Not startng for seemingly no reason

[JaNewb]

IF these are full of sand, I would not be pushing "needles" through passages. Several passages make right angled turns and can't be cleaned that way! better to soak + blow these out from the opposite way that debris would "naturally"get sucked into these when the bike is turning over...
but still if the bike was running really Properly last week after the valve and carb stuff, I'd be inclined to reread all the tips above and re-trouble-shoot the stuff you can do without taking it all down. To get the best indication of where-to-look. ..Like more gas in the tank per above and turning the fuel tap to Prime...and checking the gas tap vacuum hose, gas in the bowls etc. etc.

Oh yea I don't have a tap. It just goes straight from my tank to my filter to my carbs. I just ordered an inline petcock in the off chance that not having a petcock is the problem and I'm maybe flooding things?

[cowboyup3371]

What kind of filter do you have? Most fuel filters are too restrictive for our gravity fed systems (and you do need a regular petcock) and are not needed unless your tank is very rusty. Get rid of it or buy one made for a lawn tractor IF you really need it.

[JaNewb]

Not sure what part you are looking for color change on, the part you should be looking at starts out WHITE, and will change to tan. SILVER is not involved.




Please, THROW THE STARTING FLUID AWAY. It is far too easy to do LOTS of damage by using that stuff. Your bike is telling you that something is wrong, you will not fix it by spraying starting fluid.
Oh, and adding throttle while on "choke" is still a bad idea.



The fact that it does run (occasionally) tells you that you have spark. If it stops (especially when cold), it's probably out of gas. Yeah, you might have gas in the tank and maybe even in the float bowls, but that does not mean it's getting from the float bowls, through the jets AND ALL THE TINY LITTLE PASSAGES into the engine to get burned.



Do you remember what your final clearances are? Just out of curiosity, if they are too tight, you will have problems starting a cold engine.



Sorry, but if this issue of not starting is baffling you, you don't want to take on the project of switching to pods and the re-jetting that will follow. Some of the best of us are baffled by the challenge of re-jetting a bike for pods.




Look at BassCliff's site to find a tutorial by Nessism on how to properly clean your carbs.

The procedure is just a little different than what you have suggested, it's more like: disassemble the carbs COMPLETELY, soak each carb and its jets for about 24 hours, re-assemble the carbs by installing new o-rings from cycleorings.com, make some basic adjustments, fire the bike up. It's not all that hard, will just take the better part of a week to do it. It's only about 45 minutes to an hour each day, the soaking it what takes all the time.

.

Ah ok so the things I thought were ok probably aren't. My plugs are a little black, not tan.

**** is it possible I've already really damaged my bike with starting fluid? I did have to use it a couple times to start it when it was too cold before and not going.

I guess I'll have to open her up and check my clearances to make sure huh. It's been a couple months since the valve adjustment.

I've checked my plugs after I've tried to start it and I can smell gas. I can see the gas on my plugs too but could it be that it's simply not getting enough?

But the thing with that gap between all the connections of my airbox and carbs. An idea on how to close that gap isn't coming to me. I've tried for the better part of an hour to adjust my carbs height to line up with my airbox but it just doesn't want to go where it needs to. Even if I clean my carbs completely won't that gap cause problems?

[cowboyup3371]

Insert your carbs into the airbox first then connect them to the engine side. You'll have some finagling to do but it will work. If the airbox slides off after you tighten the clamps, you'll want to invest in a new set of clamps which generally aren't that expensive.

[JaNewb]

What kind of filter do you have? Most fuel filters are too restrictive for our gravity fed systems (and you do need a regular petcock) and are not needed unless your tank is very rusty. Get rid of it or buy one made for a lawn tractor IF you really need it.

What qualifies as really needing it? my filter has a little bit of debris in it but I don't see any kind of accumulation so I guess I don't need it. I'll change out my filter with a petcock then.

Thanks for the tip, I'll try attaching it that way.

[cowboyup3371]

Really needing it would be a rusty gas tank. Otherwise, your petcock has a built in filter to it as long as you get one made for the tank and not an inline shut off valve. Check out the ones on Z1's website - www.z1enterprises.com

[JaNewb]

cool so I've starting the process of cleaning my carbs but my fuel tank doesn't have a reserve and looking at the petcock on z1 it doesn't seem like it fill fit. Any idea's for a petcock that fits the bolt size on my tank? Or some kind of way to machine something and make the petcock from z1 work?

http://www.z1enterprises.com/ItemDet...item=KL18-4358

[cowboyup3371]

What's the distance in mm between the bolt holes on your petcock?

