Wont stay running

K

katelyncoo

New member
Well I got this bike from a guy who said it sat in his garage for about a year.

First I put a new battery then new plugs.

It will start with starting fluid but then stall and wont start with out it.

any ideas?? please help.
 
Exactly.
The slow jets are likely clogged.(among other things.)
Too late now, but before you ever attempted to start the bike
the float bowls should have been drained along with the gas tank.
Then new gas added to the tank and float bowls drained at least
twice more. All fluids changed and new plugs. After sitting that long
tho, I'd have to agree with DrBob and say it's time to pull the carbs
and clean them.
Good luck to you! You'll have it running in no time!
 
Draining the carbs doesn't constitute cleaning. You need to fully disassemble them and clean all jets, needles, and orifices. I highly recommend a Clymer or Haynes manual.
 
True. Very true. :bluethum:

However, for someone who doesn't have the time or expertise to do that themselves, nor the money to pay a mechanic to do it...........
then flushing the carb(s) out with full strength cleaner (and letting it sit in there overnight between flushes) is certainly worth the 2 days and about $5 gamble.

My guess is that will work something like 30-50% of the time. That's been my experience over the years.
 
Be careful doing that as it might ruin some rubber parts in the process. Check the cleaner to see if it is safe to do. And if you do take the carbs off be careful not to damage the boots if applicable.
 
This is all great advice, My son has a 1980 GS450 that would barely run and he had to have the choke pulled most of the way out to run. He bought it from a guy that let it sit for 18 months. Carb cleaners helped a little but after he took it to a local independent guy who knows how to really fix carbs, it ran great. He recently bought another bike, a 1979 GS1000 that ran poor and carb cleaner did the trick and that bike had 44 miles in 2 years and was just as gummy. So it's worth a try to use carb cleaner first then look around for a good repair shop. Good luck!
 
Thank you to everyone I got the Clymer manual today and will be trying the cleaner tomorrow and if that dosen't work I will be pulling the carbs apart.

I got this bike on trade for a Walther p22 I got for free so I guess I got the bike for free. :) the guy who had it let it sit for over a year without even starting it in a cold storage shed. I will be trying everything you have said and well see from there.
 
What I said was, before he even attempted to start the motor
after it had been sitting that long....

Once he knew it would even start and was a working bike,
then he could pull the carbs and clean 'em.:D
Guess I wasn't too clear on that.
My bad.
 
I wasn't responding to your advice, but to the OP's response. He seemed to think that cleaning the bowls was the same as cleaning the carbs.

Post sequence, man. ;-)
 
Who the farzak disrespected anyone? I'd say you need to work on reading comprehension a bit. You posted the ambiguous statement, so I tried to help clear up the matter. Take it or leave it, but don't call me disrespectful.
 
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