Starting Issues

[Doppleganger3814]

Just recently purchased an 06' Katana600 and I'm really struggling to get the bike to start consistantly. The guy I bought it off of said that he had no major problems starting it and gave me a trickle charger with the sale. That first week I had the bike it struggled to start. Charged the battery and it would start up, but after it sat over 8 hrs it wouldnt start. The guy I bought it from went up to Autozone with me and he bought a new battery which we hooked up and it started up right away. I should mention that I've started the bike with full choke, and then eased off on the choke after the bike has warmed up. Weeks have gone by and this problem STILL lingers as this morning I tried starting it and what it does is rev up to about 4k and then just dies if I dont hold the throttle in that position. After researching the site, indications point to carb cleaning and or voltage and spark issues. Should a new battery not even a month old have issues like this? I'm really thinking that the carbs need to be cleaned. Thanks for your help.

[05RedKat600]

Posts have a fuel filter, change it. How many miles on it? Might need a new air filter, valves adjusted, and carbs cleaned and synced. Valves are supposed to be done every 7500 miles along with a carb sync, plugs and air filter at the same time too IIRC. Try that stuff, if you still have issues clean and sync the carbs.

[Doppleganger3814]

Posts have a fuel filter, change it. How many miles on it? Might need a new air filter, valves adjusted, and carbs cleaned and synced. Valves are supposed to be done every 7500 miles along with a carb sync, plugs and air filter at the same time too IIRC. Try that stuff, if you still have issues clean and sync the carbs.

Thanks for the info! Bike has 3400 miles on it so its sat at times and probably never has had any carb work done to it. I think that I will just have all of this done just to be sure.

[05RedKat600]

Word of advice: Don't have the carb cleaning done by a shop. 99% of them don't do it right and just charge you to spray a can of carb cleaner at them.

[Doppleganger3814]

^^^Thanks man. I'm really not that mechanically inclined though, so would you still recommend me doing it myself? Just don't want to create more problems with my lack of experience.

[05RedKat600]

Go here, download, read, evaluate level of comfortable with project.

http://katriders.com/wiki/index.php5?title=Carbs_102

[Doppleganger3814]

^^ Yeah I'll read this over and try my hand at this. As far as the synch tool, are there any places you would recommend getting one?

[05RedKat600]

Ebay. This one: http://www.carbtune.com/

I use high quality vacuum gauges, but that one is easier for new folks to learn on.

[Doppleganger3814]

^^^ Thanks for your help, and I hope I get this thing up and running strong!

[05RedKat600]

^^^ Thanks for your help, and I hope I get this thing up and running strong!

[Doppleganger3814]

Well, just out of pure curiosity I go to fire up the bike on my lunch break...and it fires RIGHT up... So I let it run for a bit, take the choke off...and it's just purring like nothing is wrong...so ditched the cage and I rode back to work of course Could I have flooded the engine earlier? My fear is that in 4hrs I'll have the same problem as I did this morning...

[05RedKat600]

Well, just out of pure curiosity I go to fire up the bike on my lunch break...and it fires RIGHT up... So I let it run for a bit, take the choke off...and it's just purring like nothing is wrong...so ditched the cage and I rode back to work of course Could I have flooded the engine earlier? My fear is that in 4hrs I'll have the same problem as I did this morning...

Until the problem is replicated, really hard to say.

[wickeded]

Looks like your Kat is just like one I use to have. Following is the only way she would start:

In the morning- 95% choke, neutral, hit the start button and NO throttle. Adjust the RPM as they started to rise

After sitting for over an hour- mid choke, neutral, hit the start button and NO throttle.

If I would give it any throttle while cranking it it would not start and I would have to let it sit for about 30 minutes and restart as stated above.

If you continue to crank it your killing the battery, I learned this the hard way.

[Doppleganger3814]

^^^ Agreed...I'm sure that it is not normal to have to rev the bike for almost 10 secs when the choke is on from a cold start to keep it stable right? I mean I didn't have to do it this afternoon when I started the bike as it stayed about 2.5K RPMS with the choke on. Hmmm...

[Kreylyn]

If you don't have one, invest in a volt meter (about $10-15.... ).

Test the voltage at the coils (orange wires supplied) key on and with the starter turning the motor over.

If you find that the starter turning the motor over test is below 11v... then your looking at a voltage issue causing part of the problem.

Generally speaking... colder the temps, the lower the V pushed by the battery, the more it takes to turn the motor over, and the hotter the spark that is needed to fire the cylinders. So, if it's very temp sensitive (first early morning hard starts, fine in the after noon in the sun) I would look at the voltage issue first.

This could be battery, wiring, or connections causing the drop... so know it's there (low V at the coils) is the first step...

Krey