problems

so i installed a new petcock and b&s fuel on/off valve today. before that, the bike had run fine since the last time i had the carbs out. bike has been sitting for a month since the petcock leak issue. started up first try with full choke but started to make a high pitched whining noise but the rpms werent going up. my brother was there and i guess the noise scared him cause he told me to kill it. it made this noise once before but it only lasted a few seconds. it backfired once and then the next try it started right up, no whine. after a few minutes, rpms slowly dropped and it died and would not restart. battery is at 12 V. plugs are dry and black which leads me to believe it is running rich. not sure why it would not start again though. had my heart set on riding tomorrow.
let me know what you think.

 

In the cooler weather its not uncommon for unusual noises to pop up. When the Oil is Cold it needs extra time to move out from tight tolerances. The Cams will make some noise and the Valve Buckets will make some noise too before warmed-up oil gets-in to quiet things down.

If the noise you heard came from the starter area. You might have had a situation where the starter clutch was cold and didn't release right away.

My dead Chilly-Cold noise comes from the Clutches.

Those Black Plugs can be a number of things. Running cold with too much Choke. Once the engine starts you have to begin closing down the Enrichment a little bit at a time ... doing a balancing act between running and warming-up and closing-off the extra fuel that the enrichment circuit supplies.

Clean the plugs or throw-in a set of new ones and try running it again.
If you hear noises ... use a dowel and probe the area where you think you hear the unusual noises coming from.

Probing the engine for noise amounts to listeninng to the end of a long rod or some kink of solit stick or ruler to hear the mechanical sounds and isolate the area where unusual noises are emitting from.

 

any ideas why it wouldnt start up again? it just kinda slowly died on me. im gonna go back to the garage in an hour or so and clean up the plugs a little better. also gonna turn on the kerosene heater in there. maybe warmin things up a bit will make a difference.

 

If it didn't restart, I wonder if the carbs are getting any gas. Especially since you just replaced a petcock and added another valve. It started, ran with whatever gas was in the float bowl, then died and wouldn't restart.

If it happens again, try turning the petcock to prime. If it starts up, check the vacuum tube.

 

i thought about that. i didnt try it with the petcock on PRI though. i'll try that when i go back tonight.

 

Like Rick said, My bike squeals like a banshee when the weather is cold, however, it is just the starter clutch refusing to let go. I usually take the kerosene heater put it by the bike for 10 minutes, and she starts up nice and quiet

 

vacuum tube looks fine. tried starting with petcock on prime and that didnt work. tried with the old petcock and that didnt work. no idea what to do next.

 

Propane.
Let some propane gas from your torch in the airbox and see if its going to run on the combustible gas from your torch.