[AeroPilot]

I am having problems getting my aero started again. This happened once before and ended up needing starter fluid sprayed into the carb to get her going. Worked fine for a few months, and here I am again. I rode it to work Thursday and Friday this week with no trouble an it never sits more than a few days between runs, and it's on a tender when in the garage.

Started yesterday morning for about 5 seconds and then seemed to choke itself and stopped. Hit the starter button and she will crank over without trouble but no ignition. After a few attempts, I let it sit on the tender and came back to try again. Cranks, but no start. Yes, the petcock has been in the ON position this whole time. Even tried in the RES position just for the heck of it.

Kill switch is in start position
Bike is in Neutral an I put kickstand up too.
Checked spark with plug lead + screwdriver and all plug wires show spark
Petcock is ON
Cranks great and strong

Sat overnight on the tender, just tried again and she will crank good, but no start. Going to go borrow the starter fluid from the neighbor again and see if that kicks it over again.

I have had the aircleaner off, so I know it's clear for air flow, I can smell a light aroma of fuel after cranking a while, but not much at all.

Last time it took two shots of starter fluid ( started each time on that right away) and then the third shot I was able to keep it running.

Going thru the sticky thread, seems I may have a rich carb that needs cleaning or i may have a petcock diaphragm problem.

 

[thunderglass]

Are you using the choke?

 

[AeroPilot]

No. It's been in the 70's and she has been starting right up. I'm going to check and see if the float is stuck,...

It did start early yesterday morning (in the 50's) just as usual, idle seemed fine, but died about 5 seconds or so after starting,

 

[Chillable Red]

I have known of some batteries to have enough amperage to spin the engine over but not have enough left to make adequate spark to fire the engine as well. This may not be your problem, but next time it will crank but won't start try this test. Try jump starting it with a car battery (car engine not running). If it starts normally then it's probably time for a new motorcycle battery.

 

[Inferno]

There are only 3 reasons a bike won't start if it turns over.
1) No spark
2) Fuel issue
3) Timing

The VERY first thing to check for is spark. ALWAYS!
If you have spark then move on to gas.

With gas there are only TWO reasons a bike won't run. Not enough gas or too much gas (OK, really only one because it comes under the umbrella of "improper mixture").

If there's too much gas you will smell it in the exhaust. If there's not enough, you won't smell it. You can also read gas on the plugs. If they are wet then there's too much gas.

Timing is ALMOST never an issue on a newer bike.

So, there you have it. Find out the "issue" and then solve the problem.

 

[Scrapdog2grand]

sometimes when you have a weak battery, the bike starts then spudders out, due to the weak spark and battery. you end up with a flooded engine. just a senario, but possible. use to happen to my VLX when the batt would get weak.

if you pull the plugs and they are wet, give the cylinder a few to dry out, let the fuel evaporate ( I personally dont recommend cranking a flooded engine with the plugs out, but I do it myself), use a torch to heat them plugs up, not till thier cherry but get them hot, put them back in as quik as possible, and try to fire it, this ussually works for a flooded engine. You cant do all 4 but do the 2 you can get to easily.

 

[AeroPilot]

Well, things looked good at the carb. I cleaned it using seafoam and also added 3 oz to the full tank of gas. Still didn't start after reassembly, but after two shots of starter fluid (starting and dying again) I was able to hold the throttle to about half and add another shot of starter fluid and keep it running.

Few times around the block and shut it down. Restarted fine without choke and right away later tonight and road it for a 10 mile ride.

No definite item found,... Guess we'll carry the starter fluid just in case to work this week.

 

[Inferno]

So the issue is fuel. That's a good start.

Maybe run some seafoam IN your tank.

 

[Scrapdog2grand]

Well, things looked good at the carb. I cleaned it using seafoam and also added 3 oz to the full tank of gas. Still didn't start after reassembly, but after two shots of starter fluid (starting and dying again) I was able to hold the throttle to about half and add another shot of starter fluid and keep it running.

Few times around the block and shut it down. Restarted fine without choke and right away later tonight and road it for a 10 mile ride.

No definite item found,... Guess we'll carry the starter fluid just in case to work this week.

Did you try to use the choke before you hit it with the starting fluid?

 

[AeroPilot]

Yes, I tried the choke, full, half, nothing,.. all before resorting to starter fluid.


Back to this morning,.. after running it last night it was parked in the garage. Started up this morning with choke (51* out) and ran fine for 3-4 seconds and then started stumbling and died. Restarted right away, and as it began to stumble again I tried to just twist the throttle a tiny bit and died again. I can smell fuel, so I'm leaning on it getting to much fuel and drowning itself/Flooded. I went inside, came back in 10-15 minutes and tried again, and tried the flooded start procedure in the manual, No luck on restarting. Left it in the garage and went to work.

