78 gs400 kickstart starting problems

[khardrunner14]

The bike ran great for over a year, then all the sudden it won't start. I found the battery was low on water. Fixed that and it started right away. Rode it for a couple days just fine.

It sat over the weekend and wouldn't start again monday. I tried another battery, jumping it etc. Nothing works so far.

Any ideas what could have happend in 2 days of non-use?

[oldschoolorange]

Look at your points, condenser, wiring, coils and carb. I know going through all that stuff sucks but you can see if you have good spark by removing the sparkplugs and leaving them attached and kicking it over. That will eliminate the coils and condenser as the problem.

[khardrunner14]

Thanks for the info. I haven't ripped these carbs apart yet, so I fear that is in the near future. Although, how likely would carb trouble be if the problem was so sudden?

[oldschoolorange]

It really depends, all you need to have happen is for some rust or other piece of garbage to get sucked into your carbs and plug your jets

[khardrunner14]

I checked the carb bowls for gas - good to go
I checked the spark plugs - good spark though one was gapped a little low
I reset the idle mixture screws (now at 2.25 turns out)

FINALLY got the bike to start using full throttle and the choke. It seems like I'm still running lean at idle. The bike popped a bit and the one spark plug was quite ashen. THe other plug was dark. The bike rode fine, though it still does not want to idle. I have to have the idle set above 3k for it to stay running even when I blip the throttle.

THe throttle also hesitates on return.

[oldschoolorange]

by what you are saying about the plugs, one cylinder is running rich and the other is running lean. Check for a vacume leak around tour carb boots by spraying brake clean or WD-40 around them and seeing if your rpm increases. Have you cleaned your carbs yet? If not you will only be chasing your tail.

[khardrunner14]

I figured that was the problem. I had my 550's carbs apart already, so this should be cake. It's running right now, but at low speeds and idle (it tries ) it isn't right. It will try to die if I don't keep the RPMs up above 3k. The carbs were off the bike already (my brother owned it before me) and they were spray cleaned. I'll have to rip them apart and dip them to make sure everything is ok.