[Maddevill]

One thing to check. My son's CBRF2 would run at idle but as soon as you touched the throttle it would die. Turned out the slides were sticking in the carb bores. Wouldn't lift so would shut off for lack of air. Make sure the slides and bores are clean and move freely along with no tears in the diaphrams.

[bluehwy]

One thing to check. My son's CBRF2 would run at idle but as soon as you touched the throttle it would die. Turned out the slides were sticking in the carb bores. Wouldn't lift so would shut off for lack of air. Make sure the slides and bores are clean and move freely along with no tears in the diaphrams.

I wonder if that is what was going on with mine...

His petcock looks like it's the same as my '80 1100E... I bought a Pingel PN# 18-7167 and an adapter plate to go with it. I believe mine measured 50 mm c-c. Want me to verify?

[BassCliff]

Hi Mr. JaNewb,

You received your "mega-welcome" in THIS THREAD. (<<<Click) Have you had a chance to go through it? These particular guides, found on my little website, seem to be analogous to your situation:

Mikuni BS(CV) Carburetor Rebuild Tutorial
(Mr. Nessism)
Air Intake Repair:

Airbox removal, intake boots and O-ring replacement
Carb Specs:
Float Height/Jetting/Tuning

Carb Notes:
Synchronizing/Troubleshooting/Theory

Feel free to visit my website for electrical tips, valve adjustment tips, and lots of other stuff. Yes, you've got homework.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[tom203]

What's the distance in mm between the bolt holes on your petcock?

Hard to tell, but his pic looks like he has the dreaded 1980 leverless petcock with 50 mm centerline bolt spacing.

[Gorminrider]

"I've had a problem where my bike won't start for seemingly no reason other then not running for a couple days."
Really, I'm not very experienced , but this (from your first post) bugs me.
Your fuel tap is unlikely to be a problem, if gas flows. (There IS a clear airvent in your tank, I hope? Open the gas cap and see if that helps,where fuel flow to the bowls is a problem)
As I understand it, the OEM vacuum tap is really a safety feature so gas doesn't pour out when the motor is off. PLUSyou can ride off on the (warm) bike ...without forgetting to turn the tap on and having the bike die suddenly in traffic...I gather you are used to this already so ok on that score.

Of course, the carb vacuum port for this feature needs plugging,without a similar vacuum-type tap, or too much air goes into that manifold. That's a good point by Steve on a thread not so far from this one...
as to what's going on now? I'm still wondering if there were any changes or maintenance in this period ---->" for a couple days." before which everything was ok? apart from the chilly weather, that is.
and, I'd just tape over the airbox gaps for now. and see what diff it would make. Apparently it ran ok before, so that's a different issue.
oh, well. carry on. tell us if you find anything amiss.

[JaNewb]

Hard to tell, but his pic looks like he has the dreaded 1980 leverless petcock with 50 mm centerline bolt spacing.

Yep I just measured it and I'm not sure about the year but it's a leverless petcock, 50mm bolt spacing. As far as I can tell it has a working vacuum line that is functioning.

[JaNewb]

"I've had a problem where my bike won't start for seemingly no reason other then not running for a couple days."
Really, I'm not very experienced , but this (from your first post) bugs me.
Your fuel tap is unlikely to be a problem, if gas flows. (There IS a clear airvent in your tank, I hope? Open the gas cap and see if that helps,where fuel flow to the bowls is a problem)
As I understand it, the OEM vacuum tap is really a safety feature so gas doesn't pour out when the motor is off. PLUSyou can ride off on the (warm) bike ...without forgetting to turn the tap on and having the bike die suddenly in traffic...I gather you are used to this already so ok on that score.

Of course, the carb vacuum port for this feature needs plugging,without a similar vacuum-type tap, or too much air goes into that manifold. That's a good point by Steve on a thread not so far from this one...
as to what's going on now? I'm still wondering if there were any changes or maintenance in this period ---->" for a couple days." before which everything was ok? apart from the chilly weather, that is.
and, I'd just tape over the airbox gaps for now. and see what diff it would make. Apparently it ran ok before, so that's a different issue.
oh, well. carry on. tell us if you find anything amiss.

Naw no maintenance at all. Nothing done to it other then the temp dropping 10-20 degrees. That's why I was confused as to how it roars to life one day and sputters out a couple days later. The only thing that changed was the temp. It worked just fine before, no reving at lights to keep the rpms up or holding the starter very long before it starts. It'd turn over like once and fire right up. Was steve's thread about something similiar?