Re: Carb problems following needle shim mod
 

Re: Carb problems following needle shim mod
 

Goose, try not to loose any sleep over it. Think of it as a time to clean the GZ and give it a good shine so once it fixed, you will have it ready to ride.

Duck

Re: Carb problems following needle shim mod
 

I haven't been loosing sleep over it (thankfully) but unfortunately it'll be pretty pointless to shine her up until my wife and I move next week. The GZ lives outside and is covered but still seems to attract dust and grime like a magnet. Next week I'll have a garage again, so I'll give her a good cleaning then. :rawk:

Re: Carb problems following needle shim mod
 

Sorry for resurrecting an older (and obviously contentious) thread, but the service manual which I downloaded from this site clearly says "use unleaded gasoline that is graded 91 octane or higher."

My bike isn't running well so I'm trying to find answers. I guess I don't understand the suggestions that we should be using regular gas when the service manual basically says to use premium.

Re: Carb problems following needle shim mod
 

First, I would suggest replacing the bent carb spring with a new one. Be sure that you have correctly measured the ratio for your in tank carb cleaner and have not put too much in. Both or either will make your GZ run like shit.

Second, there have been changes in the MON/RON octane numbers over the years complicated by a different EU and Canadian numbers. The manual on site is old and reflects incorrect old octane numbers.

Here in the good ol' USA use 87 octane regular in your GZ. Using high octane in a GZ not only wastes money, but can result in sluggish performane, lower gas mileage, fouled plugs, or worse.

:)

Re: Carb problems following needle shim mod
 

Canadian bikes are 87 octane rated.

Re: Carb problems following needle shim mod
 

Why the hell can't they standardise octane rating throughout the world? My European GZ is the same spec as the Canadian (according to the handbook), but over here it's either 95 or 98 octane.

Just in passing :- The owner's handbook for my Citroen C3 car recommends using 98 octane, so I used this when I first bought the car. After a couple of years I bought a "Haynes" workshop manual. This said to ignore it, & use 95 octane, so for the last 4 years I've been using the cheaper 95 octane, & I've not noticed ANY problems whatsoever.

Re: Carb problems following needle shim mod
 

I am still not sure of the best fuel for the GZ. My bike is a 2000. It came with no owners manual so I downloaded the manual from the forum. At my age I may be slipping a bit but I could have sworn it called for 91 octane for the US model and 87 for Canadien and gave the respective methods for determining the octane rating. I read it again this morning and it says 87, so I guess I did make a mistake. In the meantime I bought an owners manual on ebay for a 2008 GZ and it definitely says 91 octane for the US, and 87 for Canada models. And it gives a rating or formula for determining the octane.

So folks, which is best suited for the GZ? 91 or 87?

Thanks

Re: Carb problems following needle shim mod
 

87. Eighty Seven Octane Regular.

All US spec GZ's run on USA 87 Octane Regular. Page 2-2, paragraph #1 of my newly purchased owners manual says " Your new vehicle requires regular unleaded gasoline with a minimum octane rating of 87 ((R+M)/2 method)..........

The formula in the US is the (Research Octane Number + Motor Octane Number) /2. Both are different measurement methods for the same octane percentage with one of the two (don't remember which) is significantly higher than the other. The EU, the UK, & SE Asia have different measurement standards as well. It should be standardized, for sure.

My new manual is a replacement from Ron Ayers. Suzuki Genuine Parts #99011-13F59-03A

:)

Re: Carb problems following needle shim mod
 

Cool. I get it now. The service manual (which happens to be for the same year as my bike) does clearly say "Use only unleaded gasoline of at least 87 pump octane ((R+M)/2 method) or 91 octane or higher rated by the Research Method" for Canada (country code E-28.)

Now, it says "or higher." Why would it say that if premium was not good for it?