ProducerBill

The original petcock did have a handle. It was tiny, but there was one. It is true the replacement is a bit larger, but it fit. Maybe it will not fit a 1000E because the engine might be larger, but the 550L had more then enough room for the replacement. Here is a picture of an old from one at a show. Here is the replacement on mine. Wish the pictures where more straight on but this is the best I have on hand.

I replaced my 1981 GS550L petcock with: https://www.Eblag.com/itm/292730824423?chn=ps&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1V4YqbfPfQ7SMg-BvYRYsvw76&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=292730824423&targetid=&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9017453&poi=&campaignid=20394363341&mkgroupid=&rlsatarget=&abcId=9317265&merchantid=101499179&gclid=CjwKCAjwxOymBhAFEiwAnodBLE6g5tp_oqQGXci5qTgkh1_8HsJapdCJWZ7eghnEuZYYGb505dgdmRoC1uoQAvD_BwE Didn't cost an arm and leg and worked just fine. Vacuum function works correctly. Good luck on getting it on the road my 1981 GS550L adventure has been fun. Here is my sister learning on it. Also if you need/want a LED headlight upgrade idea let me know.

My 1981 GS550L CDI box was faulty and I replaced it with a EDI setup. From the motorcycle rumor mill seems the early 1980s CDIs where not 100% reliable and could lead to misfiring. After fumbling around and misunderstanding how the EDI really worked it has been rock solid. That all said I also had a corrosion issue from the main loom to the coils. I started up the bike and then fiddled with the connections and randomly all the cylinders would fire and die. After I replace the connectors that corrected that issue.

Battery reading was 11.5VDC and heading up. We had been starting and stopping the bike so I guess I just accepted that it might be below 12VDC.

Well I am the big dumb-ey on this one. After reading the comments I went back to the start and re-measured. After testing everything at 5k rpm I found stator output was almost 100vac but DC at the battery was still at 11 vdc and going down. Thank god for my buddy who asked the question "Is the rectifier grounded?" Bingo! My dumb ass had used the rectifier mounting screw as a ground. One continuity check later and no connection to chassis ground was found. After relocating the ground to a better suited location and bang we are online. DC voltage at 11.5 and going up. Thank you all for your help and thoughts. Someday my dumb ass phase will pass, but at 42 I am starting to wonder if that will ever happen.

Thank you I will double check the ac output.

Completed drop test per NIST Handbook 44-2020 subsection 3.40. Now I have acid burns on my arms, face and genitals. According to expected results it passed. And the worst thing of all is my bike still will not start.

The battery is less than a year old. However over the winter as I worked on the bike it was drawn down to the point that it was unable to turn over the engine. Also now that I am riding it around it is being drawn done to a point it can't even really like a tiny bulb. So drawing it down to that point over and over can't be good for it, but if it has been 50 times do you think that could damage it?

The voltage might have been higher. I will double check. All I can be sure of right now is that it was better then the old regulator.

My 1981 Suzuki GS550L was having trouble keeping the battery charged. It would go from fully charge off the battery charger to not enough power to start the bike and even barley light the turn signal indicator in under 30 min. I checked the AC output from the stator. All three lines showed greater then 24 vac. However, the reading at the battery at around 5k rpm was ~9.8 vdc. So I replaced the regulator. After installing the new regulator the voltage at the battery is now greater then 13 vdc. Sadly this didn't seem to resolve the issue. At best it has extended the run time to 60min. In the process I have replaced the headlight with an LED light to reduce the load. The original H4 would draw 65 watts. The new LED maxes out at 45 watts. So not really sure what direction to head in. Could the battery be damage? If so the charger bad battery light isn't lighting. If its parasitic I am not sure what is could be as there is nothing like power for phones or anything. If anyone has any ideas I would grateful to have them.

Finally made it to road testing. But have noticed that when I give it gas the engine responds, but it doesn't really translate to speed. It speeds up but kind of slowly. We are talking like 2nd 3rd gear here, nothing to crazy or near top speed. Engine is also reving to like 4-5k rpms for like 40mph. I feels like the clutch might be slipping. So I was wondering if that feeling combined with very little clutch lever friction zone could I need new clutch plates?

You first.

I have tried setting the fuel idle mixture. I followed the instruction of writing down the turns count when rebuilding the carburetors, but sadly I seemed to have messed it up. So I turned to the shop book for a mixture adjustment/set procedure, but there isn't one in my book. So I turn to this brain trust to see if they have any good ideas for adjusting 4 carbs. Thank!

