Cool weather and now won't start?!

[BriTXbike]

Ok so I?ve combed this forum and have been trying to absorb as much info as I can so when the day comes that ?Tink? gives me problems I have a good idea in what direction I need to take. Anybody need help with Carbs, READ THE STEP BY STEP ARTICLE FROM THE HOME PAGE! I?ve been reading all these messages and just found it LOL.

Bike:83' 850G

Well I have to admit that I didn?t see something like this coming. What I found: I live in Dallas and work overnights at an IT desk. Two nights ago I left about 5am and when I went to start her up she cranks but wouldn?t turn over. After about 15 minutes of on/off trying to start her up she finally fired up with it in Prime and Choked. After about 15 seconds she idled up to 3k and off I went home without further incident. I got up that afternoon and ran out to the bike and did the exact same start up and WAM first crank, it turned over. Ok so went to leave this morning and wasn?t surprised it was the same issue again. This time I had to get her manually moving as fast as I could put it in gear to start her up.

I?m about 99% sure its time to rebuild the carburetors since I?m not sure if the PO did or not. Before I jump to that though I?m a little baffled here. The bike has run great since I got it two months ago, minus running a little rich, and she?ll move when you gun it. Up to this point she has started up every time without hesitation. The only factor I see different is we had a cold front come through and the temp has changed about 13 degrees cooler in the morning then what it has been all summer (from 80's to mid 70's). Why would this create the problem even when I set it to prime when starting?

Also, anybody know if I can get JUST the Crank Case cover Gasket instead of a complete Gasket set. Trying to save a few bucks for some other necessary repairs. I thought about trying Cycle-Re-Cycle II?

[BriTXbike]

Scratch the last part of my post, I was looking for a valve over Gasket and BWringer already emailed me a while back about were to buy this

BWringer, YOU DA MAN!

[flyingace]

Have you checked your battery and charging systems functions? Carbs generally don't stop working overnight - but charging systems do.

There is a link somewhere in GSResources called 'stator papers'. It walks you thru troubleshooting the charging system.

Ace.

[KEITH KRAUSE]

If you think the colder weather had something to do with it, colder mornings will worsen a lean condition. Could be many things.
Do some easy basic maintenance first like clean the battery connections, fill with distilled water, clean/gap/replace plugs, check plug caps for good connections, check coil terminal connections if you don't mind taking the tank off, check air filter...
Since you don't know the history of the bike, someone may have turned the mixture screws in a little and this could cause a lean condition. This is also an easy thing to do. Keep a record of any adjustments so you can put them back if you like. Turn each screw out an additional 1/2 turn or so and test to see if it helps with cold starting. On stock bikes, the screws are generally about 2 turns out. Use a good fitting tool. If this doesn't help either, then I'd suspect the pilot circuit is dirty/varnished up and the carbs will need a cleaning and o-ring/float level, etc, check.
By the way, if your hot idle is a lot higher than when cold/warming up, then you most likely have an intake leak. Usually the manifold o-rings or manifolds, or if you're lucky, loose clamps. An intake leak will cause cold start problems but is accompanied by the higher rpm symptom.

[bjrehill]

70's is not cool weather. LOL. But it may cause condensation. This may be an elcetrical thing more than gas thing. Try taking the plug off when you run into this problem and check to see fi you have a good spark by grounding it to the case.

I regularly ride in 20 degree weather and my bike runs fine. Actually runs worse when it gets over 90. Not much though. Only starting problems I have had is when I get caught in a drenching rain.