Thoughts?

I don't want to use starter fluid to get it going, but if I have to I will, just to drive it to a shop to get it worked on.

 

[Scrapdog2grand]

How many miles? you may want to try a new set of NKG plugs in it first, B4 you take it to the shop. there are 4, 2 of them are a little harder to get to, take a look at them see what they look like.

 

[AeroPilot]

just turned 5011 miles, all in the past year. I bought the bike as a leftover with 2 miles on it last October.

 

[markspike]

just turned 5011 miles, all in the past year. I bought the bike as a leftover with 2 miles on it last October.

Still under warranty? If so, take it back to the dealer.

 

[Scrapdog2grand]

Still under warranty? If so, take it back to the dealer.

Good idea, even if its just out of warranty, I'd call Honda and try to get them to do a 1 time goodwill repair. but they would need to duplicate the problem, or they may just give it back and say NPF no prob found.

 

[AeroPilot]

Just talked to the service guy and his thought is that I have a fuel problem on the intake side. I should check the petcock diaphragm / vacuum line to see if I have a tear in the diaphragm or if there is fuel in the vacuum line.

Since it runs fine once started and warmed up, no hesitations or problems when riding, he doesn't think it's anything with the pilot jet or jets in general.

Guess I'll try and find a diagram on how to check that stuff and give it a look-see.

 

[Scrapdog2grand]

Just talked to the service guy and his thought is that I have a fuel problem on the intake side. I should check the petcock diaphragm / vacuum line to see if I have a tear in the diaphragm or if there is fuel in the vacuum line.

Since it runs fine once started and warmed up, no hesitations or problems when riding, he doesn't think it's anything with the pilot jet or jets in general.

Guess I'll try and find a diagram on how to check that stuff and give it a look-see.

cant say I'm familar with that style, please post your find.

 

[AeroPilot]

Well, tonight I drained the tank and pulled it off. Found two of the four petcock screws on the back were looser than the other two. Little residue at the seal but doesnt look like it was leaking or anything. The diaphragm looked intact, so I cleaned up all the surfaces and re-assembled.

Vacuum tube is clear and dry. Fuel tube to carb looked clean as well.

All back together and with the petcock on RES, she fired right up like nothing was ever wrong ?!! So, I hope it was something I did. I put a little bit of gas from another tank I had just to get me to the station. Drove over and filled with new gas.

So, we will see what happens now in the morning.

 

[Scrapdog2grand]

Well, tonight I drained the tank and pulled it off. Found two of the four petcock screws on the back were looser than the other two. Little residue at the seal but doesnt look like it was leaking or anything. The diaphragm looked intact, so I cleaned up all the surfaces and re-assembled.

Vacuum tube is clear and dry. Fuel tube to carb looked clean as well.

All back together and with the petcock on RES, she fired right up like nothing was ever wrong ?!! So, I hope it was something I did. I put a little bit of gas from another tank I had just to get me to the station. Drove over and filled with new gas.

So, we will see what happens now in the morning.

if it doesnt fire in the on position, put it to res.

 

[AeroPilot]

Started right up this morning, like nothing was ever wrong... :!: :shock:

So, I rode it to work with no troubles. Below are some pics of what I found at the petcock. See the residue on the lower part of the piece,... it was little droplets of gas that turned kind of tacky, but easily wiped off. The bottom of the petcock was covered in it, which I wiped off prior to taking the photos unfortunately. I'm hoping that the cause was these two lower screws not being tight enough and the diaphragm not seating properly closed, allowing seepage from the tank to the carb and flooding a cylinder.??

I browsed YouTube and found this guy, who seems to have a good example of how bad this could become, where mine may be just the beginning. He also explains things in the beginning.

So, I"m keeping my fingers crossed that this could have been the problem.

 

[Chopped 02 Shadow]

Started right up this morning, like nothing was ever wrong... :!: :shock:

So, I rode it to work with no troubles. Below are some pics of what I found at the petcock. See the residue on the lower part of the piece,... it was little droplets of gas that turned kind of tacky, but easily wiped off. The bottom of the petcock was covered in it, which I wiped off prior to taking the photos unfortunately. I'm hoping that the cause was these two lower screws not being tight enough and the diaphragm not seating properly closed, allowing seepage from the tank to the carb and flooding a cylinder.??

I browsed YouTube and found this guy, who seems to have a good example of how bad this could become, where mine may be just the beginning. He also explains things in the beginning.

So, I"m keeping my fingers crossed that this could have been the problem.

I am thinking that you found your problem. As i was reading this thread i was thinking that there was a fuel line issue. After your final write-up, it seems that the problem was in the petcock and maybe having those loose screws was causing an issue with the diaphragm. Good job!