My bike won't start
 

G'day Fellow riders!!

I just had the most harrowing time with my bike today.
Everything was going fine. The bike was running good. AND THEN, "superman"decided to add the remaining carb cleaner from last time to a full tank assuming she'll be sweet for the rally i WAS supposed to go to (yeah trust me, i saw the ferry leaving in front of me while i was trying to crank start my bike)....

when i took her for a spin, i kind of felt the bike was cutting out. So i pulled over and gave it a little rest (this has happened once before and i did exactly the same. Kept trying and i guess after 10, she popped up just fine. Have done a couple of thou kms after that without any prob without really getting bothered with that episode). This time, she stopped again AND again every 10 mins..... So I decided to give it a little break.

So this morning, she started just like good old times, but when i started pushing her, i felt the same gradual decrease in power so had to pull over. Over the next 3 hrs, i :icon_deadhorse: and ended up killing my NEW battery. finally had to get her towed and here I am , reaching out to you guys...


Where to start? what to look? the killswitch seems to be alright, haven't done any testing though? can it be the carb cleaner trying to push something and that something got stuck somewhere:icon_shrug:.
Could it be the coils? that 10 min gap after every breakdown indicates anything?

Sorry for my long agonizing posts but I usually get very messed up and hassled every time something like this happens.

Thanks in advance...
Cheer!

I once had a car with clogged fuel lines/filter. It would run OK for a few minutes and then stop when the junk in the lines clogged the fuel flow. After it sat for a while the sediment would settle a bit, thus opening up the lines to allow fuel to flow. After running for a few minutes the process would repeat.

I just wonder if by adding the carb cleaner it loosened up something that is now blocking the fuel flow.

Also sounds like a vacuum build up in your fuel tank from a clogged tank vent. When a vacuum builds up as the fuel level drops, fuel will stop flowing. If it happens again, try opening your gas cap- you might hear a woosh when you do this- and if it starts right back up, then a clogged vent is the likely culprit.

After it dies, pull a plug or two and check for a good spark while the battery is still at full charge. If you get a good strong spark it should indicate fuel or an air vent problem as posted above. Try the fuel cap "whoosh" test as soon as it dies.

If there's no vent blockage just start with your fuel system. It sounds like you'll have to go right through and flush everything through with clean fuel. I'd start at the tank and clean that right out, check the tap and vacuum operated petcock, pull the fuel lines off and blow them out, then try it.

If it was crap in the actual carbies I'd think it would run on three pots, or even two, rather than just die like you describe.

Don't worry about the long post either mate, that's why we're here:D. Just try not to get frustrated and go back to basics! Spark + fuel usually = running bike unless something drastic happens. Keep us posted.

Think you got some crap in the tank man , maybe sh!t got down into the carbs
clean her out carbs and all and put an inline filter in if you think theres rust or sh!t
going down the tubes to the carbs

+1

My Ninja would do that to me, 10 minutes of riding and lost power then died, sat for 10 minutes and it started right up.
I finally ended up removing the vent valve and the problem was gone.

My bike starts, RUNS like a dream and give the big bikes a run for their money.. and if I can't beat them with speed, i baffle them with my bull****.... roflol

Thanks once again for all your suggestions. Whatever u guys suggested was spot on.

Few symtoms before the bike came to halt on THAT DARK ****ED UP night. The vaccum woosh thing was evident that there was something going on. As a science dropout, I did notice it , but ignored it like most of the things. lol

With my mental state, alcohol n drug problem, no tools, shed or any prior experience with big bikes, I handed it over to a mechanic who took a weeks time to even have a look at it.
Things they did!!
1. Drained the entire fuel
2. Clean fuel pipes/vent valve. The fuel supply would cut down drastically after closing the tank cap so again, that looked like an apparent cause of the problem. The mechanic described that when you would start the bike, there would be petrol in the carbs n after running for 10, the carbs would get dried out. So when you would park ur bike, the 10 min gap would basically be time for a small portion of gas dripping through carbs n because normally u would park the bike on a side stand , the first carb would get some life n the bike would do, bhudum bhudum....bhurr bhurr..vrooom, phat phat phat... lol

Yeah so I am still trying to find a more suitable place to live as I am living off a suitcase space at the moment. Will start playing with things at some stage once i'll get more sorted.

Guys, there are few more things I wanted to discuss. More to do with riding like cornering n stuff. Can I ask more questions in this thread or would you suggest to start a new one.

Thank you all,
Have a good one...

may seems crazy but check the loom of wires that passes just under the tank , the bracket where the coils are held in place wires that goes to the coils, if you tighten your screws that hold your tank to much it will ct off the wires over time and it won' be apparent. the plastic wrapping when cold will make the cut wire connect as when warm it will expand pulling both ends of the wire where it is cut away from one another, killing the electrical current to the coils.


I have been there the bike would run fine then run on two cylinder, I would stop and ten minutes later would run fine until the wires where warm again.

once I opend the wire it took me 5 minutes to fix and I was lucky to think about it otherwise I could have a searched for a long long time.

Carl,
Thanks for your post mate. The bike got fixed couple of days back. What you said was one of the things that was suggested to me in some other forum while I was looking for fixes. The bike seems to have somethings stuck in the valves/ n/or fuel outlets due to adding Mr Carb cleaner. Seems to be going fine now :icon_bike:. Thanks for your reply though!!

Ride safe man...

Cheers!


P.S: I did not get notified on my email about carl's post? am I too dumb or too drunk?:icon_shrug:

Thought will give face to the name: :icon_wink: