I just experienced a starting problem and it wasn't the choke cable.

My bike has been sitting for just about the entire spring and summer due to my out of town work and the heavy rain when I was home.

The other day was a good one and I decided to go for a ride.
I thought I had the choke in the on position but it did feel different. As it is cold blooded, it did not appear to have spark and would crank but not fire. I cranked a few times and let the battery rest before cranking a gain. The battery had plenty of juice left but I decided to pull it to charge it and start looking for the starting problem. It did not smell flooded and I though perhaps clogged fuel line or something. When I popped the saddle off I found melted lead on the top of the battery where the terminals had melted????????????????
Maybe the connection was loose and there was some arching. I have never seen this before. I bought a new battery, the same kind, sealed Sears Diehard.

I lifted the tank to check the choke cable as my first step and everything looked OK, BUT WAITE! WHAT'S THIS?

The slide that the choke cable moves was not moving. This slide only moves about 3/16" or 5mm, to pull the enrichers out. I reached in and pushed it with my thumb and it moved. The bike started in about 1/2 crank.

I don't know if the sticking problem was where an enricher meets the carb seal or the slide itself sticking. I worked it back and forth and sprayed some Liquid Wrench on all moving parts and life is fine again.

I am posting my findings so that if anyone is having starting problems, lift the tank (easy thing to do) and check to see if the enrichers are fully out when choking.

 

Good thinking TBT !

Sounds like you had an intermittent fault on your battery - did you have it on an Optimate charger while you were away ? That would account for the burning, as the Optimate was cuttng in and out, and with a bad connection, may cause the burning..............
FWIW.

 

The battery was up full. It was cranking over fine. I sometime hook my solar charger/tender to it. There has been times when cranking a car that the terminals get hot when they are loose or pushed on by hand only. Maybe the +terminal was a tad bit loose and some arching heated the lead.

In the end the problem was due to the over cranking because of the enrichers not operating. I always thought that by turning the choke **** the enrichers were operating but that is not the case. With the tank up you can observe the 95% of the full turn is only taking slack out of the cable and the last 5% of the turn actually makes the enrichers operate.

I was pulling on the cable and I could feel that it was hooked to the carbs. I assumed that things were working propperly. It was only after lifting the tank that I coould see that the slidding part, which pulls the four enrichers, was not moving even though I was applying great pressure on the choke ****.

 

That is a good tip........my choke seemed to get real stiff when the bike is left to rest for
a week or two especially now in colder weather .........I'm definitely checking the slider
& cable assem' out to see if that what it is.

Thanks

 

Yep, glad you figured it out, TBT.

The choke cable should definitely be put on the "essential lube" list.

 

The thing is, it was not the cable. Either the sliding part or more likely, the enricher rods were sticking to the rubber seals. I lubed the slider and the rods. The rods are hard to see let alone trying to lube them. The cable was moving 95% and freely causing the confusion on my part. You need to lift the tank and turn the choke **** to see what I am talking about. Only the last 5% of the turn makes the enricher slide move.

If anyone is having cold starting problems they could be fooled into thinking that the choke is on because they have turned the **** about 95%. If the rods are sticking, the choke is not on. You may break the **** before they move. A slight push on the slider moves them however. Apparently the **** does not create much pulling force on the cable.

I use to warm the bike up with about 1/2 choke but now I know that the choke is full off after you back it off around 5% turn. I don't know of anyone lifting the tank and checking this so, this is why I am posting it.

 

Cold very windy weather here today and went to take her out anyway............
just like you described........last 5% ..........stiff as a barstud .......got out my
can of MotorKote (thanks Indy......better than Trouts WD chit that melts rubber....LOL)
and sprayed in there good............won't have that problem for a bit. The rods and the
rubbers ....just like you say.

Only thing TBT is my choke does not completely"let up" after 5% .........mines more
like around the 50 % mark before you sense your at the "off" point

 

I have to agree, my numbers were off. Mine is more like 75/25.

How about that wind yesterday. WOW! I decided to empty my tank and get rid of the gas that has been sitting in it and to put a full charge on the new battery. I decided to make a run to Mount Greylock. The sides of the road between NY and MA had snow from the plow, RT-2 mountain pass. The mountains were covered with snow. By the time I got on the Mountain road to the summit the state workers were putting up a sign on the gate closing the road due to heavy snow and thick ice. I wanted to see how far I could go before the Metzler gave out. The temperature gauge on the bike hardly moved off the cold mark for the entire 140 miles. I was thinking about adding some choke as the bike was running cold.