Starting a bike that hasn't started for 2 years...

Conanius

Conanius

Conanius

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18 Oct 2002
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Brother in law has a GSX F 600 1997 R reg with about 22k on the clock.

2 Years ago he got off the bike and went into the house.... it then hasn't moved. In short, it wasn't a planned period of storage.

We are having huge problems getting the thing to start. When we had a look the fuel had gone weird (orange sludge like soup fluid in it) so we drained the tank, and emptied the carbs of any fuel that was in them. Fresh fuel? no joy.

We've since checked the spark plugs which look ok and given them a clean on the gas hob (been told this could give them a kick if they were warm) but no joy.

We've tried lots to try and get it to start, and sometimes it goes like it will start but just doesn't get there. The rest of the time it just sounds like the engine turning over.

Does anyone have any ideas of what we need to be trying. We've been using a jumpstart pack as the battery is a bit tired.

About to give up and just take it to a garage and say help !
 
Take the plugs out & put a Small amount of fuel directly into the bores then try it.
 
Are you getting a spark? Are you getting fuel through i.e. do plugs look wet after trying to start it?

Did you completely strip the carbs and ensure all the drillings and jets were clear? IME carbs left for that length of time can get choked up with the gum the petrol forms as it evaporates, and it can be quite tough to remove.

If it starts on a whiff of Easy Start, then fueling is your problem.
 
I Hope as well as emptying the carbs you then stripped & cleaned all the jets etc, & stripped & cleaned the fuel tap as well, otherwise it takes a fair old time for the flow of fresh fuel to clear the soup like residue of stale fuel.

[EDIT] well & truly beaten /\/\/\
 
Dogbreath said:
Did you completely strip the carbs and ensure all the drillings and jets were clear? IME carbs left for that length of time can get choked up with the gum the petrol forms as it evaporates, and it can be quite tough to remove.
Click to expand...

This - if the fuel was sludge in the tank imagine what it would be like in really thin holes which won't have been moved about like a tank would!

Take the jets out, blow down them or try running compressed air up them a bit?
 
the plugs are getting wet (when we took them out all 4 had fuel on them), so we are guessing to at least some degree fuel is getting through.

Not stripped down the carbs as we wouldn't know where to start. Diagrams and how to guides for this bike appear to be hard to come by !
 
check the fuel filter? if tank had orange gunge in it then the filter will be clogged too,my zx6 has ben standing a long time over a year and it takes a while to start but does start up,its very easy to flood them

so if it soundslike its about to fire up stop,and wait about a minute-2 minutes and try usually it fires up then

you might do better buying a new set of plugs too
 
Providing you think everything is clean enough for it to run try bump starting it, my old gsxf(98) always responded well to this over the starter motor even on an external battery. Make sure you have a nice long down hill slope and don't let your mate stop pushing it as fast as he can!!
 
Get a wire brush on the spark plugs and check the spark is still decent. Note whether they're wet or not too (obviously they should be if you've been firing fuel into the bore). You may find they're quite weak after sitting for a few years and that you need to replace them but you might get lucky with the wire brush.

If the spark plugs were wet then you know fuel was getting into the bore so continue to the next paragraph, if not then its carb cleaning time.

Turn the engine over a few times without the plugs in and then put them back in and try start it with the choke on. Once it starts biting, give it some gas to help it catch up with the choke.

If you've changed the fuel, the engine is turning over ok and your spark is strong then it should start eventually.

Then again... It is a Suzuki :p
 
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had a similar thing with a vfr400 that had been stood for 10 years. get some carb cleaner and squirt it into the carbs and as long as plugs ok it will probably start. vfr fired straight up with new battery, plugs and carb cleaner

good luck
 
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