puck, we should call it the hat trick. If you use the same adjusters for synching to get them to almost cover the three holes, you should be able to get your idle low enough to do a final synch. Repeat though, most hanging idles are air leaks. The throttle plate needs to close enough to stop the high overall suction to let the slides fall back down. When you pull the elbows, you could open the throttle to see if you have a slide hanging up. If so you need to polish it/them.

ekvh said:

Yes, the three under the puck, we should call it the hat trick. If you use the same adjusters for synching to get them to almost cover the three holes, you should be able to get your idle low enough to do a final synch. Repeat though, most hanging idles are air leaks. The throttle plate needs to close enough to stop the high overall suction to let the slides fall back down. When you pull the elbows, you could open the throttle to see if you have a slide hanging up. If so you need to polish it/them.

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Ok, here is the progress so far. Started the bike up cold after tightening the clamp on each carb intake boot and the bike idled at around 800 for about a minute. When I tipped it onto the side stand to grab a screw driver and adjust idle speed it died. Ended up having to charge the battery because I couldnt get it to start immediately. While batt was charging I tightened the clamps on the intake boots a bit more and restarted the bike after the battery sat on a trickle charger for about 30 minutes. Idle went right back up to 2200 and slowly rose to 2700 while I let it idle and checked for other possible vacuum leaks.

Once everything cools back down I'm going to pull the carbs and check that my throttle plates are in the correct position.

Leaning the bike over and having it stall tells me floats are out of adjust. Doing a running sync on questionable carbs gets you nowhere fast. High idle would be due to plugged/open passages in one or more carbs sucking in air and fuel from circuits that are not supposed to be active.

Do a bench sync using a strip of business card paper. If the engine will not run that way it will allow you to diagnose carb troubles on a level playing field. Jacking sync screws to get one carb to carry the load might give quick results but is not correct.

ekvh said:

Yes, the three under the puck, we should call it the hat trick. If you use the same adjusters for synching to get them to almost cover the three holes, you should be able to get your idle low enough to do a final synch. Repeat though, most hanging idles are air leaks. The throttle plate needs to close enough to stop the high overall suction to let the slides fall back down. When you pull the elbows, you could open the throttle to see if you have a slide hanging up. If so you need to polish it/them.

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Pulled carbs and dissasembled, throttle plates were covering all but half of the last hole already, if I'm not mistaken that means it is in the correct position right? One of the CV slides could have a better action, would very fine grit sandpaper and oil work to polish the slides?

DriverRider said:

Leaning the bike over and having it stall tells me floats are out of adjust. Doing a running sync on questionable carbs gets you nowhere fast. High idle would be due to plugged/open passages in one or more carbs sucking in air and fuel from circuits that are not supposed to be active.

Do a bench sync using a strip of business card paper. If the engine will not run that way it will allow you to diagnose carb troubles on a level playing field. Jacking sync screws to get one carb to carry the load might give quick results but is not correct.

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Going to blow out all the passages in the carbs with a compressor after dinner. The throttle plates in each carb were already set to nearly closed, the first two holes and half of the third hole in the throttle body were covered by the throttle plate already. I'm guessing I have a vacuum leak somewhere, is it necessary to buy a vacuum tester?

You don't want to remove any material from the slides. I use aluminum foil. It takes a while, but you can get them very smooth. If you have a gouge or scratch, just take the high spots off. Get carried away with sandpaper and they will fit loosely an be apt to get wedged open. I agree with above statement on floats maladjusted. It pays to set carbs flat on a table and hooking about a liter of fuel six feet above the rack to check for leaks. With the slides out, you can watch where where it's leaking. Up from the jets, is from floats too high. From the plenum direction can be plenum gasket or the carb-to-plenum gaskets, referred to as D-rings. Drying them off and fitting small pieces of paper in the bottoms will reveal leak faster, but it can be seen with the eye.

Here's what I found after reassembling the bike. The previous owner decided at some point to remove one of the throttle cables so the spring on the throttle linkage was the only thing holding the throttle plates closed. I ended up playing with the throttle linkages while the bike was running and managed to get the bike to hover around 1000 rpm but it kept steadily rising to 2000 if I released the preasure on the throttle linkage. Still having the stalling issue when I lean the bike over, I'll see if I cant work some more on it tomorrow.

Thanks for the help so far! Its given me motivation to continue to work on this.

Little update on the bike. Released some tension on the throttle cable and the bike idles ok, but it tends to increase idle speed slowly so I found myself playing with the idle speed screw a lot. Still stalls when tipped to either side, will be checking the floats as recommended by DriverRider.

kifer said:

Here's what I found after reassembling the bike. The previous owner decided at some point to remove one of the throttle cables so the spring on the throttle linkage was the only thing holding the throttle plates closed. I ended up playing with the throttle linkages while the bike was running and managed to get the bike to hover around 1000 rpm but it kept steadily rising to 2000 if I released the preasure on the throttle linkage. Still having the stalling issue when I lean the bike over, I'll see if I cant work some more on it tomorrow.

Thanks for the help so far! Its given me motivation to continue to work on this.

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The return cable missing shouldn't inhibit closing of the throttle blades freely.
Dirty bellcrank and associated linkage, dirty cable and/or how it is routed could.
The bellcrank spring provides for plenty of force to return closed.
Remove the pullxcable and service it. Reinstall it and try...