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Hey Katrider friends, thank you in advance.
My bike is a '93 600. I recently finished cleaning & rebuilding (including full disassembly and dipping) my carbs; they have all new O-rings, brand new stock size pilot jets, some new float needles and bowl gaskets as needed. They do not leak anymore, thank goodness.
Today, I installed them and the airbox, with a new air filter, onto my bike to see if it would run for the first time in 2 years. Brand new spark plugs, oil and oil filter. I fed the carbs several inches of fuel in their lines and attempted to start the bike (jumper cable'd to a running car's battery, as my bike battery is dead).
The starter cranked happily, trying to start the bike, but it did not "fire" at all. Nothing but cranking. I tried maybe 6-8 times, with no different result. Lights were bright and the starter sounded strong; I believe it was getting good juice from the battery (tried to start with just the bike battery and the starter wouldn't even crank). This is all a bit disheartening. But some days are victories, and some are not.
So.... based on my limited knowledge of Fuel/Air/Spark/Compression, everything the body needs, here we go troubleshooting.
FUEL:
I think I trust my work on the carbs; the entire process was documented in this thread, guided by members here. I set the float heights to the 14.6mm spec, and the pilot jets are brand new. Per Krey, I set the A/F screws to 2.5 turns out, for the Dynojet kit it has. Choke operates as it should. I don't see any reason why they should not be functioning as intended to start the bike. They have sat for a week outside with fuel in them (leak testing), but the fuel had Marine Sta-bil in it; I wouldn't think this sitting time is enough to throw anything off.
AIR:
Airbox was connected, and new air filter installed. One thing I thought of later was if the idle adjustment screw was not "in" enough; per Carbs101 I installed it so it was barely touching the butterfly-opener-tab. However, giving the bike throttle while starting did not help at all. So.... probably not the issue?
SPARK:
Here's where I don't know much at all. Spark plugs are brand new DR8ES. I pulled each plug and wire - noticed they were not covered in fuel... not sure if this was to be expected. I tested spark while grounding them against a bolt on the valve cover (checked this bolt with a voltmeter and the bolt is indeed grounded). All of the plugs made a small blue spark when tested in this way. I really don't know if this is adequate - but here's a video of testing Plug #1 (other plugs looked similar). Does this look normal?
Spark Video Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxdRiTrxHyA
COMPRESSION:
I have not compression tested the bike. I didn't expect this to be an issue, based on the info below and the bike's history:
Additional Info:
The bike ran mediocrely when I got it (2 years ago). Well enough to make the ~90 mile ride home. It was running with no airbox at the time, a decision made by the PO, until I stopped midway at a family member's house, and we put the airbox on. It then ran the additional 50 miles home, but liked to die at a stop.
During this time the carbs were not synced and were leaking severely, the tank was rusty, and one of the carb diaphragms did not operate smoothly; I attributed the bad running to these factors. Now the carbs are healthy, it has new plugs and filter, no rust - I expected it to run with some carb tuning.
Based on all the above, some Questions:
Thank you folks for the help. I figured the first time I try to start it in 2 years it wouldn't work... because that would be too easy, right? I just hope I can get it running. Done too much on the bike to have it not run.
My bike is a '93 600. I recently finished cleaning & rebuilding (including full disassembly and dipping) my carbs; they have all new O-rings, brand new stock size pilot jets, some new float needles and bowl gaskets as needed. They do not leak anymore, thank goodness.
Today, I installed them and the airbox, with a new air filter, onto my bike to see if it would run for the first time in 2 years. Brand new spark plugs, oil and oil filter. I fed the carbs several inches of fuel in their lines and attempted to start the bike (jumper cable'd to a running car's battery, as my bike battery is dead).
The starter cranked happily, trying to start the bike, but it did not "fire" at all. Nothing but cranking. I tried maybe 6-8 times, with no different result. Lights were bright and the starter sounded strong; I believe it was getting good juice from the battery (tried to start with just the bike battery and the starter wouldn't even crank). This is all a bit disheartening. But some days are victories, and some are not.
So.... based on my limited knowledge of Fuel/Air/Spark/Compression, everything the body needs, here we go troubleshooting.
FUEL:
I think I trust my work on the carbs; the entire process was documented in this thread, guided by members here. I set the float heights to the 14.6mm spec, and the pilot jets are brand new. Per Krey, I set the A/F screws to 2.5 turns out, for the Dynojet kit it has. Choke operates as it should. I don't see any reason why they should not be functioning as intended to start the bike. They have sat for a week outside with fuel in them (leak testing), but the fuel had Marine Sta-bil in it; I wouldn't think this sitting time is enough to throw anything off.
AIR:
Airbox was connected, and new air filter installed. One thing I thought of later was if the idle adjustment screw was not "in" enough; per Carbs101 I installed it so it was barely touching the butterfly-opener-tab. However, giving the bike throttle while starting did not help at all. So.... probably not the issue?
SPARK:
Here's where I don't know much at all. Spark plugs are brand new DR8ES. I pulled each plug and wire - noticed they were not covered in fuel... not sure if this was to be expected. I tested spark while grounding them against a bolt on the valve cover (checked this bolt with a voltmeter and the bolt is indeed grounded). All of the plugs made a small blue spark when tested in this way. I really don't know if this is adequate - but here's a video of testing Plug #1 (other plugs looked similar). Does this look normal?
Spark Video Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxdRiTrxHyA
COMPRESSION:
I have not compression tested the bike. I didn't expect this to be an issue, based on the info below and the bike's history:
Additional Info:
The bike ran mediocrely when I got it (2 years ago). Well enough to make the ~90 mile ride home. It was running with no airbox at the time, a decision made by the PO, until I stopped midway at a family member's house, and we put the airbox on. It then ran the additional 50 miles home, but liked to die at a stop.
During this time the carbs were not synced and were leaking severely, the tank was rusty, and one of the carb diaphragms did not operate smoothly; I attributed the bad running to these factors. Now the carbs are healthy, it has new plugs and filter, no rust - I expected it to run with some carb tuning.
Based on all the above, some Questions:
- When I pulled the spark plugs today, they were not soaked in gas like I figured they might be (based on some thread I probably read 5 years ago on some site). Is it expected that they would be wet?
- Does my spark seem normal, or wimpy? In person, it looks like a small blue spark. I was expecting to be nearly blinded by a colossal jolt of light - but perhaps my expectations are too high.
- If not the plugs or fuel - what else, compression? I don't mind buying a compression tester. But why would it have run before (with poor carb health) and not start now if the compression was bad?
- (Any obvious things I am missing?)
Thank you folks for the help. I figured the first time I try to start it in 2 years it wouldn't work... because that would be too easy, right? I just hope I can get it running. Done too much on the bike to have it not run.
Yes, they are bench-sync'd, 92x.
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