Top 20 1982 Suzuki Gs 550 L Questions & Answers

sounds like you fouled a couple spark plugs...replace them all, drain the float bowls and refill, and make sure the battery is up.

hi glad i served a long time with wisco and used drag raced for them at one time sounds to me that your ignition is to far retarded which means the ignition will spark closer to (TDC) top dead center some people advanced the ignition 3 deg to stop the engine from smoking when they did away with 4 star fuel and gave us unleaded fuel doing this the performance is great and fast acceleration but it also make the engine run hotter than normal unless you have up jetted the carbs and fitted a non standard exhaust system the whole idea is get the fuel/air mixture in and out as fast as possible if you still have points take your points cover off and adjust your points baseplate undo the three screws that hold it in place and just move it about 3 deg towards the rear of the engine or may be you have a electronic ignition fitted if so do the same thing and advance the ignition 3 deg hope this works for you ride safe

you have a short to ground somewhere with need to trace why I was all signed in electrical man If you need further help, reach me via phone at https://www.6ya.com/expert/james_9c1b039055413ffa

Hard to say- Look at a Harley Peanut type tank they are small and will likely fit

security screws under the barrel, might need drilling out, or a special driver.

the hoses r different diameter the two longer lenghs r over flow hope that helps the other two r different sizes fuel and vac

Those compression figures are super low. I'm surprised the bike is running at all. That is the reason it is smoking so much. You need to determine whether the low compression is being caused by your piston rings or by the valves. Check compression with the throttle wide open again and write down the numbers for each cylinder. Then squirt some oil into the cylinders and check the compression again for each cylinder. Compare the numbers. If the compression goes up significantly then you need some piston/cylinder work. If not then the valves are your problem. A cylinder leak down test could also give you more insight. There is a forum dedicated to Suzuki GS models with tons of helpful people and info. WWW.thegsresources.com You should register if you are not already a member. I have found plenty of troubleshooting help there for my own 80 gs1100L.

check the cdi box i think thats your problem if so buy a dyna s 3 for it works great on mine

there should be a phillips head on the side of the boots. be careful they must be taken out with a mechanical impact driver, not an air pressure, the other way is to remove the tops and tip em upside down. 7-13 14 lbs of air. oill specs you can drain into a measuring cup and replace what come sout of call suzuki dealership its usually 8-16 ozs.

If you have a vacuum operated fuel petcock, it should also have a "prime" position. That should let the fuel flow without vacuum from the engine. If this solves your fuel starvation problem, I would double-check to see whether the the replacement petcock gasket(s) may have shifted just enough to block some little pinhole that's required for vacuum equalization. That has happened to me--the replacement gaskets aren't exactly the same as what was originally in there.You can also test the vacuum release of the fuel petcock without taking anything apart. Put a mity-vac (a hand-pumped vacuum pump) on the vac line to the fuel petcock and see whether you can get the fuel to flow. Harbor Freight sells a cheap mity-vac type pump for under $20 when it goes on sale (which it does regularly).Good luck!

Well the good news is the click indicates the switch is working, when you press the switch the 2poles on the solenoide are joined together alowing the current to the starter,bridge the wires at the solenoide this should put power directly to the starter you wont need to press the start switch, if the engine does not turn over check the connections to both the battery and starter motor,

That is indeed most likely a stick float.
A percussive type repair may do the trick here.
(hit it with something hard)
My favorite knockometer set for this purpose is a wooden dowel (1/2 inch or more in diameter) placed against the float bowl, coupled with a lightweight attitude adjuster (hammer).
A few short raps usually will do the trick.
Be careful - those bowls are aluminum, and you don't want to break them!
Hit it like you are STARTING a nail, not driving it into the wood (if you get my meaning)

A bike of that vintage does not surprise me that it only starts with the choke.
If one cylinder is flooding, it also doesn't surprise me that it bogs and fails shortly after!

If the percussive attitude adjustment doesn't solve the issue, you'll have to at the very least take off the float bowl and clean or replace the float needle or fix the float itself.

