T500 - Bringing Back to Life - Bogging/Dying Issues
Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2017 8:52 pm
Hi,
I was just given a '71 T500 by an old family friend (my first Suzuki out of many bikes throughout the past). I have replaced the battery, cleaned out the carbs very extensively, inspected, cleaned and primed the oil pump/lines, replaced the banjo O-rings with stat-o-seal washers from McMaster Carr, derusted the gas tank, replaced the spark plugs, cleaned grounds, and trimmed the plug wires, replaced the petcock and fuel lines/capped off the vacuum port from the old fuel diaphragm, cleaned the points and set gap/ignition timing to be dead-on.
I just tried starting it, probably for the first time in 20+ years. It started right up on second kick and sat and idled for a few minutes with no issues (nice and smoothly). As soon as I twisted the throttle the slightest bit, it bogged and almost died. I inspected the oil lines and noticed the rightmost line was getting small air bubbles in it after the bogging issue happened (again, I made sure to bleed/prime before starting). I attempted to start the bike again after 30 or so minutes and after another attempt to prime the rightmost line leading into the case; however, the bike took longer to start and the bogging issue seemed worse the second round of starting. There was no way to twist the throttle past 1/16-1/8 turn without it dying.
I made sure the carb slide cutouts were faced towards the rear of the bike, to rule out incorrect carb slide installation. Also, for the '71, I have read the needle clip should be set to the 2nd and 3rd positions, which is it? - it is set to the third position down now, but looks like it has been moved in the past (I noticed slight scarring around the clip positions from, I assume, pliers used to pull the clip). Also, the air screws are currently set to 1 & 1/4 turns out.
So, I guess my question is: what could be causing this bogging issue with a small twist of the throttle?
Any help would be greatly appreciated because I really look forward to bringing this Titan back to life!
Thanks,
Trenton
I was just given a '71 T500 by an old family friend (my first Suzuki out of many bikes throughout the past). I have replaced the battery, cleaned out the carbs very extensively, inspected, cleaned and primed the oil pump/lines, replaced the banjo O-rings with stat-o-seal washers from McMaster Carr, derusted the gas tank, replaced the spark plugs, cleaned grounds, and trimmed the plug wires, replaced the petcock and fuel lines/capped off the vacuum port from the old fuel diaphragm, cleaned the points and set gap/ignition timing to be dead-on.
I just tried starting it, probably for the first time in 20+ years. It started right up on second kick and sat and idled for a few minutes with no issues (nice and smoothly). As soon as I twisted the throttle the slightest bit, it bogged and almost died. I inspected the oil lines and noticed the rightmost line was getting small air bubbles in it after the bogging issue happened (again, I made sure to bleed/prime before starting). I attempted to start the bike again after 30 or so minutes and after another attempt to prime the rightmost line leading into the case; however, the bike took longer to start and the bogging issue seemed worse the second round of starting. There was no way to twist the throttle past 1/16-1/8 turn without it dying.
I made sure the carb slide cutouts were faced towards the rear of the bike, to rule out incorrect carb slide installation. Also, for the '71, I have read the needle clip should be set to the 2nd and 3rd positions, which is it? - it is set to the third position down now, but looks like it has been moved in the past (I noticed slight scarring around the clip positions from, I assume, pliers used to pull the clip). Also, the air screws are currently set to 1 & 1/4 turns out.
So, I guess my question is: what could be causing this bogging issue with a small twist of the throttle?
Any help would be greatly appreciated because I really look forward to bringing this Titan back to life!
Thanks,
Trenton