Hey everyone,

I just bought my F3 a few days ago and the bike wont start. When I bought it the bike would idle but not rev from the fact that it had been sitting for a few months and had dirty carbs. I brought her home and cleaned everything out and reassembled it with high hopes but to my dissapointment it wouldnt start.

Ive been through almost everything I can think of. I drained out all the old gas and filled it with fresh gas. I pulled all the spark plugs, cleaned, adn checked the gaps on each one. I drained the float bowls and tried restarting the bike like had been suggested in another thread. All vacuum lines appear correct. I even replaced a fewfuel lines with new clear ones to make sure the fuel was flowing properly which it is. The previous owner has even been more than helpful trying to remedy the issue. Im hoping maybe someone here might have some insight they could offer me. Any thoughts at all are welcome.

Thanks everyone.

 

what is happening when you crank it over?

have you pulled the fuel line from the carbs and tried to see if you were getting gas all the way there?

When you cleaned the carbs how deep into them did you go? did you try to blow out all the little passeges in the carb body not just the jets?

i need more info

 

It just cranks forever. No sputter, nothing. I blew out the jets and cleaned the bowls initially since im firly new to vacuum actuated carbs. Im in the process of a more thorough cleaning at the moment. It appears to be getting gas but im not entirely sure how to tell its in the cylinder. It moves from the tank to the pump and into the carbs but thats as far as i can tell.

 

Tested the battery voltage? You say it cranks forever. All that cranking & no going could have drained the battery.

 

No it isnt the battery. I have it hooked up to a secondary battery to try and get it to start. voltage is good. when gas is sprayed into the carbs while attempting to start it the left two carbs sort of backfire a bit. I dont understand this. the bike also backfires aout the muffler. It screams cam timing to me but seeing as ive already seen the bike idle with no problems i cant see how the cam could be off. would reaasembling the entire airbox affect anything? also the last owner instructed me that the motor runs better with the connector wires on the left side of the frame disconnected due to a race modified motor. Any ideas why or what that could be?

 

Okay so heres an update of where im at. I recharged the battery overnight and disconnected the plug on the right side of the bike (not left apparently). The bike turns over now and almost sounds like its going to catch but doesnt. The carbs should be spotless by now as Ive cleaned the twice. All vacuum hoses are correct with the diagram on the airbox and the connections are tight so they shouldnt leak. I already gapped and cleaned the spark plugs. I may try that again. Any Ideas?

 

Hmm... when you cleaned and put the carbs back on, do you remember if you checked the choke? When I put mine back on, I checked the choke (luckily). I forgot to reattach the choke cable.

My bike needed full choke to start the first time after cleaning the carbs.

 

Hey,
Dont just clean the plugs. Get a new set of them. And your baby should fire up. Check if you have an actual spark. Just pull out the plugs, hold the plug in one hand and touch it the frame or any other spot. Crank the starter. Look if you see a spark. But even if you do you should get new sparks. Cause the spark might be week.
Good luck

 

Hey thanks for the help guys. I got her running nice now. It turns out that somewhere along the lines the plugs fouled out. 2 of them did have weak spark so I swapped them with some used ones I had in good shape. I will be getting new plugs, just didnt want to drop $30 on plugs if that wasnt even the problem. Once i did all this the bike fired after about 5 seconds of cranking so alls good now.

P.s. - I made the same mistake with my choke cable. Luckily my friend was able to point it out to me before u got too far along. haha