Not starting sometimes??

So I've actually been riding the bike a lot finally Put 1000 miles on her pretty quick in the mountains. Yesterday though, we stopped about half way down on the way back to fuel up and grab a bite. When I went to start her, she would just crank crank crank crank, put on choke (bike was already very warm) and she started after a few throttle pulls.

I thought it was maybe because the high altitude and thin air. When I got back down into town (5500 feet elevation) I went and got an iced coffee at starbucks. Came out and tried firing her up and just crank crank crank but no start. Finally got it started, shut it off, and tried to turn on again and it fired right up.

Any ideas? Carbs were very recently rebuilt as you guys know and starting hasn't been an issue since the carbs were done. until yesterday... Oh and it was like 100 degrees out yesterday if that matters....

 

Maybe someone here has info on high altitude riding.....When I bought my '82 Maxim there in Grand Junction,CO I never had a problem with the altitude, so I don't think it is a question of re-jetting....

Hopefully not float levels, you don't want to go back to that exercise again....we felt your pain on that one....lol

 

When it's that hot out you may be boiling off some of the fuel in the float bowls.

Try: switching to PRI for 30 sec or so before attempting to start;

or simply moving the "choke" lever to on then back off to lift then re-close the enrichment plungers just to give the carbs a quick "shot" of fresh fuel.

Have you done a running vac sync yet or are you just running it on the bench sync?

 

Fitz, good advice. I don't have a prime, just on/off, but yea, I flipped it to off, then when I went to start again, I flipped to 'on' and tried firing up. I can leave it in the 'on' position for half a minute and see if that helps

Still running on the bench sync. I'm slowly gathering my needed parts to build the homemade manometer. Planning on doing the bench sync next weekend. I really wanted to ride this weekend

 

If it's not completely in sync, it can be a bugger to hot-start. That's why you need to do your vac sync with it fully warmed up.

You did get the valves in spec somewhere along the line, right?

 

Sounds like my Seca 750. Starts and idles perfect, except if I park it for a short period while it's hot. Then it will crank and crank. I can usually get it to start if I treat it like its flooded - hold it wide open and crank. Once it starts and "blows out", it'll be fine.
My theory is the opposite of others here. I think what happens on a hot day is that the fuel wicks up and floods the carb. Maybe the float level is a little high. Once it sits long enough, it dries out and everything is fine. Its just that 15-30 minute range when it'll give you grief.

Side note, my 82 Virago 750 used to do the same thing. Except it was worse on that bike because the starter was barely adequate on a good day...you could pretty much expect to be push starting it since the battery couldn't deliver enough juice to crank it over wide open for more than a couple seconds.

Btw: I am also on CO, around 6000ft most of the time.

 

Right on, yea that makes sense too. Who knows. Started perfectly this morning...

Where in CO are you?

 

Must be an aftermarket petcock, I thought all the 82 maxims had only on, res, and prime as options?

They are notoriously finicky about battery strength, and won't turn over if that's not up to snuff. Last year I ran into that situation where the batt wasn't charging enough and needed replacing outright, so you may want to check that and the charging system just to be thorough.

 

Could have gotten some bad gas.

 

Sorry for the delay, been an insane week thus far. But yea, I did the valves as the first "project" on this bike so those are in spec...

It starts immediately in the morning with choke on. If I turn it off and try to start it in less than 5 minutes, fires right up no choke. If I let it sit for a few hours, even if it's still warm, won't crank. Choke on, will crank but takes a few seconds.... I shouldn't need choke after only 3-5 hours would I?

Bad gas is possible I suppose. I'll have to see what the next fill up brings...

Battery voltage checked out last I checked...

 

You may need a little bit of enrichment if it's been off for 3-5 hours; depends on the weather, honestly.

 

That's good to hear, I thought something was very wrong!

In the morning, hit enrichment, starts up immediately. Get to work and by the time I go on lunch, i hit the enrichment and it still has trouble starting without a little help from the throttle. It's been hot lately though....

 

well just went for coffee on lunch break. Idled pretty much the whole way due to traffic. Drank some coffee, went to fire it up, didnt crank. Had to put on enrichment and throttle a bit... what the hell is going on?

If i turn it off and start it right back up, it fires no problem....

 

Poultrygeists?

 

lol anything is possible.....

 

Just checking in to see if you ever found the problem?
I seem to have a similar problem, the bike feels like its not getting enough gas. I need to put in prime to get it started and after switching back to run it will die out again when I give it some throttle.

 

Check your vacum hose from the Petcock to carby, if the bike runs on prime ok that would be where I would start. You can run your bike on prime ok just dont leave it on prime whilst parked up.

 

Thanks, it start out of the blue. I haven't had a real chance to look into it, but thought I would see what I could find online about it.