Bike won't start

Motorcycling
1

Right here’s the conundrum:

My bike has been parked up for the last 11 months due to health and financial issues. It’s just had a respray and I finished putting it all back together this afternoon. Tried to start it and it turns over but doesn’t fire. The battery is fully charged and there is fuel in it.

Now while I’m reasonably comfortable dealing with the bodywork of the bike, when it comes to the mechanical side of it I know basically nothing.

My only idea is the spark plugs, but I don’t have the right tools to have a look.

any thoughts?

2

buy the tools to have a look? you will probably use them again in the future

3

Fair point :smiley:

it’s also a confidence thing, never done anything mechanical so I’m a bit nervous about it

4

All the obvious is applied correctly … Kill switch and any cut out switches if any you disconnected in the strip down or got perhaps knocked . How does your fuel smell ? Has it gone stale ? It will have a slightly varnishy smell and wont have the kick of fresh petrol .

5

Petrol smells fine, but I’ll probably drain it and replace it as there’s only 3 or 4 litres in there. Kill switch is on/off/ where it should be

6

You can still use the fuel you drain , once it up and going again . Add in between fill ups ,half once half the next time . Is there no plug spanner in the toolkit ?

7

bought the bike second hand, so no tool kit

8

Tried all the basics?

  • kill switch
  • switch on the side stand
  • immobiliser/alarm ok?
  • fuel? :smiley: give it a good chance for the fuel pump to get going so turn her over and open the throttle

Is she turning over and spluttering as if she wants to fire up or just turning over?

B.

<edit>doh! took me ages to hit post! sorry for dupes</edit>

9

Choke off , throttle wide open … crank . Thats my default first thing on a carb bike if it wont do it like it normally doos it .

10

checked the kill switch

side stand switch only only triggers when ou try to put it in gear with the side stand down

no alarm/immobiliser

there is fuel, like I said, not much but there is some. Tried the choke, also tried opening the throttle.

she just turns over no spluttering, so I guess it’s not sparking.

11

Sounds about right… over to the Nums for troubleshooting :smiley: or call in the homestart :stuck_out_tongue:

(I never tried dealing with this on a bike, car principles apply)

  • rusty plugs?
  • damp in the ht leads?
  • knackered sparks?
  • distribute looks ok?

Can always stand back, kick it and shout at it with appropriate threats. Spray WD40 everywhere you can get to that’s vaguely connected to the ignition/spark system? I no know :shrug: sorreee

12

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a after and before cleaning pic.

Fuel can go stale (in 6 months), but it can also evaporate and leave a film in the jets and bowl. Which is why you should drain the tank and carbs before storing.

13

I reaaallllly hope it’s not the carbs as that really is waaaay out of my league. Plugs I could probably deal with

14

Dont know where you are mate i could sort you out an original spark plug tool though im in bromley .

15

I’m in Hemel Hempstead, so other side of London

16

if it is, don’t panic, it’s a very simple job to remove and clean carbs on most bikes. But you will need special tools to re tune them afterwards, again dead easy job. bad news is it will cost money to clean them (as always money :frowning: )

17

You need to drain the fuel out of the carbs. And then the tank, fuel filter, pump etc… It will be stale petrol

18

You may have sucked some of the fuel varnish into the carb passages when you tried to start it (if the fuel has turned to varnish that is), which will involve a thorough clean of the carbs and all the little passages. Pretty straight forward to do, but time consuming to do right.

If you can get it running at all buy a can of fuel system cleaner and dump it in the tank then “ride it like you stole it”. If you’re lucky it’ll clear any crud out of the carbs. Best bet would be to drop the bowls on the bottom of the carbs and give them a good clean first though.

If you can get the plugs out it’ll help you to diagnose the issue. If they’re wet and smell of fuel then at least you’re getting fuel to the cylinders, in which case your problem is likely to be the ignition. However, if it ran fine before you parked it, it’s likely to be the fuel/carbs.

19

It was running fine when I parked it, but as I said that was almost 11 months ago

20

It’s petrol. Drain the float chambers. You have a Fazer, same as me.

It’s real easy to do, just stick a long slotted screwdriver in, unscrew the drain screw, let the petrol dribble out, do all four.

Then turn the ignition on and off a few times, to get the petrol pump to refill the carbs. Then start the engine.

Easy :slight_smile: