Starting problem

Bike was hard starting last summer. It turned over many many times before it would start. I thought the coils were weak so this year i put two new dyna coils on rewired the coils with the WG mod and a new battery because it turned over so much last year it killed it.

Compression all good,checked ignitor good, lots of spark. the fuel had stabilizer prior to storage. I drained the carb bowls and blew compressed air through the drain holes and fuel line and vacuum line for shit and giggles.

I tried it again and it stumbled and after turning over about five or six times it started and ran fine. I took it for a drive and it ran great!!

I tried it after about ten minutes later and it started on first touch of the starter button. O left it for 4 hours and it is a no go!! I turned the fuel to pri,res still no go. It was hard cold starting since last year.

So we got fuel,we got spark what a missin??

2bskor wrote:

My last post was hijacked

Bike was hard starting last summer. It turned over many many times before it would start. I tried it again and it stumbled and after turning over about five or six times it started and ran fine. I took it for a drive and it ran great!!

That sounds like a problem with the choke/enriching circuit in one or more of the carbs. The "choke" on these Mikuni carbs is actually a big honking jet inside the carb. Turning on the chocke actually opens flow through that jet and gives you way more gas for cold starting. It that's not happening, your engine will be very hard to start cold but run great hot.

Go get a can of Seafoam, and dump half into your tank, then fill it with gas, and go.

Burn the whole tank, then put the other half in and fill it again.

While your out running around for a while, pull the choke a bit till it starts to feel different, and ride it like that for about 15 seconds at a time. Do this a few times.

Then after its sat overnight, you will feel a nice improvement, and your problem will likely be gone.

GL!



Make sure your air filter is good and clean, and everything is sealed up tight!

If not already done, would assure battery is up to snuff (fluids, charged, specific gravity, load test), and cable terminal connections are clean and snug, including the ground attachment on rear of engine.

Also try using the kick starter (where available), whereby more battery power is devoted to ignition.

Good Fortune!

TeK9iNe wrote:

Go get a can of Seafoam, and dump half into your tank, then fill it with gas, and go.

Burn the whole tank, then put the other half in and fill it again.

While your out running around for a while, pull the choke a bit till it starts to feel different, and ride it like that for about 15 seconds at a time. Do this a few times.

Then after its sat overnight, you will feel a nice improvement, and your problem will likely be gone.

GL!



Make sure your air filter is good and clean, and everything is sealed up tight!

good advice.....i would try this method first and see what happens....good luck....

Sounds interesting!! makes sense. Would valve clearances do this just a thought as since i owned the bike they were never checked. I wonder what the kawi dealer would charge. They probably see me with that bike and I would look like a bag of $$

I put seafoam in the carbs last night and leaving it soak and put the remainder in the tank with fresh gas. Now if i can get it to start!!

2bskor wrote:

Sounds interesting!! makes sense. Would valve clearances do this just a thought as since i owned the bike they were never checked. I wonder what the kawi dealer would charge. They probably see me with that bike and I would look like a bag of $$

Check your compression once the bike is good and hot. 30min ride at least. If the compression is good, (130+ and not more than 10% difference between cylinders), and the bike isn't making any tap-tap-tapping valve sounds, then your clearances are likely fine.

Let us know!



PS. If you REALLY can't get it started, buy a spray can of starter fluid. Only spray it for 2-3 seconds into the air filter, then crank, she'll fire right up. This is only a last ditch alternative for when you really need to get going. You deffinately need to fix the issue first.

Cheers.

I remember the odd tick noise last year but nothing really noticeable. I did check the compression but when it was cold!! They were all around 100 psi +/- Last year I had to use starting fluid to get it going so if all else fails i will again but i really got to get to the bottom of this.

I am starting to think it is choke related because if it's warm it will start very fast. If it ever stops raining I'll see if the seafoam helped.

Thanks!!