bike won't start

i bought a 1993 xj600 seca used, supposedly sat for a while. started up when i was there. rode it home to friends house. then a few days later he rode it to my house. the petcock was left on pri for about a day. next day bike won't started up with low idle and then died. never started up again. took off the carbs got a shop to clean it professionally. replaced the spark plugs, new battery and still nothing. there is spark. don't assume there is any fuel problems because carbs were just professionally clean. tried push starting wouldn't work either. i am out of ideas. any advice or suggestion would be greatly appreciated. i will try to do compression test and starter fluid in the airbox tomorrow when there is light out.

eric.

 

Perhaps the fuel supply from the tank to carbs is being restricted. I can imagine that the recent movement has got any debris in the tank moving. Now it may have plugged the fuel tap or in-line filter. So set fuel tap to ON position then remove the supply to carbs. Fuel should not flow until you turn the fuel tap to PRI(me). Try running some fuel into a suitable container with the fuel tap set to PRI. If you don't get any flow then the blockage is upstream from the carbs.

 

thanks for the quick reply, i tried putting it on the "on" position and unplug the fuel line to the tank no fuel left the tank. when i put it on "pri" fuel was pouring out into a container. i did that to see if there was still any goop that was going to go into my freshly cleaned carbs. so i dont think that is the problem. when the bike didnt work i drained the float bowls to see if fuel was getting to the carbs at all and there was fuel that came out. so i dont believe it would be a fuel delivery issue. anyone else have any other ideas?

thanks

 

Hmmm. I'm new here. But I bet one of the experienced guys will now tell you not to trust the "professional" cleaning. A true cleaning is probably only something that you would have the patience to do. The pro clean was probably just a "clean the easy bits" and charge the customer accordingly.

See this excellent post by Chacal. Then look at his other post for the parts you might need.

 

i didnt feel like i was up to the task. it seems quite complicated. so i took it to a shop. hopefully someone will reply soon. i bought it and havent got a chance to enjoy it yet

 

I was in the same boat last summer. My bike was "idling" at 3000 - 5000 rpm. I kept putting off the carb work all summer because I thought it would be too complicated. But when I finally did the work, it was a lot easier than I had thought. (Mind you, I didn't do the super-clean that Chacal details.) I wished I had tackled it at the beginning of the summer rather than suffering through till the fall.

Hey you Red Liners, feel free to chime in and help this guy out.

 

well i'm definately not a red liner or anything but a few things that you always check when it won't start (not saying you haven't done them)

for your engine to work properly you need 3 things

AIR

first thing i'd do is take out the air filter and check and make sure he's not plugged up with crap after having sat

Fuel

if you haven't already i'd drain the tank of gas that has been in it and put some fresh stuff in, drain the float bowls and crank it over a few more times... see if that does anything if not i'd begin to suspect that your carbs are plugged.

Start from the tank and work your way to the cylinder checking every stop along the way, make sure that your petcock functions properly, a fuel filter is not plugged (if you have one) and then proceed to the carbs draining the float bowls was a good idea but i'd give them a thorough tear down and rebuild... just make sure you have an open space tape and a marker and be careful to remember where everything goes and how it goes together, the tutorials are also wonderful for this purpose. if this isn't the problem i'd move on to spark

Spark

check plug wires and plugs, make sure your getting a spark and if you are make sure that your getting a strong one ensure that there aren't any cracks in the wires at all where it could be arcing to the head when its tightened in but fooling you into thinking its sparking when you've removed it

thats my two cents.... not the best but maybe there are a couple things you haven't tried yet... otherwise i'd just start expanding your vocabulary and throwing wrenches... that always seems to do the trick.

 

air filter i would have to check that. didnt really open the air box to check the filter, ill do that when i try the start fluid. as for fuel i emptied the tank and put new gas in. petcock functions fine when its on "on" nothing comes out when i put it on "pri" fuel starts flowing. the float bowls filled up when i was trying to make the bike run so i figured fuel has a good path to the carbs. spark i took out a spark plug, plugged it back into the spark plug wire and started it with the spark plug next to metal and saw sparks. i only did that for the 4th spark plug to see if i get spark ill check again for all spark plugs.

thanks again for all ur help. if anyone else has anything to add please post. anything would be helpful to me right now. i just want it running again.

 

ill check if my motor has seized when i get a chance tmr. by placing it in 4th gear and rocking it back and forth. it might have seized because my friend left the petcock on pri for a while. maybe?

what is the right way to push start the bike? me and my friends tried push starting it. one guy on the bike on pushing in the rear another on the side. we were going decent speed, it's in first with the clutch in, and when we decide its fast enough we release the clutch and pressed the ignition switch and it doesnt work.

eric

 

so i tried the high gear rocking back and forth. took alot of effort to move it only 1-2inches. that was as far as it would go. does that mean my motor is seized? when i was rocking and really listened i think i heard compression but it was pretty hard doing it by myself. me= 5'5. 130lbs. please give me your input.

 

If you can crank the engine over to check spark, the motor isn't seized. Check to make sure you got spark on the other plugs, then give it a few snorts of starting fluid in the air box. Hit the starter button and let us know what happens.

On a side note, fill in your signature with what kind of bike(s) you've got and, if you feel comfortable with it, where you're from. This can be done by going to My Account --> My profile information.

 

Having two fools to help push you on the bike is a GREAT way to push start the bike!!! Saddly, when it's below freezing here in Philly (67F on Monday and 27F on Thursday! !@#$) and I get out of work after the sun is off the engine, pushing up to speed by yourself and leaping on it and trying to pop clutch without injury is the harder way to start the bike. Hope you always have such friends around you

Jon

 

Real easy to forget to connect the "Choke" cable when you reinstall carbs.