no start

[niko]

i have an 85 gs550L that i cant get started. i cleaned the carbs sealed intake, replaced plugs and checked spark, all seems ok but it will still just crank and crank without firing. i tried ether and got a couple of backfires into the intake but still no joy. any ideas?

[Nessism]

Did you prime the carbs and get the petcock hooked up correctly?

Remove the floatbowl drain screw to see if there is gas inside. If not, you have a supply issue.

[tomo]

Like Nessism said, check first you getting fuel through. If fuel is getting to the carbs you need to prime them. An old trick which I posted on here a while ago, is to blow into the carb breather tubes, just a couple of puffs is enough. Sounds odd, but it works. Alternatively, turn the petcock to prime and leave for a minute or so, then switch it back to the normal position.

[niko]

there is fuel in the bowls, i checked that, and i'm pretty sure the carbs and petcock are functioning correctly. i was wondering about a timing problem or something like that, i checked compression but i don't know how to check timing, or could i have spark on the plugs when i pull them out but not under compression?

[tkent02]

Did it run before you did this recent work?

[niko]

ive never seen this bike run, when i got it it didn't have spark, i got a used tci igniter from a junkyard and that brought spark back but it still won't fire.