You will likely need to remove, disassemble, and soak the carburetors in carb cleaner.
Although drained of fluids, there's almost always some left over gas and it turns to shellack over years, and will cause things like the float valves to stick.
You can try just spraying carb cleaner into the carbs and hoping it works, but dis-assembly will likely be necessary.

There is no special trick for easily removing these carbs from your GS550L, though it helps if you did well in high school geometry--you can use that knowledge to help you figure out how to angle the rack of carbs to get them in and out of the frame. The basic steps of the procedure are very simple: remove the throttle cables (can't remember if this bike as a single or dual cable system), loosen the clamps holding the carbs to the flexible collars connecting them to the motor and to the air box, and then wiggle the carbs free. Sounds easy, right?

Your first problem will be getting the carbs free from the rubber collars in which they've been mounted for years--possibly since 1982. They'll be glued in place, but you should be able to get them free--one at a time--with some judicious force. Because there's not a lot of wiggle room in there, you'll probably want to remove the air box and battery so that you have a bit more working room. Even then, prepare to leave some skin on exposed frame welds. My experience has been that it's somewhat easier to pull the carbs back away from the motor and then disconnect them from the air box, if you weren't already able to disconnect them when you pulled the air box to create more working room. The carbs are mounted in a rack. Once they're free, you should be able to angle them slightly and pull them out of the bike frame.
Believe it or not, it may be harder to get the carbs back in place than it was getting them out. If you have the money, you might want to consider getting a fresh set of rubber collars to connect the carbs to the motor. The old collars will be stiff, hard, and likely to crack when you try to set the carbs back into them. If you get new intake collars, you might be able to fit them onto the carbs before you slide the rack back into place; you'll then just bolt the new rubber to the motor. Or, if the mounting bolts will be inaccessible, go ahead and mount the collars to the motor first. I have found that lubricating the rubber with some soapy water or KY jelly will help the carbs slip into place a lot easier. Both of these lubricants will naturally dry, and they won't damage the rubber parts, either.

Good luck with your project!

G'day.
yes they are pritty tight. lol
First make sure you loosen/remove the air box mounting screws to let the airbox go as far back as it can go.
Same withe the clamps-loosen & push back.
On older bikes like yours, the rubber air boots(at the airbox side of the carbies) shrink & go hard making it harder to get the carbies out.
Once or twice I've seen them like so hard,I had to brake the rubber cause it lost ALL it's give.

If you find that the rubbers are hard- you can try pouring hot water over them to soften them or heat them with a hair-drier which will help.
Pull the carbies towards the airbox till the front of the carbies pop out- then drag to one side(usually left).
I hope my tips prove helpful.
Kind regards Andrew Porrelli

Yes, there is supposed to be oil inside the left crankcase cover. That is why there is a gasket between the cover and the case. Please rate my answer. Thanks.

I think you are on the right track. If manually lifting a float stops the flow of gas I would suspect bad floats. Remove a float and shake it. Anything inside? It should be lite as a feather. It looks like Babbitts has them in stock for a 550M. It should be the same part for a 550L. Please rate my answer. Thanks! www.babbittsonline.com

If you don't start the bike....just turn it on and off...does the fuse blow...or only if engine starts and stops?

If not starting engine still blows fuse, and it only blows shutting key off...I would inspect ignition switch for a short.

With the age of your machine , you should drain the tank and remove the petcock. If you can take it apart rebuild it. If you have no reserve , either the reserve tube is broken off or the petcock is plugged. It is possible the four hole washer the seals the the lever and diverts the fuel is damaged , worn , or broken. Depending on the over all condition of the petcock replacement of the entire unit may be the best option. At any rate an new fuel petcock would definitely fix this issue. Rebuilding your old petcock is only an option if all the parts you need for it are available.

There should be 4 open ports on the carb 1 smaller ones towards the right carb to the front which is the vacuum hose that connects to the smaller connection on the petcock, then the 2 larger holes which are side by side 1 on each carb, they are the breathers, the fuel line goes to the one that is the highest connected by the fuel pipe which you can see going through it and then that connects to the larger hookup on the fuel petcock. The breather hoses just hang down but watch where you put them because they tend to **** in dirt if they are closer to the ground try facing them under the seat away from where dust could be although its pretty unavoidable.