Suzuki DR350 very hard to kick start first time.?

Question

I have a '92 suzuki DR 350, which takes about 50 kicks to start the first time of the day. After that I starts up just fine.

At first I just thought it was flooding (and it was), however...

I recently replaced the fuel petcock (which is a vaccum petcock), since the other one had went bad.

And I also completely tore down and put back together the carb. Its completely clean, in good shape, and I adjusted the float levels to exact specification.

Those 2 things made it run better, It hasn't flooded since then, however that first start of the day always takes like 50 kicks. I've tried many many different techniques, choke/nochoke heavy on the throttle, or no throttle at all, with/without the decompression lever. Kicking it a few times with full throttle, then the rest closed. I know all about using the decompression lever to find TDC. Yet all these things I've tried, I just have not been able to get it to start nicely right out of the garage. Any advice?

Answer 1

my thumper would start first kick...what I did was..

1. bring to TDC
2. put choke on
3.push kickstart down so motor draws in cylinder of fuel/air
4.bring to TDC
5.with choke on & no throtle give it a kick
BROOM....

hope this works for you...

Answer 2

Don't feel so bad, the Yamaha 4 strokes are just as bad. That's why I'd never buy a 4 stroke dirt bike!
Try some of this stuff and mix stuff together with different amounts. All bikes have their own idiosyncrasies. Find what works for you.
--Petcock open, key off, compression lever full open, kick start fast a few times - it blows out old fuel and de-floods engine, while sucking in just the right amount of fuel for starting.
--Key on, choke on, piston just past TDC, kickstart lever at top of stroke. Mix and match these procedures with different amounts..
--Throttle open a little bit.
--Roll open the throttle as your kicking it.
--Compression lever open a little bit (just enough to allow the piston to go past TDC without breaking your ankle LOL & not enough to blow out fuel after it's been ignited).
Good luck.

Answer 3

Suzuki 350

Answer 4

Suzuki Dr350

Answer 5

Soo when is the last time it had rings? and a piston??

I raced one of those in TCCRA and it ran good. But would not start first thing in the morning. Sometimes we had to pull start it. I always thought it was me.
Since it was a borrowed bike, I went a bought my own. My new one cranked quite easily.
Plus it had a TON more power and a 435 kit from Thumper racing http://thumperracingusa.com/
so my buddy Tim took his 2 to Thumper for the bigbore kit and wha-la, they started quite easily.
Our problem was the rings all the time. Yours and your fixes sound exactly like what we went thru.

Do a compression test. Or take it somewhere and let them do it.

Answer 6

i had a bike that did the same thing.this is what i did.;throttle all the way back and let go, no choke. then turn on the choke. kick no throttle first 5 time.then turn throttle back and let go.another 5 kicks.and do this over and over till it start.it usually start within 10 kicks.

Answer 7

sounds like my bike i have a 2005 CRF250R with many engine mods
what i learned to do is twist the throttle 3 times before anything then TDC with little gas and it should start.

Answer 8

I bought a new on-off-reserve petcock on e-bay and plugged the vac line to the carb, and the thing (26 year old DR 350s) starts first or second kick now. It was 10 bucks and cured it instantly.

Answer 9

I had one of those. If there is a starting drill that makes it start easy I dam sure never found it.
I think I used to get fed up and pull the plug and put a little gas in the cylinder and it started right up.

Answer 10

you may have fouled your spark plug. replace it. also a bike in the cold always has problems. if you have kicked it over thirty times you probably have excess fuel in your carb. If you have a manual check it and see what it says on removing excess fuel. hope this helps. Good luck!