I have a '97 F3 and it doesn't like cold weather apparently. It takes a good ammount of cranking over to get it to start. Last night it was cold enough that I ended up killing the battery before I could start it. I'm sure it was mostly the batteries fault and I am getting a new one, but does anyone have any tips or tricks for starting a carbed bike when its cold? Cold like 20 degrees out. This thing is having problems at like 45-50 degrees. Its my only vehicle so I gotta do something about it.

I love my F3, but I will be replacing it asap for this reason, and because the three peices of the upper fairing never stay lined up so it looks like crap.

 

Cover it up with a blanket or something to help insulate it, use "heet" I think its called to make sure you're fuel lines don't freeze. I would also put a battery tender on it with the easy disconnect plugs and put that on each night to keep the battery at full charge. These probably won't make it fire right up but it will definately help the overall process.

 

A space heater in front of the block works formy dirt bike.

 

Choke? But seriously, my other bike, a 1977 Kawasaki 650 has little trouble starting in the cold, and I can guarantee that your carbs are in better shape. I was driving it in last december in freezing temperatures. I think my battery has more trouble in the cold than my engine does. I'd say a good clean and synch, plus new sparky plugs and even new coils, plus maybe cleaning up your connections leading to the coils. A lot of these problems aren't caused by the carbs, but by poor spark that cant cope with the harder startingconditions in cold weather.

 

Make sure you do not crank the starter for more then 15 seconds at a time or you wil burn it up. Just choke it up and try to keep the bike as warm as you can.

 

Battery tender is primary, but a shot of starter fluid in the air box does the trick nicely on my old Katana when it's cold.

 

After today I think I'm gonna be trading in my F3 for something soon, so hopefully I dont have to worry about it much longer.

The problem isn't with the bike sitting overnight. I keep it in my shed and it stays fairly warm. The problem is when I go to work and it sits outside for 5+ hours it gets so cold that it won't start before it kills the battery. I dont crank it for more than like 5-10 seconds at a time, but I have to keep doing it and it just starts cranking slower and slower. A good tune-up and new battery will probably fix it, but I let the next owner take care of that. All I gotta do now is not change my mind about getting this '05 ZX-12. I originally went to this used bike place to check out an '03 vfr with 1700 miles, but then I saw the zx sitting there for the same price, and only like 7k miles in perfect condition. It's all black(im a sucker for all black) and it was completely stock except for ss braided brake lines. I sat on both and the vfr was more comfy, but the zx was still comfy and it felt like I could handle it better.

 

Leave a cover at work. You'd be surprised at how much warmer it will be without the cold wind hitting it.


Hell, I'd wait till it cooled down some after getting to work. Throw a quilt/comforter over the bike, then put a bike cover on it. Sounds like over kill, every degree helps a carb. If I'm unable to get my new efi engine in my vehicle, I'm gonna install a coolant heater in the block or in the bottom rad hose. I live in Texas, but it'll still drop below freezing.

 

There's a company, KAD I think that makes coolant heaters you splice into the rad hose. They come in different sizes and I believe Advance Auto parts can order them. I know they have them on their website.

 

Don't bother to do anything since you already want to change your bike...