So frustrated!

[Guest]

okay so ive been rebuilding an 82 GS1100 for the past 6 months... damn near everything has been rebuilt or replaced.

- I completely broke down the carbs, all cleaned (spotless), air compressed, and reassembled using new gaskets and o-rings, put in a stage 3 dyna-jet kit. because it has an open exhaust and pods.
- Rebuilt starter clutch put on several days ago, fully torqued with a heavy duty impact. and red loctite was used on the thread.
- ALL new fluids.
- All carbs are getting gas, the floats are correctly adjusted.
- The battery is fully charged and all four plugs are getting a spark.

- The bike ran fine very recently, the starter clutch was coming loose and making a scraping noise so its been taken apart the past couple weeks while it was being rebuilt. the electric starter was having issues because of the clutch but i could push start it without a problem under my own power. NOW i cant even get it to push start while my brother is running pushing it behind me gong down a hill! i cant even get a single cylinder to fire! its as if nothing is hooked up!

i havent changed or adjusted anything! and i am completely clueless as to why its not starting. again it was running only a couple weeks ago and nothing has been changed except for a rebuilt starter clutch and reassembly!

ANY assistance you would be able to lend would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thank all of you in advance!
Sincerely,
~Nate

[Bustedknuckles]

by the way

by the way i should probally specify that all that work was done long ago, except for the starter clutch... the rebuilding of the carbs and re-jetting was way back when it ran fine... it was all tuned in and ready to go... but after reassembly of the starter clutch... i cant get a single cylinder to fire... not even once... by electric start or push start... ive even gradually messed with the idle up and down to see if that may work, but nothing...

[Nessism]

I don't normally help people fix their bike if it has an open exhaust but...I suggest you check spark and go from there.

[azr]

I'm sure you've already checked all your wiring ten times over. Are you still getting good spark? what exactly 'is' the motor doing when it try's to turn over? it's probably something simple if it was running fine 2 weeks ago.

[Loki]

Look at stator, wires and such since you were just in that area.

[Stahlgrau333]

Bad ground, perhaps?

[DanTheMan]

Check all your fuses and the fuse block too. Mine (the 850) did that, and it was the in the fuse block. No power, no spark.......

[Bustedknuckles]

its sparking

the bike IS getting a spark on all four spark plugs when grounded to the block, so is it still possible there is a short somewhere? or should i start looking at something else?

[tom203]

the bike IS getting a spark on all four spark plugs when grounded to the block, so is it still possible there is a short somewhere? or should i start looking at something else?

Triple check that spark plug wires haven't been interchanged.

[Bustedknuckles]

wire placement

for the spark plug wires... this is how i have it hooked up...

left side coil, left wire >> plug #1
left side coil, right wire > plug #4

right side coil, left wire>> plug #2
right side coil, right wire> plug #3


i DID replace the ignition wires recently when the bike wasnt running, but i was very careful with the labeling, but i SUPPOSE i could have mixed it up....

[DanTheMan]

I s fuel actually making it into the cylinders?

[mlc216]

I s fuel actually making it into the cylinders?

^same thing I was wondering... If you have spark and compression and the plug wires in the right place, then it's either timing or not getting fuel. I'm assuming you haven't changed the timing since it ran last, so I'd say it's time to pull the carbs and go through them once again. You say that all the work was done a long time ago, well did you leave gas in the carbs the whole time it didn't run? If it was gas w/ethanol then you can count on the carbs needing a good cleaning now. That stuff goops and gunks up in as little as 2 weeks withouth running! Truly is crap fuel for motorcycles.

[Bustedknuckles]

well it was only about a month and a half since it last ran. and i used 91 octane shell gas in it! i know these bikes were made to run on low octane fuel but i figured it couldnt hurt since it was the beginning of a restoration.

the carbs were rebuilt about 3 months ago. since i rebuilt them and re-jetted them it ran fine. started up without a problem and purred like a kitty.

about a month ago the starter clutch got loose and started scraping, so i garaged it, got the starter clutch rebuilt, re-assembled everything.... and now im here...

i suppose ive gone through everthing thing else it could be...

i have spark in all 4 plugs
fluids are new and correct level.
fresh gas
fully charged battery
good compression on all 4

it will sit there and crank, crank, crank... but no firing... not even a little pop...

so, i guess i tear the carbs apart again and see if there are any blockages...

is there any way to test if gas is getting into the cylinder? the intake boots are bone dry, should they be moist with gas?

[Dogma]

...

is there any way to test if gas is getting into the cylinder? the intake boots are bone dry, should they be moist with gas?

You can open the drain screw on the bottom of the float bowl to see if that's full. The only other way I know of is to pull a plug and see if it's wet, but I'm not sure that's reliable.

The first time I rebuilt carbs I forgot to set the idle up after the bench sync. I hope it's something that stupid simple.

[wdavie]

Your kill switch on the right hand switchgear isn't off is it? I did this once and took me ages to realise.