HALP: Typical “bike won’t start” post

[Yokomama]

92 Honda Spada
Has no spark - can’t work out why.

Plugs are new, coils just don’t both fuck out at once - will measure resistance tomorrow.
Starter cranks it over; sometimes it coughs and chucks the starter, but as of now it just won’t go.
Started and ran very poorly with stator cover off. Wouldn’t start again after that.
Certainly has fuel and compression.

Was an intermittent fault until this morning, now it’s fucked my weekend and the time until the car is back from the garage.

Any ideas?

[FJRider]

... Any ideas?

Do you enjoy walking ... ???

The best way to fault find is when the fault is intermittent ... Ignore that fault and you have one issue. It wont go. Who can you blame for not sorting it ... when it was "Just" an "Intermittent" issue ... ???

A. Have you actually looked at the plugs ... ??? IS THERE SPARK ... or NOT.

B. "Coughs and chucks the starter" .. ??? Fuel ... is it getting any.

C. "Started and ran very poorly with stator cover off" ... did you put the cover on again .. ??

To run it needs fuel, air, and heat (spark) Figure out what it's NOT getting ...

[OddDuck]

Ideas:

- check voltages at the coils, make sure they're getting the full 12V

- check voltage drop at the battery on starting - perhaps the starter motor is pulling too much juice and the battery is sagging to the point where it can't spark? If so then check for carbon fouling across the starter brushes and commutator, or stuffed bearings

- check voltage drops through the loom: battery fully charged, bike switched on, go looking for connectors / relays / fuses which seem to have a volt or two being dropped across them

- new plugs maybe? What state are the old ones in?

- how old is the fuel in the bike?

- go through the bike and check earth / grounding connections, high resistances across one of these will cause all sorts of grief. Can oxidise underneath apparently tight connection

- kill switch: strip, clean, check, a short or bad connection here could do this

Hope this helps.

[buggerit]

Possibly your trigger coil failed ( or associated wiring) or kill switch or any other safety switch.

[layton]

feed it some ether while turning over, if it starts you have no fuel.

[Yokomama]

Turns out this was a complete fib.

Left the poor thing at the old mans house overnight. Googled every god damn thing else I thought I might’ve missed relevant to the spada (which is coming across as a bit of a unicorn in the bike world).
The one thing I found I didn’t manage to try once I was home was to try start it with the fuel cap open.
It worked - the por thing spluttered into life, but died again.

There is a vacuum line from fuel tap to one of the carbs: This is our culprit. I don’t know why. Pop it off and the bike starts. Put it back on once it’s running and it’s happy enough. Likelihood of it starting again with the vacuum line on (whilst hot) is minimal.

So - what the fucks going on here??? Wonder if it’s ok to just leave the vacuum line off.
Mods please move to appropriate board :3

[Honest Andy]

Ahh. Gunge in the air breather in the cap?

[FJRider]

Turns out this was a complete fib.

Left the poor thing at the old mans house overnight. Googled every god damn thing else I thought I might’ve missed relevant to the spada (which is coming across as a bit of a unicorn in the bike world).
The one thing I found I didn’t manage to try once I was home was to try start it with the fuel cap open.
It worked - the por thing spluttered into life, but died again.

There is a vacuum line from fuel tap to one of the carbs: This is our culprit. I don’t know why. Pop it off and the bike starts. Put it back on once it’s running and it’s happy enough. Likelihood of it starting again with the vacuum line on (whilst hot) is minimal.

So - what the fucks going on here??? Wonder if it’s ok to just leave the vacuum line off.
Mods please move to appropriate board :3

The fuel tank vent and the vacuum lines are two separate issues.

Clean out the vent on the cap to prevent one issue.

The vacuum tap needs a clean probably. Your fuel tap usually has three settings ... Off, Run (normal use), and prime (to shortcut the vacuum valve). Set your fuel tap to prime and fuel should flow.

Check vacuum mechanism by sucking on the bottom of the vacuum line (engine off and tap set to run/on. Fuel should flow as you suck, no fuel should come out the vacuum line.

[Yokomama]

I’ll have a hoon on the fuel cap - often wondered how it breathed.

Fuel tap has RUN - OFF - RES(erve). Gave it a proper clean out having read the horror stories about spada fuel taps.
The issue was present before then.

I’ll give the vacuum line a cheeky gobbie too and see what it does.


Thanks gents - will report results later on.

[FJRider]

I’ll have a hoon on the fuel cap - often wondered how it breathed.

Fuel tap has RUN - OFF - RES(erve). Gave it a proper clean out having read the horror stories about spada fuel taps.
The issue was present before then.

I’ll give the vacuum line a cheeky gobbie too and see what it does.


Thanks gents - will report results later on.

Reserve MAY prime it ... maybe ... try .. ??

A quick Google of Spada fuel taps said Honda can no longer supply them. Repair kits may be available. Thus ... be careful with your tap.

[FJRider]

https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php/128555-Honda-Vt250-Spada-problem

[Yokomama]

Yeah believe me I found those threads about the fuel taps.

Cleaned the fuel cap out - not the problem.
Unsure what the vacuum lines doing but it tends to like starting without it

We are back to intermittent spark - have plonked me old plugs in the leads and earthed them against the frame. Sometimes LOADS of spark, other times null.

So now I’m assuming there’s one stupid little dicky wire somewhere fucking up my life, cuz once it’s going, it’s going.

[Yokomama]

Fired straight up this morning and got me to work.
Didn’t want to get me home, so that’s where it’s staying.

No spark.

Intermittent electrical gremlin: short of chucking a match at it, is there a gum and paper clip fix for it or am I taking it to someone and paying shitloads for a diagnosis?

[OddDuck]

Check voltage at coils, be certain that you aren't dropping volts through the loom.

[Yokomama]

I’ve admitted defeat. Dads lent me a scooter of all things.
As soon as the little guy starts, it’s going to the honda shop, conveniently about 200 metres from work.

Will post results.

[WALRUS]

I'd be tempted to just push it if it's only 200m. Ah well, at least you can go to town on the ES335 in your display pic while you wait for the bike to get fixed?

[FJRider]

I’ve admitted defeat. Dads lent me a scooter of all things.
As soon as the little guy starts, it’s going to the honda shop, conveniently about 200 metres from work.

Will post results.

There MAY be a short in the plug leads ... try starting it in the dark. Any short will show itself pretty dam quickly. Old leads are bad for this and easily fixed (replacement). Engine heat and vibration do the damage. Look at the plug caps too ... their connection may not be great either ...

Take a look at all connections at the coil right through to the plugs (including kill switch and all it's connections, and it may also be shorting out intermittently ). Also ... check if any/all plugs continue to get spark when/if specific plugs stop sparking.

Be methodical and the results will pay off. Assume nothing. facts gets results. Take notes on results as memory often fails.

[Yokomama]

Shame there’s no like button. Thanks for basically being the man.
With any luck I will have a concrete diagnosis before too long.

[Yokomama]

I'd be tempted to just push it if it's only 200m. Ah well, at least you can go to town on the ES335 in your display pic while you wait for the bike to get fixed?


You sir have the right idea. It’s a dot, but it’s quite ... modified.
Nickel hardware all round, Wilkinson tuners, vintage output hbs with a coil tap - harness on these things isn’t as daunting as people make out. 50s wiring too.

[WALRUS]

You sir have the right idea. It’s a dot, but it’s quite ... modified.
Nickel hardware all round, Wilkinson tuners, vintage output hbs with a coil tap - harness on these things isn’t as daunting as people make out. 50s wiring too.

Nothing wrong with a dot, I've got one myself. And a supernova.. And a Samick rip-off ES335 with the hottest stock pickups in the world.. Along with a whole room of other gear haha. But that's a topic for a different thread. I hope you get the Spada going soon! Until then, enjoy the scooter, I reckon you'll be surprised at how much fun they can be to hooligan around!

[Yokomama]

Scooter is a bit weird but it’s transport.
Spada fired straight up this morning - took it to honda about a minute later. Bit of a backlog there so may be a while, but whatever. It is what it is.

[Yokomama]

Ok, nothing electrical. Embarrassing.


Turns out there were air screws (?) loose on the intake manifold, and the manifold itself was being a bit silly. Carbs “overhauled” - rebuilt?

Almost goes like a new bike now. So glad to be back on it. I missed it.

Thanks to the experienced guys for their patience through my minimal vacuum knowledge!

[WALRUS]

That's what led me to give up on the MC19's. Old, tiny, knackered Honda carbies.. I know nothing about them or how to work on them and anyone who I got to help me just ended up equally frustrated with how fiddly they were.. Sold them on haha!

I'm glad you're back on the Spada, well done!