Bike won't start -- leaky fuel line?

**elaineo** · 10-21-03, 09:35 PM

Well, I'm new here and I just bought my bike (2001 Kawi EX250) LESS THAN TWO WEEKS AGO, and on Saturday afternoon when I tried to go riding with LatinRider, my bike wouldn't start!

First, when I pressed the starter, it would crank once and stop. I turned the ignition on and off a couple times and pressed the starter a couple times more, and eventually it started cranking, but not firing. Tried starting with choke - nothing. Tried starting with choke and throttle - nothing. Started to seem like I flooded the engine.
After I held down the starter for a good 20 seconds (i know, that can't be good for the starter!) with the throttle full open and no choke, the engine started firing, but would die as soon as I closed the throttle. After a few more tries with holding down the starter with full throttle, the bike managed to get going, and once it was warmed up, it ran perfectly fine.

I'm guessing that maybe I have a leaky fuel line and fuel is somehow getting into the carb and flooding the engine before I start the bike, but I'm getting normal mileage and stuff. And the night before (Friday) I did notice that I had to give my bike a little bit of throttle to get it to start, but on Saturday I couldn't give it any choke and had to open the throttle completely.

Luckily my bike is still under warranty, but I would like to avoid bringing it all the way back up to Bay4 Motorsports (45 mins away) if possible. Especially if a gasket is gonna suddenly explode on the freeway and make me crash and die, or something.

Any ideas? Help is very much appreciated!

**Honclfibr** · 10-21-03, 10:50 PM

Wouldn't be a fuel line, might be an incorrectly set/stuck float bowl. The float bowls sit in your carburetor, as the carbs fill with gas the floats rise and plug up the hole leading to your gas tank, stopping any more gas from entering your carbs. If your float bowl isn't set to the right height, your carbs overfill with gas and the gas spills down into your cylinders, flooding the engine.

Setting/checking your float bowl height isn't difficult, but it does take some time and requires that you make a little rig, given that your bike is under warranty I'd suggest taking it to the dealer.

Good way to check things is to turn your fuel petcock to off whenever you shut off the bike. If the problem goes away, it definitely points to a bad float. Cranking a flooded engine isn't really recommended, as all that gas isn't very compressible, you could do some damage.

**Stoneman** · 10-22-03, 05:55 AM

How do you store the bike? This time of year with the temps getting fairly low at night, but being somewhat warm in the day, it could be some water in your tank due to condensation formed by the changing temps. If you store your bike unheated, this could very well be the culprit...

Start with the simple stuff: Fill the tank and add some fuel additive that contains carb cleaner AND an ingredient to evaporate the water. Give 'er a whirl and see how it responds...

Just a thought...

**elaineo** · 10-22-03, 11:59 AM

Thanks for the quick replies you guys!! I'll poke around with it a little more after I get home this evening...

Turning the petcock off -- damn, i shoulda thought of that!! I think you may be right about the float, though... how would a float get stuck all by itself after having the bike parked over night?? How do I unstick it? Can I just turn the bike upside down and shake it?

Stoneman - I've been parking my bike outdoors in a parking lot, but the tank has been topped off every time I park it, so I don't think it could be condensation.

I'll try the carb cleaner this weekend if troubleshooting doesn't point to a stuck float or something...

Thanks!!

**beet** · 10-22-03, 12:09 PM

bring it up

**rocker** · 10-22-03, 12:18 PM

Originally posted by elaineo
Thanks for the quick replies you guys!! I'll poke around with it a little more after I get home this evening...

Turning the petcock off -- damn, i shoulda thought of that!! I think you may be right about the float, though... how would a float get stuck all by itself after having the bike parked over night?? How do I unstick it? Can I just turn the bike upside down and shake it?

Stoneman - I've been parking my bike outdoors in a parking lot, but the tank has been topped off every time I park it, so I don't think it could be condensation.

I'll try the carb cleaner this weekend if troubleshooting doesn't point to a stuck float or something...

Thanks!!

I had to replace my petcock a couple of years ago for the same type of problem.

**Honclfibr** · 10-22-03, 12:29 PM

Well when I had an engine flooding problem on my EX500, turned out that the float had somehow slipped off the float needle. There's a little metal tab on the float, which attaches to a little wire ring on the end of the float needle, which is what plugs up the gas hole when the float reaches the proper height. The tab slipped off the ring, so while my float was floating, it wasn't engaging the needle and stopping the gas flow.

There are other things that can happen, your float can get a leak and fill up with gas slowly, or you can get crud inside your fuel tank that makes it past the fuel filter and jams your float needle. If it's something like that I've heard a gentle whack on the carb bowls can sometimes dislodge it and fix everything.

