I put the carbs back in. I put the air filter and fuel tank on. I put the battery on...choked the bike and nothing...

I checked the fuel line from before the fuel filter and after...flowing.

I replaced the spark plugs with new ones yesterday.

starter cranks but thats about it.

why wont it start?

Any ideas?

 

Air, fuel and spark..... do you have 1/3....2/3....?
Did the bike run at all before you pulled the carbs?
Need more info.

 

gap the plugs?

 

hold the plug to the side of the block to see if your getting spark, if so shoot some starting fluid in there, should fire for a few seconds even if the carbs are totally boned.

 

The bike supposidly ran before i bought it -- lets assume yes, it had gas and the battery had a charge, but it sat for 1 year.

I'll check on the spark of the plugs -- gapped to .031mm

The gas tank has 1 gallon in there


- ill try starter fluid
- ill try releasing the float bowls screw to see if any as pours out to ensure the carbs are getting fuel

 

no mention of new gas, even with stabilizer a year is a long time for gas to go, the gas is probably cooked if it's a year old.

 

Oh, yes it was new gas. went to gas station and got 1 gallon. I put that in.

I drained the gas that was in the tank before putting in the new gallon. the gas flows nicely from the petcock (verified). Also the tank is not rusted.

 

check to make sure you're getting spark. pull a boot off one of the sparkplugs, stick another spark lug in the wire. hold the plug against the engine (grounded). make sure you get spark at the plug while you're cranking.

you can pour/spray fuel directly into the carb venturi to try and get it to start. also, i like to use a car battery, because sometimes after a few cranks you loose enough voltage to cause problems.

 

i second the car battery idea. my battery kicks it and needs a recharge if my bike doesnt start on the first few cranks. the car battery also cranks the bike faster which helps, probably the more cold cranking amps it offers. but yea youll get her fired up once you get the combo of fuel,spark and air. i don't know much about timing but that could be a cause. starting it for the first time is usually the hardest.

 

OK I did a lot of checking and the issue seems that the fuel pump is not sending gas to the carbs. I even took the carbs out and unscrewed the float-screw, no gas came out. Bone dry.

I connected directly from Gas tank to fuel pump -- cranked -- no gas.

Do I have to "prime" the fuel pump? if so, how?

do I have to jump the relay wire together to force the pump to work? I heard "the fuel pump isn't always running". I hear no cracking/clicking or any movement from the pump.

I guess i'll try gravity on the carbs (bypass the pump) and see if that at least fires up the bike.