Topic: Bike won't start

[Floshenbarnical]

Getting a little sick of starting these threads. Bike started 3 times in a row this morning first kick. After I put my exhaust on this morning it wouldn't start with the kick until I ran it down the street and dumped the clutch, at which point it started, and then kicked fine several times afterward.

Now that I rode it, and it leaked from the spots above spark plugs 2 + 3 due to a faulty gasket, it won't start either by running it or kicking it over. I don't have a way to trailer it home. I can travel home and get some of my tools, but I'd like a little help diagnosing whats going on. When I kick it, the engine makes the normal sound just before the fuel ignites. You know, that exhaust coughing noise. It makes that noise when I bump-start it, but it just never starts up.

Obviously the first thing to do is correct my gasket leak (if possible - its aftermarket so could just suck generally, but I have an OEM one arriving Monday).

Should the next thing on my list to check my spark plugs and replace them? Is it possible they got oil in the holes and now are ruined?

What else could have changed since I parked it?

[robvangulik]

Is there fuel to be burned? Reserve maybe?

[willbird]

Is there fuel to be burned? Reserve maybe?

The basics are fuel, spark, and compression.

So turning petcock off and looking in each float bowl one at a time would let us see if all 4 have an equal volume of fuel. Early in my own process of waking my bike up I did that and found one bowl empty. Gelled fuel had stuck the float needle into the seat so no fuel flowed. Also look in the bottoms of the float bowls for any loose "stuff", dirt, rust, etc.

Recently my bike started running like crap while going down the road. This same visual inspection revealed that a Pilot jet I had not properly tightened vibrated loose and fell out to the bottom of the float bowl.

Any trash in the system can block the petcock strainer, and if no strainer is present trash can block jets, especially the pilot jets.

I struggled with issues layered upon issues with my bike, as each was untangled it ran better. One issue that really drove me nuts was one spark plug gap was too tight, like almost totally closed. My fault, I think I must have dropped that plug and did not inspect it well enough to see the issue.

Bill

[Floshenbarnical]

- Plenty of fuel in tank.
- Petcock allows good fuel flow.
- I don't think I have any float needles stuck. I will check that first.
- Good unrestricted fuel flow. Very clean tank.
- Had the bowls off this morning, they're clean.

That leaves spark

- I have two spare spark plugs. I have more on order arriving next week, because I want to do some plug chops.
- This means that for right now, I can replace the two spark plugs I think are affected.
- Would 2/4 spark plugs being oil-fouled prevent the bike from starting?

Moment of weakness: I swear it's one thing after another with this bike. This one in particular was operator-error, which makes it even more maddening. I am fairly certain it's spark plug-related because the bike worked until oil leaked from between plugs 2&3. I didn't change anything else.

If oil has made its way into the cylinder, what do I do?

[Floshenbarnical]

Lol, the battery is flat. Let’s try there first.

[Floshenbarnical]

Spoilers: it was the battery

[ekpent]

I was going to say check that before I saw your solution at the bottom of the page. Honda's need a good healthy battery. A leaky valve cover gasket won't bother your spark plugs.

[willbird]

Spoilers: it was the battery

years ago a battery would barely last 2 years, of course I did not have a battery tender way back then,  the last few weeks of the second year I would have to kick start....the last day of those 2 weeks putting the brakes on would kill the bike. So it can be low but not totally flat :-). I had never tried kicking one with the plug wells full of oil so had no idea if that would run that way or not.

Bill

[BenelliSEI]

When you are changing the spark plugs, pull gently on the cap on the end. They are literally screwed into the end of the wire. There is a long, sharp screw inside the cap, that screws up into the wire core of the spark plug wire. They often overheat and corrode the inner wire. If they pull off easily, cut a 3/8” off the end of the cable and screw it back on, into fresh wire.

[Don R]

 I just moved an 8 year old agm Advance Auto battery out of my sandcast and into a bike I'm working on. I sold two bikes, so I bought two more batteries. New ones are DieHard, I hear they are the same as Yuasa.

[Floshenbarnical]

I have an Antigravity lithium ion battery, but I must confess I have never checked its condition or hooked it up to a charger. I also must confess I gently laid the bike down on its left side a month ago while I was moving it onto a stand. It didn't "hit" the ground - more like "made contact" with some minimal scratching on the cover but I wonder if I damaged my stator or something. How do I check if the bike is charging the battery?

[newday777]

I have an Antigravity lithium ion battery, but I must confess I have never checked its condition or hooked it up to a charger. I also must confess I gently laid the bike down on its left side a month ago while I was moving it onto a stand. It didn't "hit" the ground - more like "made contact" with some minimal scratching on the cover but I wonder if I damaged my stator or something. How do I check if the bike is charging the battery?

With a volt meter.
Readings at
1. Key off
2. Key on
3. Headlight on
4. As starter button is used
5. At idle
6. At 2,500 rpms

[newday777]

I've read multiple posts that lithium batteries require specific voltage charging and are susceptible to over charging.