750 Seca starting troubles

I have an 83 SECA that I am having trouble getting to start consistently. Here is a short background.

If I put new plugs in it will start immediately, I ran the bike and it ran GREAT! Parked the bike for about a week and tried to start it, it would hit at first but would never start, put in another set of plugs and it fired right up, the plugs I took out were really wet. Now it has set again and will not start again.

Could it be a leaky petcock?

 

Any thoughts on this guys?

 

It sounds like you have some carb issues to resolve. Check the float levels maybe. Just a guess.

 

Could be a leaky petco'..it's common Must be time to check th.....
....Petco', float levels, needle 'n seat, clean th carbs generally (if you havn't)
Its getting too much fuel in it innit.
Plenty of info in searching th site.

 

Did you happen to check the position of your petcock flow valve? If it is in the PRIME position, and your floats happen to be leaking (which is not uncommon when a bike sits for a while) then it will let a lot of raw fuel pass into the cylinders which will saturate your plugs. Once the bike is started it will run fine.

I doubt this is a petcock issue. Usually the symptom when a petcock is going bad is it acts like it is running out of fuel. Even if the petcock were leaking fuel the floats should shut the level off once the bowls were full of fuel. That's why I am suspecting sticking floats. If you HAVEN'T messed with the carbs the float levels should be fine. If you HAVE messed with the carbs then I would suspect float levels right off the bat.

Is this a new development (ie, after it had been sitting all winter)? If so, it substantiates my suspicion that your floats are sticking open a bit and you are flooding the cylinders with raw fuel. The problem may diminish as you run a few tanks full of fresh gas through the bike because of all the detergents in the gas. But if it doesn't, then you will have to pull the carb rack and check the floats to see if the needles are sticking. When you leave fuel in the float bowls over the winter (or for extended periods of time) it is pretty common for the float needles to start sticking. Once you clean the needle valves your problem will be solved.

If you give us more background information we can help with a more accurate diagnosis.

 

If I HADN'T messed with / done th carbs.. mine would be running like crap.

 

Great info guys, I will tinker with it some more and try the couple of fuel tanks to see if it opens up the carbs, I am not the best mechanic in the world so I would probably let someone else fool with the carbs.

 

I did notice a very small puddle of "dirty" gas on the garage floor after cranking on it for a while. I bet the floats are stuck.

 

If you don't want to remove the carbs, try this. It might work to release stick floats and clogged jets.
Take the tank off. Now remove the caps on the carbs, take out the big spring and the diaphram. Now spray down into each of the four carb throats with carb cleaner. Do the Rick'o'matic Drop-like-a-bag-of-cement-out-a-second-storey-window diaphram test. In other words, the diaphrams have to drop fast and easy. If not, you must clean and very lightly sand, with emery cloth, the carb throats. Also check the diaphram rubbers don't have any holes, tears, etc and that the needle jets attached to the bottom of each diaphram are clean and free of varnish or other gunk.
After the spray cleaning and testing your diaphrams, re-assemble it all, put the tank back on and fire up the bike on fresh plugs. Take it for a short run and see if the plugs are still fouling. Hopefully this carbs-in-place cleaning will save you having to take the carbs off the bike.
thanks,
baz