Went from not starting to not staying on

[nana]

I need some advice here... we put my bike back together last night (hooked up carbs, installed petcock, hooked up tank) and attempted to start the engine. It cranked in neutral but no starting. I checked the forums and decided to put the bike in gear to try and start it. We put it in 1st and it cranked (this time I could hear a deeper crank, I think it was the actual motor trying to turn,) but still wouldn't kick over.

Today, my boyfriend put starter fluid directly into the carbs and she fired up!!! BUT, then she died lol. We are guessing that she didn't stay on long enough to run enough fuel through the carbs plus her battery has been drained since last night (we have had her on a battery tender) since we have been trying to start it. Is there something we should do that will get her started and keep her running or is what we are doing the best way to get fuel going through her? Thank you!!!!

[arsenic]

your carbs are dirty, the pilot jets to be exact. That's why starter fluid starts it then it dies. Either that is your petcock isn't even flowing fuel.

[Kreylyn]

To simplify...

Won't run without starter fluid....


Sounds like definately the primary issue is fuel delivery. Did you use the "choke" when trying to start it?

First, verify you have fuel flowing into the bowls. Use a small contaner to catch the fuel, and loosent he drain screw on the bottom of one of the bowls...

Does fuel come out?

Check all 4.

Also check your petcock is working correctly. Remove the fuel lines to the carbs, and put a catch under the petcock. Set to prime. Does fuel flow? Set to on or reserve, and then manually apply vacuum to the rear of the petcock. Does fuel flow? (manually apply vacuum by putting a line on it and suck on the other end. It shouldn't take much to make it work.

In prime, it should flow fine.
On or Res should only flow when vacuum is applied to the petock.

If you have fuel flowing to the carbs, and the carb bowls are filling... you carbs are not clean enough and need to be removed and cleaned again, or the adjustments made to it were not correct and need to be re-checked.

Use the carbs 102 in the wiki (link at the top) to totally disassembly and clean the carbs. Pay close attention to the pilot jets, and the air/fuel screws. Those screws must be removed and cleaned, and the port they are in must be fully cleaned... or the bike will always have starting and idle issues.

Also make sure the fuel enrichment system is fully cleaned and the plungers are in good condition, or this will make cold starts really hard.

Krey

[nana]

Thanks! I will give it a look over the weekend and hopefully the only issue is the petcock. We were scratching our heads a little about how to install it until we found a diagram on here. So, I will check the lines while my boyfriend is out of town this weekend, and hopefully he can help me with the carbs when he gets home. I will keep yall updated, thanks a million!

[Wild-Bill]

Ummmm... Did you prime the carbs? I mean, did you turn the petcock to prime and leave it for a bit to fill the carb bowls before trying to start the bike?

[nana]

Yes, I definitely did that. I haven't had a chance to work on it again yet, but hopefully it is s a simple fix!

[rexazz2]

on the petcock there should be 2 nipples
the one that points at your right knee is connected to carb vaccum
the one that points straight down is gas supply to the carbs

is the air filter in ?
without it it can cause low vac
a second shot of starting fluid may be all it needs

[nana]

Ok so we looked at the bike today and thought we may need new intake pipes or at least the gaskets by the carbs b/c they were very lose which of course causes loss of vacum... we decided to switch the current carbs to the used pair we ordered off ebay last week. To our plesant surprise the carbs fit very snuggly into the intake pipes (i think thats what they are called lol). So we put the fuel tank back on, uses some started fluid and she actually ran for like 3 or 4 minutes continuously until we turned her off SCORE.... but oh wait... there is gas on the floor lol. GOODNESS one thing after the other. It was leaking from the bottom of carbs 2-4 (the drain screws are tight) - after searching the forums it seemend like it could be the float valves... per the advice of a website we tapped the carbs with a hammer (lightly of course) and carbs 2 and 4 stopped leaking... but not carb 3. Does it sound normal for all 3 carb floats to be acting up. Keep in mind this engine and both carbs have been sitting awhile (we did clean the set we ordered in already but didn't take it apart).

UPDATE! We started her again and it turns out none of them stopped leaking... carb 2 is leaking profusley now... we are going to drain them take them off the bike and hit the hay. We will revisit the project tomorrow. Any suggestions are appreciated, Thanks!

[Kreylyn]

Ok so we looked at the bike today and thought we may need new intake pipes or at least the gaskets by the carbs b/c they were very lose which of course causes loss of vacum... we decided to switch the current carbs to the used pair we ordered off ebay last week. To our plesant surprise the carbs fit very snuggly into the intake pipes (i think thats what they are called lol). So we put the fuel tank back on, uses some started fluid and she actually ran for like 3 or 4 minutes continuously until we turned her off SCORE.... but oh wait... there is gas on the floor lol. GOODNESS one thing after the other. It was leaking from the bottom of carbs 2-4 (the drain screws are tight) - after searching the forums it seemend like it could be the float valves... per the advice of a website we tapped the carbs with a hammer (lightly of course) and carbs 2 and 4 stopped leaking... but not carb 3. Does it sound normal for all 3 carb floats to be acting up. Keep in mind this engine and both carbs have been sitting awhile (we did clean the set we ordered in already but didn't take it apart).

UPDATE! We started her again and it turns out none of them stopped leaking... carb 2 is leaking profusley now... we are going to drain them take them off the bike and hit the hay. We will revisit the project tomorrow. Any suggestions are appreciated, Thanks!

Take the carbs off, remove the bowls, pull out the floats...

Clean with a q-tip and cleaner the needle seats. Check the orings there.

If good, check the needles.

If good, put the floats back on and check the height is properly at 13mm.

If good, close them back up, put the fuel line on... upside down blow on the fuel line.

If no air goes through, turn them right side up and fill with fuel on the bench. Clean the fuel line off and blow.

If no fuel leak and you don't hear bubbles, it won't let you blow through... you fixed it.

If you can flow through, have a leak, or hear bubbles... it's still not fixed.

Krey

[nana]

Darn it!

Awww man! I was hoping we didn't have to take the carbs apart... guess we will go ahead on that adventure lol. Thank you for the advice. Now what I wonder is what the next problem will be after we fix this one lol. I will let ya know how it goes, thanks again!

[arsenic]

Leaking from the bowl could be a sign that the float bowl gaskets need to be replaced.

[Kreylyn]

Awww man! I was hoping we didn't have to take the carbs apart... guess we will go ahead on that adventure lol. Thank you for the advice. Now what I wonder is what the next problem will be after we fix this one lol. I will let ya know how it goes, thanks again!

This is why I personally say "carbs are not easy". You can do it, and there is very little you can really screw up... it's just there are so many little things that can be overlooked or not just right.

It's very very detail oriented. Don't let it get you down, just understand that unless you have alot of experiance with them... your probably gonna have to spend a few sessions taking them off and back on to adjust/fine tune/fix your oversights.

But... once you get them right... You really shouldn't have a problem if your riding it semi frequently and take care on the fuel treatments if not.

Leaking from the bowl could be a sign that the float bowl gaskets need to be replaced.

This is true. One of the reasons I like to test by filling the bowls before mounting them on the bike. Much easier access to fixing them if somewhere else is leaking. Bowl gaskets, fuel T gaskets, or needing to see what jet it's coming out of as well.

Krey