suzuki sportbike ????

[jonesy]

suzuki gsx 600 ???, on gas tank shutoff there are off, pri, on, res, what does pri stand for. someone told kid next door it was for city use, on is for the highway, doesn't sound right to me.

[The Marshal]

Stole this from some Suzuki Forum:

 

PRI = "Prime" and you are only supposed to use it like a "choke" for when the bike is cold. Once motor is started, switch it to ON position. Do not run bike in PRI position.

[greg_in_london]

Until the latest electronic switching systems, almost every motorcycle for the last 40 years has had a vacuum petrol tap. This only allows petrol to flow while the engine is running. A pipe from the inlet sucks air out of the back of the tap and the flexible diaphragm moves and opens the tap - actually slides a small plunger out of a hole.

 

The advantage of this is that the carbs can't flood when you leave the bike. back in the 1960s and earlier you had to turn the tap off to avoid this.

 

The downside was that if you had not used the bike for a while and the petrol had evaporated out of the carbs it could take forever for petrol to get through and you would half way flatten the battery or wear your right leg out before the carbs filled and the bike started.

 

The 'prime' is what you would set the tap to to fill the carbs with petrol when you had not used it for a while.

 

I'm sure that you knew that really and had just forgotten.

[darthandy]

Stole this from some Suzuki Forum:

 

PRI = "Prime" and you are only supposed to use it like a "choke" for when the bike is cold. Once motor is started, switch it to ON position. Do not run bike in PRI position.

 

The guy on the Suzuki forum is wrong. greg-in-london has it right.

 

Andy

[jonesy]

both of these answers make sense to me, a young guy next door has had this bike for 2 months now and it don't start for s*** , it'll run great sometimes but he has to mess with it. I go over there and its set on pri every time. got no money for dealer.

[cecdoo]

Freakin kids:rasberry::rasberry:

[darthandy]

Well, if he can't get any good info from a Suzuki forum, tell him to come here and we'll help him!

 

Andy

[dacheedah]

seafoam

[RSTDdog]

Greg in London's description is correct. PRI is a bypass for the vacuum petcock. Lets fuel run straight to the carbs to fill the bowls. PRI is short for Prime.

 

If the bike is hard starting, could be a number of issues. Before he does anything else he needs to do a compression check and make sure they are all even. After compression is verified, confirm spark. Good compression and good spark, time to check fuel. Need more info to help your friend out.

 

If he has to use PRI position all the time to get it to run, may not be enough vacuum to keep the check valve in the petcock open. Low vacuum can = low compression. The vacuum port for the petcock is typically tied to just one cylinder. If the diaphragm for the vacuum petcock leaks, it can suck raw fuel in to that one cylinder and/or suck air depending on where its cracked and the petcock position.

 

Any work or diagnosis without doing compression and spark first is a waste of time. If he has had it for two months, unfortunately he probably bought someone elses problem.

 

RSTDdog