Carbs can be a real pain in the ass. Too many tiny little holes and delicate needles and jets. Doesn't take much to put them completely out of whack, a little varnished gas or a bit of crud that makes it past the fuel filter. I'm too young to have ever seen them on cars, but my short motorcycling career has really given me a fresh new appreciation for fuel injection.

**beet** · 10-22-03, 12:32 PM

Originally posted by rocker
I had to replace my petcock a couple of years ago for the same type of problem.

**rocker** · 10-22-03, 12:52 PM

Originally posted by beet

I knew someone was not going to leave it alone..

**elaineo** · 10-22-03, 03:05 PM

I don't have a truck

I do wanna bring it up on sunday... but don't worry, if it looks like something is substantially wrong and it won't make it, I won't try to kill myself

Originally posted by beet
bring it up

**sahd03** · 10-22-03, 03:58 PM

I've got a 92 ex500. Thing wouldn't start, then it was fine, then it wouldn't, then it was fine.

Battery. Not a dead battery, but a loose fuse or something or other that was draining the battery while it wasn't running. I went through 3 batteries before we realized what it was.

Check out your fuses and all that crap, especially since this time of year, you'd drain pretty quick. hope that help

**elaineo** · 10-22-03, 06:24 PM

Well, it is an old battery... and at first I did think that was the problem, because maybe the starter wasn't cranking fast enough to crank past the compression. I checked to see if the headlight was getting brighter when I revved the engine, and it wasn't, so I assumed the battery was ok. I hope it's not actually TWO things wrong with my bike... maybe i bought a LEMON!!

Originally posted by sahd03
I've got a 92 ex500. Thing wouldn't start, then it was fine, then it wouldn't, then it was fine.

Battery. Not a dead battery, but a loose fuse or something or other that was draining the battery while it wasn't running. I went through 3 batteries before we realized what it was.

Check out your fuses and all that crap, especially since this time of year, you'd drain pretty quick. hope that help

**Stoneman** · 10-22-03, 08:44 PM

Find a way to get it up here Sunday. We'll take a look at 'er...

The bike too!

**sahd03** · 10-23-03, 07:11 AM

Stoneman - how far are you from Keene?

**Stoneman** · 10-23-03, 07:35 AM

Originally posted by sahd03
Stoneman - how far are you from Keene?

Hour to an hour and a half, I'm GUESSING...

Why?

**elaineo** · 10-23-03, 06:28 PM

Originally posted by Honclfibr
.

Good way to check things is to turn your fuel petcock to off whenever you shut off the bike. If the problem goes away, it definitely points to a bad float. Cranking a flooded engine isn't really recommended, as all that gas isn't very compressible, you could do some damage.

Yup... been parking my bike with the petcock turned off the past 2 days, and it starts up without any problems at all! Thanks Honclfibr!

Now... hmm.. float bowl

**Honclfibr** · 10-23-03, 06:42 PM

If you're heading up to Jay's to attend his maintenance day, I can probably swing up that way and help you go over those carbs, depending on if I end up needing to work on sunday. Wouldn't imagine they're too much different than the 500's. Do you have the shop manual? I have one for the 5, it might not be exactly the same but it wouldn't hurt.

The only thing is if it's an incorrectly set float height. My manual's at work, I'll take a look tomorrow and see what is involved in building the setup to check your float bowl height correctly, I can't remember if you can get all the stuff at the hardware store or not.

**Jank** · 10-23-03, 07:03 PM

Originally posted by Stoneman
Hour to an hour and a half, I'm GUESSING...

Why?

You are correct, sir!!!

**elaineo** · 10-23-03, 07:12 PM

Originally posted by Honclfibr
If you're heading up to Jay's to attend his maintenance day, I can probably swing up that way and help you go over those carbs, depending on if I end up needing to work on sunday. Wouldn't imagine they're too much different than the 500's. Do you have the shop manual? I have one for the 5, it might not be exactly the same but it wouldn't hurt.

The only thing is if it's an incorrectly set float height. My manual's at work, I'll take a look tomorrow and see what is involved in building the setup to check your float bowl height correctly, I can't remember if you can get all the stuff at the hardware store or not.

Argh! I've been meaning to get a service manual but never got around to it.. i knew it would come back and bite me

Ok, I'm looking at the Kawi parts specs online, and it looks like the EX500 and 250 have the same carburetor, so the 500 manual should work... if it's too much of a hassle to adjust the float height it's ok, i can take it back to the dealer (though that would mean losing my bike for a few days!)

**LatinRider** · 10-24-03, 01:03 PM

Originally posted by rocker
I knew someone was not going to leave it alone..

HAHAHAHA.....Oh I can't believe it took me this long to read this.....I guess someone beat me to it.....petcock....hahahahaha

**beet** · 10-24-03, 01:27 PM

then i could eat with my pecker

drum roll please

Bike won't start -- leaky fuel line?

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