Newbie's Hornet 250 won't fire up. HELP!

[vader]

I've recently got a '96 Hornet & she defiantly won't start.

The firtst time this happened, I pushed the bike over to Mt Eden Motorcycles and had the spark plugs replaced and a lesson on how to use the choke and how to start the bike up... as well as a new inline fuel filter....

This is the 2nd time round now that i've had this problem in the 2 weeks that i've owned the bike....

She's been on the side stand since Monday because i didn't want to ride in crap weather and now on Thursday afternoon she won't fire up, i also may have run the battery down ....

what am i doing wrong? :(:(:(:(

Is the engine flooded?

How can i stop this from happening again?

[klyong82]

kill switch? have you tried push starting it? or hook it up to a car battery (with car engine off) and see if it will start....did Mt Eden say the plugs were replaced because you fouled the plugs and was the engine flooded? Why was the fuel filter replaced?- loads of crap clogging it?

[motorbyclist]

left it for a few days and won't start?

shop replaced plugs and fuel filter and still have problems?

crappy weather?

you, my friend, probably have water in your tank.

either drain the carbies (very easy), add a dash of meths to your fuel to suck up the water, or flatten the battery trying to pump out the water.

in the future maybe turn the fuel off when you leave the bike to stop water collecting in the carbies. when you go to ride, shake it up a bit first and/or drain the carby "just in case". i always had to do this every monday morning to my fxr back when i had my L plate cause i didn't ride it on weekends and water coalesced and collected in the carby

parking your bike outside where it gets rain/dew is a REALLY good way to get this problem too

are you using ethanol blend fuel? always filling at the same station? ethanol is hydrophillic, drawing water from the air into your fuel, and some stations have crappy tanks which leak petrol into the soil and water into the tanks (i find mobil is shocking for this)

[NOMIS]

Hit it with a hammer. :-)

Just kidding above post be the way to go.. Check for water..

[klyong82]

and some stations have crappy tanks which leak petrol into the soil and water into the tanks (i find mobil is shocking for this)

Mobil :shit: better not be the one I use...

[Macstar]

In case the carb needle(s) are shagged or the o-rings around them and the bike is leaking fuel and flooding, did you try switching off your fuel tap when not using the bike (as we discussed)?

[wildpudding]

Its probably something simple if it was running fine not very long ago.

Battery would be my first bet, definitly try starting it connected with jump leads to a car or something.

When a battery is kind of flat it might have enough power to turn the engine over, but turning the engine over draws a lot of juice from the battery so there is less juice left to make a spark to ignite the fuel/air mix inside your engine. So the bike becomes hard to start or won't even start at all because of a weak spark.

Stefan

[motorbyclist]

is it going now?

[gijoe1313]

Oh noes! :weep: A poor little ol'hornet not starting right? If'n you haven't got it sorted, give me a PM and I'll see what can be done to get it buzzing right again!

[Neon]

Hmm. I'm getting a similar problem with my little ol' Hornet. It's parked in the garage overnight so no problems starting in the morning, but after being parked outside in the rain and cold all day at work it's a complete bitch to start. :no: Tried turning fuel off, makes no difference. It just turns over and over for a few minutes with the choke out (then back in or it floods), give a few twists of the throttle and eventually we get there.

Any ideas? :doctor:

[breakaway]

What happens if you try to roll start it? (2nd gear, kill switch set to 'Run', all lights etc turned off if possible, push it, when you get up to about jogging speed, dump the clutch, be ready to pull it back in if it starts / wheel locks!)

[motorbyclist]

really that's less than an ideal solution....

[breakaway]

I think it's an important elimination / troubleshooting step:


When a battery is kind of flat it might have enough power to turn the engine over, but turning the engine over draws a lot of juice from the battery so there is less juice left to make a spark to ignite the fuel/air mix inside your engine. So the bike becomes hard to start or won't even start at all because of a weak spark.

Besides, if it doesn't work you loose nothing (except maybe a few minutes of your life ;))

[motorbyclist]

oh right, i somehow thought you meant it as a solution to the problem, which it obviously isn't

[Neon]

Hmm. I'm getting a similar problem with my little ol' Hornet. It's parked in the garage overnight so no problems starting in the morning, but after being parked outside in the rain and cold all day at work it's a complete bitch to start. :no: Tried turning fuel off, makes no difference. It just turns over and over for a few minutes with the choke out (then back in or it floods), give a few twists of the throttle and eventually we get there.

Any ideas? :doctor:

It has also recently had a 5,000km service, so new plugs etc. Apart from this it runs absolutely sweet.

[motorbyclist]

maybe it just doesn't like the cold

are electrics getting wet?

[Neon]

maybe it just doesn't like the cold

Maybe. Tonight I had the fuel switched off all day, and gave it a bloody good shake up and down for 10 secs before attempting to start it, and it went first go. Wasn't wet though. Maybe moisture in the carbs? :argh:

[breakaway]

Try push starting it.

When you leave it out, it is subjected to colder temperatures than leaving it in a covered garage etc. The reaction rate in the battery will go down as the temperature lowers, meaning it will weaken etc. It might have enough power to crank the bike, but might not be enough for a good spark.

[motorbyclist]

Try push starting it.

When you leave it out, it is subjected to colder temperatures than leaving it in a covered garage etc. The reaction rate in the battery will go down as the temperature lowers, meaning it will weaken etc. It might have enough power to crank the bike, but might not be enough for a good spark.

heheh, looked into it and you're right, so worth a go.

had to do that today - battery would turn motor over but refused to start, but started real easy pushing it. i know my battery is well farked too; even had to turn the lights off to get it to turn over properly!

[motorbyclist]

Maybe. Tonight I had the fuel switched off all day, and gave it a bloody good shake up and down for 10 secs before attempting to start it, and it went first go. Wasn't wet though. Maybe moisture in the carbs? :argh:

shook it? well water would be sitting in bottom of tank, which is where the tap should sit, so turning it on could let a whole load of water thru.....

try pushstart

where do you buy your fuel?

[Neon]

try pushstart

where do you buy your fuel?

I will give it a go. Caltex Constellation Drive Albany. Might try a little meths in the tank and see if it helps. :scooter:

[motorbyclist]

Caltex Constellation Drive Albany

havn't heard any horror stories from them, yet.

[Neon]

Sorry for thread dredge but... think I've finally established why my Hornet was so troublesome during winter after sitting all day. In case anyone is searching for this problem...

It was running cold plugs (either CR8s or CR9s not sure), which must have been fouling on the short putt putt run to work, where the bike hardly warmed up. When come to start in afternoon = pain in the ass. Solution? Either fit hotter plugs (and risk melting one if you cane it like I did) or make sure it gets a thorough warm up and a few revs to keep the plugs clean.

Hope that's helpful for someone. :hug:

[ducatilover]

Fancy that, I had a set of cold plugs in the spada for a while and suspected this was why it didnt like starting when cold and ran like shit unless warmed...I got new 'normal' plugs and the problem went away:confused: