[slafronza]

my 83 700 shadow will not start.
it was running fine last week when i parked it. i went to start it yesterday and it started and ran for a few seconds then when i hit the throttle it died and would not start back up. turns out no gas (gas light is broken)

now today even on a freshly charged battery it will not start. i hooked the pump directly to another battery and it worked, checked for spark and thats good. it cranked over good and hard untill i hardwired the fuel pump to the bikes battery, now it acts like the battery is dying? battery is good and has always held a charge just fine....any ideas?

 

[tantasquit]

On some bikes, the fuel pump only works when the engine is cranking. If you ran out of gas, it may take lots of cranking to get the fuel into the carbs. Are you using the choke or not? If you flooded the carbs while trying to start it, you'll have to wait and try again. This is a drain on any battery.

If you live on top of a huge hill, you could try roll-starting it, (not really).

If you smell gas, then fuel is being delivered somewhere. If no smell is present, that's different.

 

[louie]

Not unusual, tantasquit has it right - this pump will not run with just a hot-jumper to the battery. It's not a motor-driven pump, it's actually a diaphragm that pops back and forth on a spring and electromagnet. That "click" you hear is one pump cycle, which is not enough to refill the carbs after running them dry. The pump only runs when the engine is turning.

What I've done before is to crank the engine one or two revolutions and stop, flip the kill switch on the handle bars off and on again... then repeat several times. Keep in mind that you just want to turn it over enough to give the ignition system a pulse signal to get the pump to cycle. Continuous cranking will probably work eventually, but you'll run out the battery before you fill up the carbs. Keep some jumper cables handy in case you need them.

 

[slafronza]

well thanks guys thats good news. battery is charging now.. ill keep u updated and let u know what happens

 

[landon]

If it ran fine and then suddenly died your piston compression is probably fine, it is either a fuel problem or an ignition problem.

You can bypass the fuel relay by jumpering the Black and Blue-Black wires which will make the fuel pump always have pressure even if the engine is not spinning.

If you open the fuel drains on the carbs does anything come out?

And if you you pull the park plug wires out and put a nail or some other metal object in them and hold it near the cooling fins do you get a spark from all four wires when you try to start it?

 

[slafronza]

i am getting spark and i do smell fuel, but still no go. it will crank over like crazy and every once and a while it will act like its gonna fire up but dosent...

should i start it with the choke on or off?

 

[slafronza]

btw yes fuel does come out when i open the drains

 

[Kingshead]

The battery must be very strong for the bike to start, try jumping it with the car battery. Do NOT have the car running and do NOT crank on endlessly. This should start the bike easily, if not then it's not a battery related issue.

 

[landon]

I agree with Kingshead this sounds like a battery problem, the 83 to 85 Shadows needed the 16 amp battery to start the engine instead of the 14 amp battery commonly found on Shadows that came after the 85 model.

Check your battery and see if it has a 14 or 16 in the part number on it.

As Kingshead said try jumping it with a car battery, if the motorcycle fires right up there is a problem with your battery, if it still won't start this still may be a fuel or electrical problem.