Sat for a month, wont start

[Rangerx52]

This has been driving me nuts. i pulled the panels and tank off, took about a month to paint them and get them all fixed up. The bike was running when i parked it, and now it refuses to start.

So i charged the battery, drained the float bowls, set the petcock to prime, turned the ignition for a sec, set it back to run, tried to turn it over, but i get nothing out of it. The starter was just changed and sounds strong. Every now and then it will give one quick half-putt like its about to start- but it never happens.

tried with full choke, no choke, full throttle, no throttle, it just fights me.

stupid thing was more than happy to start up on a miserable rainy or snowy day, but the fact that it's told me to go f*ck myself now that there's a dry day just infuriates me to no end

88gsx1100f

help a raging katrider out?

[kevin2502000]

Try squirting a little starting fluid through the airbox and cover the hole with a rag to "choke it".

[Rangerx52]

i always thought that was kind of frowned upon

[kevin2502000]

Works for me and never had any problems, if you're paranoid use wd-40 then. Here is other idea's......http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.p...starting+fluid

[Rangerx52]

tried this: http://reviews.canadiantire.ca/9045/...0P/reviews.htm

didnt work. furious. wish it had a face so i could punch it.

It was on its kickstand for the last month while the tank was off (there was a bike cover overtop)

after it cranks, white smoke comes out of the left exhaust only. well, it lingers out as opposed to coming out fast. I tried the battery again to see if maybe it was a bad spark or something, so i connected it to my car battery (disconnected from the car) and nothing changed. Any ideas?

edit: sent hate-mail to canadian tire for reviewing their own product and labelling it as a miracle fluid.

[kevin2502000]

Does it have fresh gas? White smoke usually indicates contaminated fuel or possibly just the starting fluid you used.

[rexazz2]

I would pull out spark plugs and put in a NEW set
I think you have fouled them

[chuckles]

You go and pretty her up and she leaves you hangin.....shame

[Teh_K]

When our (me + GF) Kats sit for a while without being started (months sometimes), here's the checklist of things I do to try to start 'em the first time:

- Sit on bike and turn fuel petcock to Prime.
- Wait 30 sec or so for the fuel to flow, swaying the bike left and right a little if it makes you feel good.
- Full choke, no throttle, start for 2-3 seconds.
- If that doesn't work, full choke + VERY light throttle (like, just barely cracked-open throttle), start for 2-3 seconds.
- Failing that, reduce choke to 3/4 and try again w/ no throttle, and then with very slight throttle.
- Failing that, use NO choke + very light throttle. This is usually only on warm days.

Usually by now it's started, so I take it out and remember to charge the battery to make up for all the failed start attempts. At no point should you hold the starter for more than 5 seconds (3sec is my personal limit), and I also wait a few seconds before start attempts to give the starter a rest. Also, I never use full throttle (with or w/o choke) to start the bike... just never works for me - I always use just a very slight crack of the throttle.

Hope this helps.

Side note: my friend on his SV650, which has no Prime setting, uses starting fluid to turn the engine over enough times to suck some gas thru the lines. He just sprays some in the air box, and starts it up normally.