Project '98 Suzuki Across

Figured I'd start a thread here, rather than continue on in another one I created in a different section. This is my first ever project, so learning a lot!

The Bike:

A MY97 Suzuki Across with 10,900km on the clock. It's only done 900 of those in the last 16 years, and hasn't run for 4-6 years (exact date unknown).

Current status:

• Tank full of vinegar to remove rust. Trying to do whatever I can without removing the tank because of the effort involved in doing so
• Carb mostly cleaned but unable to get emulsion tubes out. Will keep at it
• One carb jet buggered (slot was rounded so had to be removed with a torx bit) and needs replacing, others were blocked even after a week in cleaner, but now clear
• Some oil dropped into cylinders to lube them up, new spark plugs ready to go
• Oil & filter needs to be replaced
• Coolant needs to be checked and/or replaced
• Front brake caliper completely seized, need to analyse further

As mentioned, the gets were completely bunged up and after a week of soaking in carb cleaner and blasting with air from the compressor I was getting nowhere. Last night I boiled them for 30 minutes in lemon juice from Woolies, and now they're all clear!

 

I'll give that a whirl... picked up a new pilot jet today but other than that have left the carbys alone.

Drained the vinegar using a siphon, the first lot out had a few floaty bits of crud and an orange colour, but by the time I got to the third BBQ tray (was using one of those so I could see the colour easily) it was nice and clear. Added some gas and siphoned some more, then added a heap of gas, and let the fuel pump runs some out via reserve, came out looking great so filled the tank to the top. It's at least clean enough burn and with an inline fuel filter before the pump I won't be too concerned.

Drained the coolant (looked like new) and drained the oil & did the filter change. Will re-fill those fluids tomorrow as I had to stop and jump on a work call. Once the fluids are in I'll swap the plugs for the new ones, refit the carbs (which will now be horribly untuned I suspect) and see if I can give her a crank! Once the engine and fuel system is good I can move onto the bits you need for actually riding, like the brakes (pfft), tyres and chain

 

Actually found a steel rod from a tap (faucet) wrench set that fits perfectly into the hole in the carby, i.e. it's flat and doesn't go inside of the emulsion tubes at all. Soaked them in WD40 and just went with lots of gentle taps with the hammer until they finally came out. I'll boil those up in some lemon juice later and then I'll start getting it back together. Fingers crossed I might hear her run tonight!

 

Yeah, wood would have been better but I was as gentle as possible. They weren't too hard to budget in the end. Got it all clean and reassembled, just trying to get the bloody carbs back into their boots now... almost gave myself a hernia pushing them (even with lube) so think I'm going to have to work out a way to get some leverage!

 

Got them on! Borrowed my wife's hair drier and once they'd warmed up the boots were much softer. Got them on inside of 5 minutes this morning. Hooked everything up, went to crank it and got sweet fa. Engine turns over because I did it manually yesterday, so either starter is seized or it's the electronics, thinking a bad connection with the latter since there's not even a click from the motor. Debugging time!

 

Yeah fuel pump is working well. I took the switch gear apart and there's no continuity between the starter switch and the solenoid, and weirdly there's 0V across the starter switch even though the kill switch is working as it should. So the ignition circuit is all good which I think means the other switches are too, just got the starter switch to sort. Suggests to me that either a couple of wires are broken, or something isn't connected/dirty. I checked all the contacts etc. that I could see and everything seemed nice and shiny, I've not found where the OW wire from the kill switch turns around and comes back to the starter button yet, is there a connector that's not near the battery that it might be running to?

I can get her to crank putting a screwdriver across the solenoid, but so far she doesn't want to fire. Got some starter spray and she's close, huffs and puffs a bit and there's been a few pops from the exhaust but clearly feeling the years of neglect. Checked for sparks (got new plugs) and they're strong so fingers crossed. Waiting for the battery to charge again now.

 

Sorry, what I meant was it leaves the switchgear and comes back in for the starter, wheree it leaves the kill switch it'll be at 12v when in the run position, but the starter won't be showing 12v across it. But like I said, there's also no continuity on the YG between the starter and the solenoid. Reckon I must have missed a connection somewhere.

99% sure I have the leads right as I labelled them all when I removed them originally, but I'll double check that tonight too. Also figured that I should check the exhaust isn't blocked or something... given the amount of dead spiders, snails and leaves I've found inside the faring I wouldn't be entirely surpised if there was something down there too.



I've highlighted the disconnected plug in the image below, anyone know what this is? It was never hooked up (this picture is from before I took everything apart) and doesn't seem to have a counterpart.

 

That'd make sense given the behaviour I'm seeing, but I can't even find a light blue and light green combo on the wiring diagram in the service manual. Going to have to do some serious snooping tonight I think.