Motorcycle help, any experts out there?

[tsor39]

Did you pull the plugs after starting? Are they wet?

Are you sure the Petcock is open? Stranger things have happened.

[Son of a gun]

what kind of carbs are on it? 1? 2? 4? are they CV carbs (usually noted by having the throttle control a butterfly and the carb slide being free , actually operated by air flow) if they are CV CARBS THE SLIDE WILL PUSH UP AND DOWN WITH YOUR FINGER..(slide not operated by cable). they are opened by air flow with a rubber diaphragm DO NOT SPRAY ANYTHING in to the carbs it will ruin the rubber and they will not work and diaphragms are expensive carb cleaner swells them they they dont open

I have a ATV business and see ppl doing this to carbs all the time...

...if they are not cv carbs take them out & apart and buy a bucket of CARB DIP from NAPA or wherever throw all the pieces in there and let them sit... make sure you take pics if you are unsure how to put back together AND BUY THE CARB REPAIR KIT FROM YOUR LOCAL BIKE DEALER BEFORE YOU START ON THIS. make sure you clean out the jets with piece of wire any Q's just PM me

[phillykev]

Are you sure the Petcock is open?

I'll put up $5 this it the problem

[ErSwnn]

Thanks for all of the suggestions, i've been trying to avoid having to clean the carbs. I'm sure i'm mechanically inclined enough to do it, and I have found detailed instructions, just scared i'll screw something up because i've never done it before. I've been asking around and hoping that someone would have experience and the time to help, but i'm having no luck so far. I'd much prefer to watch someone else do it the first time then screw something up.

I too believe this is the cause of your problem, if as you state all other potentials have been investigated. If your just not up for the task, remove the carbs and take them to a shop...it's a lot cheaper than dragging in the whole bike. I'd get to it asap, real soon the shops are going to swamped with people just like you, new to bikes and unsure why it won't run.

[glockk23]

Try cleaning your carbs with Yamaha Carb Cleaner. Is comes in a quart bottle and the best thing is you can clean them without removing them (usually). Just drain all the fuel from the float bowls. Mix the cleaner as directed then pour it in through the fuel line until all float bowls are full. Shake the bike around to coat inside of carb and let it work for an hour or two (shake bike every 10 minutes or so). After an hour ?? drain float bowls in clean container - check solution to see how much crud drained out. You may have to repeat process a second time.

Just make sure the engine has enough compression to run

[Lycanthrope]

If it ran well and then sat and now won't start......don't start tearing stuff apart.

If you got water in the carbs or line it can take FOREVER to work that out in a small engine. You can drain a whole battery by just working water out of the fuel line.

I'd drop some Sea Foam in the tank and then take out the spark plugs. Spray in some starting fluid and replace the plugs and see if you can get it to fire.

Also, the petcock may operated by vacuum so if you have two hoses coming from the petcock, make sure they are hooked up.

Lycanstartsmallthrope

[41 Redhawk]

Try cleaning your carbs with Yamaha Carb Cleaner.

So Yamaha still sells that stuff! It really is excellent. They brought it out back in the early 80 when they were selling a lot of left over models. They would come to the dealer needing a carb clean. It is the best carb cleaner I have ever used.

PS, it wasn't cheap then and I'll bet it has gotten any cheaper!

[falcn]

How are you making out on this?

I have 6 motorcycles (3 for me 3 for her) and none of them see the inside of a shop as I handle all maintenance myself including valve adjustments (even those scary Ducati Desmo ones! albeit on a 2V air cooled motor). I also occasionally work on friends bikes doing tire changes, valve adjustments, carb cleaning, fork rebuilds, etc.

If you need help - lemme know. I am in East McKeesport.

Gas these days has so much crap in it...it gums up really easy anymore it seems. I have a can of carb dip, full complement of tools, etc.

If you are mechanically inclined you CAN tackle this yourself. The old Ninja 250 is a simple bike with CV carbs. As stated don't just spray carb cleaner into the carbs - you will ruin the diaphragms.

Carb dip, plus a nice air compressor to blow out the passages is the simplest way to clean the carbs. Autozone carries the "paint can" sized carb dip buckets. You just need a bucket of water to dip the carb in afterwards to get the stuff off.

Lycan makes a good point about water in the gas - which is easy to check as water is heavier than gasoline. If you drain the tank a little into a clear plastic or glass container you can see the separation. Was the bike sitting outside?

[ironhorse]

how's this going?get it runnng yet.. My son in law runs tcp cycles in chambersburg , he does good work ..check him out on facebook in chambersburg pa

[Python73]

Piling on for the bad gas. This happened to my Intruder two winters ago when I put it away without conditioner (Seafoam, etc). We wrenched on the thing for a couple weeks before getting it to start. Bad gas = bad times. Once you get it running, remember to winterize it properly (new gas + stabilizers) if you don't ride 365.