Hey all, new to this forum, but a fan of forums for help in general. I've been working on cars (professionally) for about 15 years now, but this is the first bike I've had, so bear that in mind. . .

The bike is a '96 CBR600 F3 with just under 10k miles on it. The only mod is a Yoshimura exhaust kit (with manifold). I took it from a long-time friend that I know would not purposely screw me over, or lie to me about something that's happened to it (he's still willing to take it back if I can't make it work). He absolutely babied the thing, and it's in pristine condition. Changed the oil once a year, no matter how little he used it, always used premium gas and Honda performance synthetic 4-stroke oil. He never raced it or pushed it to its limits by any means, just carted around town.

About 3 years ago he put some stabil in it, and stored it in the back of his garage. He didn't know he was never going to take it out again, he just got married and stuff, and never got back to riding. I offered to take it off his hands, and he said to come get it with a trailer, because he doesn't even want to think about trying to start it after 3 years.

***THE PROBLEM, AND ATTEMPTED SOLUTIONS:***

So, I got it home, and the tires were flat and battery dead, which is to be expected. I put in a new battery, syphoned the old gas out, put in some premium and swished, and then syphoned THAT out. Then filled up with premium, and tried to start it. It cranked, but would not start up. Made sure the fuel line and choke were open, but no luck. Didn't even sputter, or anything.

So, I changed the oil and plugs, cuz I was going to anyway. They were the stock NGR R's, and thats what I put in. Old ones looked perfectly fine for plugs with 10k on them, not really fouled, no oil, etc. After all that, it still wouldn't go. I sprayed some starter fluid in, and it sputtered slightly maybe 3 times, but never caught. Subsequent tries with the fluid result in nothing but cranking. I opened the pots, and made sure fuel was draining from them, so I know it's getting to the engine. I'm know air is getting in, as the starter fluid obviously got in there.

And that's where I stopped for the night. Any ideas?

 

It is always the carbs bro. Especially after storage and since your friend didnt prep for the long storage. drain the carbs and give it a clean and youll be set.

 

make sure and clean the jets out also, I bought a bike that sat for a year. Acted like yours has been. Once it was all clean, took a little bit of cranking but it did fire after a little bit of cranking. Good carb cleaning thread https://cbrforum.com/forum/how-mechanical-40/how-clean-your-carbs-40713/

 

Yeah, I found that thread, looks very helpful. Are the "jets" covered in that? Are those the same as the "points" or "needles?" (Sorry, like I said, I'm a car guy, so I don't know all the bike terms yet). I got as far as getting the carbs off the block, and quit for the night. EVERYTHING was stuck: the diaphragms in the intakes, the choke lever, etc, but wiggling it all by hand got everything going by itself again. I'm sure that was a big part of the problem. The fuel I emptied out of the pots looked OK in the tiny streams that come out, but I tipped the whole assembly and let a lot of it flow out of the main fuel line, and it was all thick and deep yellow, so there's another cause. Everything actually looks pretty clean, no real noticeable gunk, no particles in the fuel but I haven't cracked it open yet. I'm going to clean it out anyway, since I have it out.
During the disassembly, I found a couple of bolts rattled their way out over the years, and I need a new air filter, and the seals around the carbs are hard as rocks (which was probably causing a vacuum problem) , so I'd like to replace all this stuff. I've been using Rockauto.com for all my car needs, but they don't do bikes. You guys know of a similar place for good prices on bike parts?
Thanks for the quick, helpful, respectful responses. I'm used to the "Everything you own and everything you do sucks and you should just quit" guys over on the Lancer forums. Nice change of pace.

 

The jets are the brass things you see screwed into the carb after you take the bowl off for the floats. The guide doesn't exactly cover how to clean the jets but some of the other posts after it talk about it. Also get a shop manual if you haven't already. I downloaded mine off of a website for free, just look around.

 

Take the carbs out and after that everything will be clear to you as you worked on cars. Same thing almost just 4 carbs insted of 1 or 2 on cars.
Dont separate the carbs just take the tops and buttoms off , one carb at the time, use some compresed air if possible, works the best ( i used to drive up to a golf course with my carbs already apart and use their compresed air for cleaning grass of golfing gear) :-)
Let us know hoe u get on...

 

Will do. Found a post that recommended fishing line on the jets, but I've got my welding torch cleaners, which should do well. Got the air compressor, too, so that's good. The service manual was the first thing I downloaded, otherwise it would have taken me a week to figure out how to get the carbs off So where can I get parts?

 

Unless the carbs are leaking you probably wont need any parts.
Just clean them, refit them and see what happens.

 

I agree with what everyone else is saying. Your going to have to tear down the carbs and clean them out. I sent you a pm to email you a copy of the Honda shop manual. It will give you all the details needed when you disassemble/assemble the carbs. Be sure to remove as many of the rubber seals as possible. I would completely disassemble the carbs from each other. It will allow you to really clean them and the fuel passages. It's not that bad taking them apart... it's just a real pain in the tail to clean them. When you put them back together and back on the bike, you'll have to sync them.
When you pull off the carb bowls, you'll see the main jet and slow jet. The pilot is the D shaped screw head. You should pull all three out and make sure you get carb cleaner down into the passages. When you're cleaning the carb bodies, soak the pilot screws/needles, main jets, slow jets, main needles, and choke plungers (SE valve in manual) in carb cleaner (You'll probably have to toss in the floats too).

 

I've got everything apart, and things don't look all that bad. Taking it apart sucked, though. I found out the original owner had the dealer upgrade the jet kit when he bought it, and they really did a number on some of the screws. Jets looked to be in great shape, though. One of the floats is definitely bad, so I'll have to get another. I've got everything else soaking for the night. Thanks for the help!

What's involved in syncing these? I searched around the forum and it looks like I'll need some special equipment for it. Am I better off taking it to a shop and having it professionally done?