Why the hell does a single cyl m/c take forever to start after it's been laid up for a while or will a beer h

Answer 1

After sitting for a while, the gas may evaporate, or go stale in the carb float bowl. Which causes the float needle to stick shut and therefore no fuel getting to the combustion chamber. You can choke it and kick it forever and it will not start this way, as the old gas may not ignite and wet foul your spark plug.

On the bottom of the float bowl you can see a little screw with a hose coming down. Open this screw and drain the old gas out of the carb, or if nothing comes out, you will need to remove the float bowel and clean it, so gas can get in from your tank.

A helpful note for storing a bike for a long time, is by adding a fuel stabilizer to the gas before you park it. This is not a cure, but it helps to keep the gas from gong bad. Oh yea, follow the directions on the bottle of stabilzer too.

P.S. Beer does not help.
(30 yrs in this line of work)

Answer 2

The gas in the carb goes bad and clogs up the pilot jet (slow jet). The gas evaporates and leaves behind a gooey lacquer. A multi cyl bike has more than one carb and gives better odds that one jet is not clogged.

To prevent this from happening in the future. If it's just going to be laid up for a week to two months - while the bike is still running, turn off the petcock (to prevent the carb from filling) and rev the bike until it runs out of gas.
If it's going to sit for more than two months, add fuel stabilizer to the gas tank (to prevent the gas from going bad). Run the bike to get the stabilizer to run through the jets of the carb.

Answer 3

Assuming the battery is sound, there's petrol in the tank, the fuel tap is switched "on" and it was running OK when you last rode it, then get hold of a can of WD40, liberally spray some of the contents of said can over the HT leads, plug and carb. Leave it a minute or two and problem should be solved.

Don't listen to them - beer ALWAYS helps, unless you plan on going for a jaunt, in which case it makes you ride like a ****..

Answer 4

Often times the stator gets sort or glazed or tarnished and sometimes its old gas. If you know the bike is going to sit ,put fuel stabilizer in it being sure its in the carb. Or after sitting, crack the drain screw on the carb add new fuel, and I have someone in a car or truck tow me for a bump start first time of the new season. It seems like once you get the things to start as long as they are ridden every few weeks things are cool.

Answer 5

Because the fuel left in the carburettor float bowl has evaporated and coated all the carb jets in varnish. That gunks up the jets and makes starting a botch. Strip and clean the spark plug and carb. Oh, and empty the tank and put fresh petrol in, as gasoline left standing has lower octane rating and is harder to burn than fresh.

Answer 6

1-lung bikes or 'thumpers' suffer the same problems as the rest, after storage the carb is most likely filled with varnish, not gasoline, the spark plug needs to be taken care of, it wouldn't hurt to unbolt the carb and blow out the cylinder while you're at it.
Put em to bed dry in the winter, and you won't have a problem come springtime...use fuel stabilizer too...or just drain the fuel tank into your car....

Answer 7

Put down the beer. Take a minute check things clean spark plug, is it choking properly? Is gasoline flowing to the carburetor? Strainer screens get clogged at the fuel valve at the tank. Is it two or four stroke engine more info please. P.S. riding while intoxicated is the same as driving while under the influence

Answer 8

DUDE
Wise up.
Take your ragged bike to someone who knows what to do and bribe them with a 12 pac. Then, you can drink their beer while you watch!

Answer 9

clean the spark plugs with a small wire brush!! make sure the gaps on the sparkers is right!!!!

Answer 10

air, fuel spark. gotta be one of those nor right bud. petrol is better than beer!