marksmith Posted January 19, 2014 Author Posted January 19, 2014 Completely drained and dried out the tank. Put it all back together, put in some fresh fuel and... it still won't start. Cranks and cranks and cranks and once or twice it spluttered a little fire, and backfired several times, but it just will not start.Battery is flat too now so it's on charge but I'm really stuck. I'll crank it a bit more later when it's charged, but I can't see why it would help.Really disappointed. Was hoping it would just spring to life - but it is behaving exactly like it did before I started all this.Two complete weekends spent on this now. Wonder what it's worth as scrap. Quote
eastanglianbiker Posted January 19, 2014 Posted January 19, 2014 has it got vacumm fuel tap and is it working properly one way to find out is remove fuel line and vacum line off engine suck on vacuum line see if it allows fuel to flow out of main pipe feed if it doesnt then thats your problem,also if it is vacum t ap have you tried it on prime as that should be free flowing and not needing vacum Quote
marksmith Posted January 19, 2014 Author Posted January 19, 2014 has it got vacumm fuel tap and is it working properly oneYes, and yes. (Used it to drain the tank most of the way.) Quote
Matt Strange Posted January 19, 2014 Posted January 19, 2014 I expect you have probably a combination of small issues that are causing the non start, you have found two potential issues in that the coil resistance is high & water in the tank/carbs. This, combined with possible other potential issues such as the valves being slightly out, could be the problem. That is why it's essential to start with basic, easy to do checks in a methodical and logical order, starting with the easiest, quickest and most common potential problem areas to test.Generally (but will vary bike to bike) if it turns over and doesn't start:Fuel contamination, battery condition & leads, kill switch (should kill the starter as well as ignition, but I have known the starter to function), airbox, vacuum pipes & breathers, ignition system, mechanical timing, valve clearances, compression, carbs/injection Quote
Zipster Posted January 19, 2014 Posted January 19, 2014 Do you get your fuel from a reputable dealer in case the water is mixing into the fuel at the pump? There are some hooky boys out there will do anything for a buck! Quote
marksmith Posted January 20, 2014 Author Posted January 20, 2014 Yes from normal petrol stations but the water could have been in the tank for 10 years for all I know. It appears not to have been the problem anyway. Quote
nman1 Posted January 22, 2014 Posted January 22, 2014 I know crap all about mechanics but my brand new fixer had a similar problem when wet. Just had it fixed and it was the ignition wiring below the tank had all corroded and kept causing a short. The bike would put all lights on without the keys in. Don't know if any help but worth checking over. Quote
marksmith Posted January 23, 2014 Author Posted January 23, 2014 Latest update... mechanic suggested replacing the spark plugs, so got some new ones, gapped them (0.65mm) and fitted them. Bike started, hurrah. However it would immediately stall if I gave it ANY gas. I was able to keep it running by messing with the choke. It's always been a bit tempermental when cold, so I left it to idle - but after about 30s rather than starting to clear, it just slowed down and stalled. It restarted, but got progressively worse until after 5 or 10 goes it now won't start at all.This is exactly the behaviour I saw when I first tried starting it after Christmas. Come full circle, bike still unsuable.Grrrr. Quote
eastanglianbiker Posted January 23, 2014 Posted January 23, 2014 have you tried spraying wd40 or easy start around the inlet rubbers when the bike is running to see if it alters the revs at all if it does it would indicate that maybe the inlet rubbers are knackered and allowing to much air to be drawn in Quote
marksmith Posted February 1, 2014 Author Posted February 1, 2014 Got the bike back from the garage yesterday, all working nicely. We're not really sure what the final problem was - possibly the fuel hose I put on to replace the old perforated one was a bit too long and was kinking, possibly (ridiculously) I just didn't put enough fuel in the tank after emptying it out. Anyway it's running really nicely now - better than it has done for a long time, so I guess it was grateful for some maintenance.Thanks all for the advice!Now just need to get the screen back on. Those rubber nut things are an abomination. Quote
marksmith Posted February 7, 2014 Author Posted February 7, 2014 Well sorry to keep banging on about this - but it played up again yesterday and today. Started fine and ran well for about five minutes - then started missing and eventually gave up.Long story short, I know what the problem is now. The fuel tap is intermittent on the "on" setting. Prime and reserve work fine but fuel isn't always getting through on the main setting.Anyone know if that's a common problem? Do the tap repair kits have the bits to repair it? Quote
Tango Posted February 7, 2014 Posted February 7, 2014 Yeah....strip the tap, clean it all out and fit a repair kit and you should be OK...... Quote
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