So your ride won't start after sitting? We got you!
Let me guess… your machine won’t start after 2 weeks, 2 months or maybe even after years of sitting; staring at you every time you walk by...
You’re in luck! Before creating our own parts and selling online, we were a mobile shop (hence Rolling Wrench being born!) for 13+ years, and the most common repairs we performed were on machines that were just sitting around. Here is a quick breakdown of things to check or perform. This list is only assuming your machine was purring the last time you rode.
- Be sure the battery is fully charged and doesn’t have a bad cell.
- Be sure your fuel isn’t old. If it is, it will smell bad! A lot different than fresh fuel.
- Be sure your fuel pump or fuel valve isn’t dry.
- Check for a dirty carburetor.
Step 1:
Be sure your battery is at 100%. Check this with a multimeter. You want to be sure your battery is at least 12.5V before trying to crank the engine over. While cranking the engine over, you also want to check if it goes lower than 9V. If that fails, charge the battery over night and check it again. If your charger shows the battery is charged, but when the key is turned or the engine tries to crank over it dips below 9V, that is a symptom of a bad battery/cell.
IF YOU DON’T OWN A MULTIMETER, honk the horn or turn the blinkers on. If you have no action or the horn/signals stop when you push the start button, the battery is bad. You never want to crank a battery over until it completely dies. This will kill a brand new battery in minutes. If it won’t start, stop!
Step 2:
Ensure that your fuel tank has sufficient fuel levels and it doesn’t smell bad. If so, drain the fuel and replace it with super unleaded or leaded fuel if your fuel station offers it. Bad fuel smells horrible and will cause your machine to run bad or not start at all. NEVER NEVER USE SEAFOAM or any other additives to work around not having to deal with your fuel issue. This will kill the seals and rubber in your fuel system resulting in a lot more issues for you in the long run.
Step 3:
Be sure your fuel pump or fuel valve has fuel, and can properly pump fuel into your carburetor. A lot of times, the fuel in your fuel lines and fuel pump will evaporate over time. If you have no fuel in your carburetor, it definitely won’t run. This is very common, especially if you have a vacuum operated fuel pump or fuel valve.
Be 100% sure the hoses coming off your fuel pump or valve are not cracked, dry rotted or disconnected. Next, to speed the process up, remove the air intake hose going to the carburetor. Spray a bit of carburetor cleaner into the throat of the carburetor. The machine should start since we are completely bypassing the carburetor and the machines fuel system. It will only run for a few seconds. Hopefully by then we have primed the fuel lines and the pump is now operational. Try this a couple more times if the bike won’t stay running on it's own fuel system. If not, remove the fuel line and crank the engine over a few times and let the fuel pour into a rag. This will verify the fuel pump is doing its job.
Step 4:
You have verified you have a good battery, good fuel and your fuel pump is doing its job! If the machine still won’t run properly on it's own, you will need to pull the carburetor apart and clean it. Similar to milk, when fuel sits around and gets old, it curdles up and clogs the ports in the carburetor, resulting in a non-running or horrible running machine. I will link a video below to show that process.
https://youtu.be/GsCkrsYqEjQ?si=l6fvVjY-40AdIE8t
Hopefully we saved you time and money. These simple steps should take you under an hour to complete and cost a lot less than taking it to a shop!