I purchased this motorcycle just a few weeks ago, and it was running, but not as well as it should be. By my estimation, the carbs needed to be cleaned, because it was lacking power at low speeds and wasn't idling smoothly. So I decided to go on an adventure and try to clean the carbs myself.

I got the service manual, I looked up the carb cleaning thread, figured out how to clean the jets as well, got some carb cleaner and went to work. It took me a long time (days, in fact) before it was finally reassembled, but to my chagrin, wouldn't start. It has electrical power, it will crank, but it just won't start. It wouldn't start at all when I first had it back together, but when I tried the next day, it was starting to catch, but just won't take.

So now I'm worried (goes without saying I suppose). I don't assume it's a big issue, because it was fine before, and I followed the service manual and was careful when I cleaned the carbs. But something is definitely wrong and I need to figure out asap - if for nothing else, because it's my only ride, lol.

So please, help, haha.

The service manual says that the first thing I should check is that there is fuel getting to the carbs. I'm not entirely sure how to make sure that's happening. It lists a clogged fuel filter, fuel line, and fuel tank breather tube as possible places to check. I'm not exactly sure how to check all of those, and when I took off my tank, there was no breather tube anyways... Plus, remember, it was running before I started cleaning the carbs.

It lists some other issues, but I'm sure you have the manual, so you can see for yourself. If you don't, here it is.

I'm also open to someone willing to coming out to look at it. I live in Bellevue, very near Bellevue College in the Eastgate area. If there's someone willing to come look at the bike, that'd be amazing and maybe we could work something out to make it worth your while. Let me know if you're interested.

Thank you and I will try to respond as promptly as possible.

-sass.

 

It could be, and probably is related to the carbs. But other things can happen as well. So you still have to rule things out. You check if its getting gas by opening the screw on the float bowl to see if gas comes out.
How far did you take the carbs apart? did you remove the jets? Did you seperate the carbs from the rack?

I'll suggest you check these rookie mistakes first. The first one is setting the pilot jet all the way back into the carb. These jets do not seat all the way, they get lightly bottomed out, then they are turned back out around 2 full turns. If these jets are seated all the way to the bottom, fuel cannot enter the carb and would cause the bike not to start.

The second mistake is running the battery too low trying to start the bike. It will take some time for the gas to fill the carbs, and if your cranking the engine over a lot, it can quickly weaken the battery enough that the bike won't start. These bikes need a fully charged battery that can crank the engine over fast. If they don't the plugs can foul. But more than likley you would be smelling gas as well.

I doubt its the fuel pump or filter. the tank breather is a tube built into the tank. There should be a rubber hose that is attached to it, but they do sometimes come up missing. But there is definately a breather tube on the tank, usually on the bottom side of the tank.

 

try cycling your key 6-7 times slowly to get your fuel pump to prime. it takes quite a bit of fuel to fill the f4 bowls. Also as mentioned above, charge your battery. you need it at 110%.

 

It runs! It purrs! I connected it to my car and figured out that the problem was the idle - it was set to really low, so I raised it and everything was dandy! Great in fact! Thanks for the help!!