Went and did something silly...

[John_H]

Confidence was high after doing an oil and filter change myself for the first time over the weekend, so I was trying to do some maintenance myself :facepalm:. The throttle had lots of play in it and the cable needed tightening. The tensioner near the handlebars was at its tightest setting so followed it down and found another tensioner above the engine. Couldn't get to it as the frame was in the way and decided the tank needed to come off. Armed with my workshop manual I took the tank off, I didn't disconnect anything I just rotated the tank round and strapped it on to the rear of the bike. When it came time I put everything back together, went to start it and it wont start, it will turn over but my guess is it isn't getting any fuel. The empty light was on so fuel was pretty low but there is still fuel sloshing round in the tank. What have I done????????????

[yod]

broken it...

[HenryDorsetCase]

the fuel tap is turned to ON, right?

check under the tank to ensure you havent crimped* a line.

*crimped: tee hee

[The Pastor]

Fuel tap off?

kill switch on?

[AllanB]

I'll give you $15 for the bike as is.



Sounds like you have put a big stinking kink in the fuel line by rotating it 180 degrees. Lift the tank UP and have a peep under there for restrictions.


Alternatively you may have actually left the tank rotated 180 and you are presently sitting on the bike backwards trying to start it by gripping and pushing the rear indicators ....... in this case turn around.

[bogan]

broken it...

by accidently pulling a hose off when you rotated the tank, possibly the vac line to the tap

[John_H]

Thanks for the replies, I'll take it off again and have a look. I'm pretty sure I haven't pulled anything off, I couldn't see a fuel tap so I definitely didn't switch it off. There was no strain on the hose underneath when I rotated it as there was lots of play.

[Owl]

Perhaps broken the fuel line connector (they're weak).

Does the fuel pump make any noise when you switch your ignition on? Broken wire from being stretched?

Don't adjust the throttle cable too tight, or you'll cause problems with the "Throttle Position Sensor". There is supposed to be some slack.

Much easier to remove the tank than trying to work around it.

[Owl]

I'm just running through pics of mine and wondering how the hell you adjusted the throttle with the airbox in place?:scratch:

[John_H]

Thanks to all, panic over. There was a kink in the fuel line. Hmmmm noob mistakes like that knock my confidence in doing things like this. I might leave it to the professionals. Does anyone know any basic motorcycle mechanic maintenance courses in welly, or any kind KBers feel like teaching me ;-)

[Owl]

Good shit on the save:sweatdrop

Oh and with your oil change, did you make sure you removed the old filter o-ring. They have a habit of coming away from the filter and staying with the sump. You don't want two o-rings!:no:

[Gremlin]

Thanks to all, panic over. There was a kink in the fuel line. Hmmmm noob mistakes like that knock my confidence in doing things like this. I might leave it to the professionals. Does anyone know any basic motorcycle mechanic maintenance courses in welly, or any kind KBers feel like teaching me ;-)
Or... you could keep posting these threads... we loves reading them we does :corn:

[John_H]

Or... you could keep posting these threads... we loves reading them we does :corn:

Ha ha ha, it must be amusing watching people who don't know what they're doing if you've got pretty good mechanical knowledge. I might stick to building stuff, I can do that well!

[cs363]

Thanks to all, panic over. There was a kink in the fuel line. Hmmmm noob mistakes like that knock my confidence in doing things like this. I might leave it to the professionals. Does anyone know any basic motorcycle mechanic maintenance courses in welly, or any kind KBers feel like teaching me ;-)

Well, as long as you learn from your mistakes it's not all bad :)
Get yourself a service manual for your bike and read the applicable sections prior to commencing work, that usually stops most errors as long as you use some common sense.
Roadsafe do some basic motorcycle maintenance courses, give them a try: http://www.roadsafe.co.nz/index.html They're based in Wellington, they actually had a maintenance course at the beginning of this month (over 2 nights) so I suspect the next ones will be in the New Year.

[Gremlin]

Ha ha ha, it must be amusing watching people who don't know what they're doing if you've got pretty good mechanical knowledge. I might stick to building stuff, I can do that well!
I wouldn't know. Nowhere in my post did I allude to my mechanical abilities (or complete and utter lack thereof). :sunny:

I doooo know however, not to touch it, and let the bike shop deal with it. They even give me a big smile every time I come in, no idea why aye?

[Owl]

Ha ha ha, it must be amusing watching people who don't know what they're doing if you've got pretty good mechanical knowledge.

Not amusing for some:no:

When I took mine for its 20,000km service, I got a whole pile of photos of everywhere I'd been:facepalm: Even incorrectly torquing the rear wheel nut and I used a torque wrench:crybaby:

[HenryDorsetCase]

Thanks to all, panic over. There was a kink in the fuel line. Hmmmm noob mistakes like that knock my confidence in doing things like this. I might leave it to the professionals. Does anyone know any basic motorcycle mechanic maintenance courses in welly, or any kind KBers feel like teaching me ;-)

Fuck no! Erv Kanemoto (I'm showing my age: you need to google that name, stat) said, when asked why he was the best crew chief/mechanic of his era: "Well, you know, I'm standing on the biggest pile of broken parts"

or words to that effect.

there's nothing so fulfilling as that moment when you go "Foh, so THATS what they meant/I broke/I need to fix cos I broke" seriously: stick with it

[cbfb]

Thanks to all, panic over. There was a kink in the fuel line. Hmmmm noob mistakes like that knock my confidence in doing things like this. I might leave it to the professionals. Does anyone know any basic motorcycle mechanic maintenance courses in welly, or any kind KBers feel like teaching me ;-)

Nah get a service manual, take your time and use KB. First bike I rebuilt (~1980 GS550) was lucky enough to be done alongside a guy who knew what he was doing, since then have been going solo. I am still at the bottom of the mountain looking up in terms of my abilities but once you have a bit of confidence you will start to get stuff done. I never take my bike to the shop apart from a warrant. The only other thing is the tools can be a bit pricey but they should last.

[FROSTY]

don't sweat making mistakes dude. I've been working on bikes for years and have made a few in my time. I bet there isn't a mechanic around that hasn't made a mistake.