Noticed something, but figured that was fuel exhaust. I am still learning what to expect.

Bike was on the center stand.

Ahhh. That make sense. Seems odd to me that after 10-15 min there is a pool that large. I am seeing a drip or two on the right side, but the left side is a waterfall in compresence.

Thanks to the help of may here and my lucky fumblings I have been able to get my 1981 GS550L running. While working on solving an electrical issue I notice some liquid dripping from the left muffler (White Circle). This liquid seems to be dripping from a bolt/insert/,,,,something (Red Arrow). Sitting still the liquid looks to be building up on this item (Green Arrow) before falling to the floor. Thinking this could be oil coming from the engine somewhere, I climbed under while running I can see the liquid sometime spraying directly from the exhaust out of the bolt thing (Red Arrow). This liquid seems to only be coming mainly from the left side. I think I have seen a few drops on the right side, but it is like a 99/1 ratio. I gave the liquid the finger rub test and maybe kind of oily but I would call is more water like. Also it doesn't smell like gas or burn oil. Also not getting a thick black exhaust that would make ma think super rich mixture or burning out. So I am a bit lost. Could it be water? If so where could it be coming from? If oil is there a way to enter the exhaust without burning?

Just wondering if anyone has experience adding a faring to something like a 1981 gs550. I belive I can find a windscreen, but wondering if a faring with windscreen would be better.

The ignition ATU advanced freely. As the RPM's increases the engine runs better. Makes me wonder if advancing the timing my help as it is on the edge of too retarted and just barely working. As for heating pairs it is not odd as it is cly 3,4. I do applicate your help even from 3000 miles away, unless your in Michigan,,, then get off my lawn! Thanks!

I replace the CDI with "waltyotur CDI Ignition Replacement for Suzuki GS550 GS750 GS850 GS1000 GS1100 1977-1983 DS3-2" as the CDI was toast. I set it up best I could with eng-rish instructions and the help of the internet. It seems to be ok, but I will say that it does seem that cylinder 3,4 are firing in the exhaust on the right side sometimes. Also Cylinder 2 get hotter then the rest. Based on your comments it sounds like I need to advance the timing a bit, but I am paranoid as my friend told me if I advanced to much is could damage the bike.... So I figure later is better.... base on well, knowing nothing. So base on your above I should advance a bit.

I figured the low temp was due to rich mixture. As 3,4 where at around 70-80F until I maid a mixture adjustment to lean it out. I wonder if I balanced all 4 cylinders at around 205F do you think that would help at idle? Another thing I noticed was the if I set the choke to full it killed the bike. I was thinking that this was because the mix was waaaaay to rich and choking the bike just pushed it way way to rich. Any thoughts?

Thanks to all the help from this forum I have been able to get my barn find 1981 GS550L to a,,, running-ish state. Issue is I just can't seem to keep it running under 2k RPM. Here it is running feels stable and could run forever. I turned the idle down under 2k. It just continues to lower and lower until it just dies. For video of above see link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vF2FYEu3S3Nwbkj5zmFM20TLjRv-mVBY/view?usp=sharing I am not sure that it matters but before the above I noticed that cylinder 3,4 was kind of cold 70F so I leaned out the mix and they are now up to 130-140F. So now the four temps seems to stabilize at: 1 = 135 2 = 205 3 = 130 4 = 140 Not sure if this is correct, but it did start to run better. Not sure I am doing the right thing, or if it is even related, but seemed to be a good idea. Any ideas I would love to hear them.

So the end features are just there to hold it in from falling out the sprocket side?

I was continuing to work on my clutch but I noticed that there is an oil leak coming from the Clutch Push Rod and Oil Seal (Blue Arrow). The clutch push rod looks worn and even has a scratch in it. I found that I could stop the leak by pulling the rod out past the wear spot. So it seems that I need a replacement. However no one seems to have a replacement. OEMs have the seal (22) but not the metal push rod (21). Am I missing something. Is a rod and rod and I just need to find the correct dia and length? or am I just going to have to play the waiting game for something to show up on Eblag.

Yes the clutch cable is routed to the sprocket side of the crank case. I did check the clutch screw and it is dirty, but works smooth. I did think about putting it through a ultrasonic cleaning and re grease it.