ready to give up !!!!! not yet!

ok i spent $245 dollars on getting my bike legal and on the road.
i spent a month slowly wiring my bike and preping it for the road!
so i took it out and rode for a hour and then hit the local shell station. everything was great!
i stopped and filled it up with (shell) gas , went to start it and it wouldnt.
got it home and now it still wont start!
here the list of what i did so far

checked coils, spark, voltage,fuse ect... all good.
plugs were fouled so i got new ones.
carb floats adjusted to 24mm and 1/1.5 turns on pilot screw
air filter good. no leaks in rubber boots
timing is on, points are good (good spark)
i did do a oil change and found a whole sh_t-load of gas in crank case!
so i let it drain for a few hours and replaced the filter and oil.(now i can see in the view window for oil level)
can your valves go bad instanly like that?
can any one give the next thing i should do?
i cant check valves yet as my gauges are to big!
im pretty pissed off cause i have rode this for a month up and down my street and never had a problem
until it was legal!! lol!
when i go to try and start it, sometimes the kick-starter kicks back before i get all the way down in my kicking-motion
then it backfires and goes through the carbs, some times it goes through the pipes

maybe with all the gas in crank case in got really hot and burnt my seals out???? or ? is that a posibility?

Post edited by: steveo_4192003, at: 2006/07/05 02:36

Post edited by: kwakagoose, at: 2006/07/06 00:42

checked coils, spark, voltage,fuse ect... all good.
sounds fine, nice blue arc?

plugs were fouled so i got new ones.
Gas fouled? Black and wet with gas?

carb floats adjusted to 24mm and 1/1.5 turns on pilot screw
What did the inside of the bowls look like? Needle and seat?

air filter good. no leaks in rubber boots
Guessing that is an estimate from condition and tightness 'cause you'd have to have it runnig to see if there was leaks.

timing is on, points are good (good spark)
ok.

i did do a oil change and found a whole sh_t-load of gas in crank case!
so i let it drain for a few hours and replaced the filter and oil.(now i can see in the view window for oil level)
needles must be sticking or you have a bad float(s)

can your valves go bad instanly like that?
Can but unlikely. Have you had the cover off? chain seem OK?

can any one give the next thing i should do?
Still think your carbs are just flooding the cylinders when you turn on the petcock.

when i go to try and start it, sometimes the kick-starter kicks back before i get all the way down in my kicking-motion then it backfires and goes through the carbs, some times it goes through the pipes too much or too little gas, timing or weak coil possibly

maybe with all the gas in crank case in got really hot and burnt my seals out???? or ? is that a posibility?
naw... not likely, you would have a bearing failure or possibly a hydraulic lockup. You can get some tarnishing/shellacing from gas getting hot in the oil though too.

As for why it suddenly stopped running, take it through steps.
1) You were going along just fine and stopped to get gas, right? Right.
2) You turned off the engine without any weird sound or anything else peculiar, right? Right.
3) The bike wouldn't start right after the fillup, right? Right.

See an obvious action and reaction here? Fuel. You probably had crud in your tank and the action of filling it dislodged some of it. That crud has either clogged your screen on the petcock (not likely as you are flooding the engine) or it pushed that crud down into the carb (more likely).

The only other issue would be bad gas or god forbid you filled it with diesel by mistake! (not likely but you didn't say if you stopped in for a few on the way there! hehehe!)

Did something electrical die? Possibly, but with any kind of spark I sort of doubt it. Check the battery though to be sure it is full charged. This would be about the only weak link in your electrical system if you are seeing some spark now.

Did the valves or chain have a sudden failure? All 4 intakes and/or exhausts? Not likely unless something was obviously wrong in the valve train and that you should be able to see upon inspection.

Pull the tank, drain it, see what comes out. Any grit or other unidentifiables? Pull the bowls off again, check for same. Also check to see that your choke is working. If the carbs are quickly flooding the engine when the petcock is on then your problem is in the carbs.

My suggestions:

Drain the tank, inspect it, clean it if need be.

Put new gas in, this will just narrow down the cause if nothing else.

Take the carbs off and clean them out, blow out the passages.

Pull the plugs clean and leave them out for a while so the chambers are bone dry.

Charge the battery.

Put it all back together, wave a dead chicken over it, try to start it and see what happens! (chicken trick is optional)

Post edited by: KZ_Rage, at: 2006/07/02 17:05

Gas in crankcase the big issue here. I would suspect that float needle stuck open and flooded cylinder(s). Any crud from tank may now be in carbs further causing hard (non)starting. Plugs need reason to foul. You may be still flooding engine. Double check carb manifold boots for leaks, cracks etc.

Damn! Rage that was a fine reply to a frantic post! Kudos for a step by step think tanking session! Spot on! I have a chicken on order and hope to begin waving tonight. Question: Can the chicken be bar-b-q'ed and et if the bike starts or do you recomend storing it in the tool box or file cabinet?:blink: :sick:

Stevo don't give up. We've all been there!

Post edited by: ambergrismooon, at: 2006/07/03 12:21

thanks you KZ_rage for that step-by-step!

to late my chicken has been eatin!!! lol!
im so frustrated with it, i rode for a month with no problems and now i cant go anywere.

ill try everyones sugestions and reply back with the results

off to the store to get (another chicken lol!) carb cleaner and new gas! and ill post results later tonight

if you have more advice please share with me!!!

the chicken worked!!
ok, got carbs clean, new gas ,clean tank ,oil/filter change , re-set timing and she started right up. drove around the block,and it ran great. now i have to see if battery is getting charged up right.will post results.

thanks all very much, greatful and have a good one!

KZ_Rage wrote:
[quoteMy suggestions:

Drain the tank, inspect it, clean it if need be.

Put new gas in, this will just narrow down the cause if nothing else.[/quote]

Kz_Rage, it beats my first thought (not sent) of checking he didn't bump the Kill switch!
Good procedure, you probably got it in your first couple of suggestions, however who knows!
RegardZ.

well i got down the rode agian and it died agian. i ride for a few (5 min) and then it sputters and starts acting like it losses power! then just dies out like i hit the switch, then i cant get it to start agian!
i suspect the charging system!
battery says 11.4 when not running(w/few starts on it)
this is after it dies out
when i turn on the lights it drops to 8 volts,
this is a brand new battery, 2 weeks old
could this be carbs issuse, to lean/rich!
im cleaning all connectoins right now (agian) amd will post results in morning!

I'd suspect the charging system. I just went through that with my 77 650 (almost identicle symptoms) and ended up replacing just about everything in the charging system. There's some great past posts that will help you in testing your charging system. If you end up needing to replace the regulator or rectifier, check out Tony's parts on www.oregonmotorcycleparts.com , I'm running both his regulator and rectifier and my 77 is putting out 14.4 volts at idle or rpm, can't get much better than that.

I'm listening....getting lessons/tips...just in case.I'm pullin' for ya!