bike wont start

[Notorius]

went to start my dads Kawasaki Vulcan 750 today and it wouldnt start. in fact it wouldnt even turn over. after 2 tries it didnt even try to turn over, it would just click rapidly when i hit the Start button. i hooked up cables to jump it with and it turned like 1 revolution maybe (i heard 1 "puff" out of the exhaust, not a backfire) then went silent. after that it did the clicking thing. the third try it didnt turn over, wont try, doesnt even click. i hit the start button and its just silent although the tachometer goes up to 3000 rpms and stays there.

anyone have any ideas what i should look for, or any "*** is broken/blown up/fried/dead/etc" comments.

*edit* went out and unplugged the cables for jump starting. the clicking is back, it tries to turn over once or twice then gives up. the tach isnt freaking out anymore. so i dont think i broke anything, but something somewhere is broken or on its way out. i just dont know what

[rybo]

Several ideas for you:

1. Battery. Even with jumper cables it is possible for a bad battery to mess the starting process up entirely. If the bike was running good when you put it away last I would say this is the most likely cause of your current troubles. The Vulcan is a pretty common bike, you should be able to find a battery for it at Autozone or Checker or the like for reasonable money.

2. Battery cable corrosion. Check your cables at the battery, starter motor, starter relay etc and see if they are corroded. If they are a little baking soda and water can clean it up. You can prevent some future corrosion with good electrical grade grease available at most autoparts stores.

3. Loose connections. Check the same places mentioned above for loose connections.

4. Check wiring for signs of mice. It is possible that a rodent decided your bike was a tasty treat over the winter....

Best of luck to you, let us know how it turns out!

Scott

p.s. Be careful with jumper cables off of a car or high speed charging of motorcycle batteries. They are much much smaller than car batteries and it's easy to boil the fluid off of a good battery quickly, rendering it useless, by charging it too quickly.

[Stuart Little]

had the exact same problem before, fill up your battery with distilled water, guarantee you there isn't a drop After this it'll start right up

[Notorius]

checked the battery, fluid levels were between min/max line on all the cells.

i lapped the positive/negative battery leads to make sure they were getting good contact and made sure the connections were tight.

no mice as far as i can tell.

let the battery trickle charge over night. 2a/12v

went to start the bike and it still wouldnt start. however it would turn over just fine. hooked up the battery charger to act as a jumper and still couldnt get it to start. got a nice backfire. finally after tinkering with turning the key off/on playing with the choke and trying before/during/after combinations of a touch of gas the bike started. i held the throttle for a few seconds at about 3000rpms, let off and it died. shit, took me another 5 minutes and i got it going again, held it at 2500-3000rpms for about 5 minutes, until the temp gauge was just past the tick into normal temperature range. slowly let off the gas, at about 1000 it just sputtered and died. gave up after that.

so now i know it starts and "runs", but for some reason it wont idle. the entire time i was trying to get it to start it would pop (not a backfire, just a nice general low idle rumble) but it seemed like it was only doing it half of what was supposed to. how do i check spark plugs? can i just pull them out? do they screw in like cars? is there a tool needed? and if its not sparkplugs does it sound like it needs to be re-timed?

[Lee]

I am wondering if you have 2 problems. If the bike has sat in the garage for a long time, you could have both battery and gasoline problems.

You might have a dead cell in your battery. With a dead cell, the battery can show proper voltage but have insufficient amperage to turn over the motor. It takes a special machine to test for this condition.

I don't know how long it has been since the bike was started or had a fresh tank of gas. If it's been months, you should consider 2 things:
1. If the bike has carburetors, they may have dried out in which case you may have problems due to dried gasoline deposits. If the bike is fuel injected, this point is not an issue.
2. If the gasoline is months old, it may have deteriorated and/or have water in it. I had that happen to my FZ1 last winter. The problem wasn't as severe as yours but the bike did bog, stall, and sputter when I tried to ride it. I asked my mechanic. He said old gas. I put new gas in it and the problems disappeared.

You probably already know this but NEVER jump start your bike from a car battery if the car's engine is running. Usually, that blows at least the regulator on your bike. One of my friends forgot that on a Gold Wing and it cost him $350.

Lee

[Notorius]

got the bike started and running today w/ no jumper cables or anything. i was excited. i siphoned the old gas out, put some new gas + seafoam stuff and it started up on the 4th or 5th try. let it idle and it idled and revved great. went out and rode for a few minutes to see if there are any other issues, rides great except that when at a full stop when i give it gas to accelerate the bike stalls. i hit the start button and it restarts fine. it doesnt stall all the time though. it happened once while p ulling out of my driveway, then 3 times in a row at one stop sign, then didnt happen the rest of the ride. not sure what the problem is. is there a BISS screw like there is on cars to raise/lower the idle RPM? if so, where do i find it? or maybe the throttle cable neesd to be adjusted?

[Mac020]

I think you still have a bad battery. Sounds like a dead or shorted cell.

[Lee]

Congratulations on getting the bike started. That's the first step.

What year is your Vulcan?

Does your bike have carburetors or fuel injection?

Stalling on acceleration is what my FZ1 did. I'm sure I had accumulated water in the carb bowls. If you have carbs, try this: Get the bike's engine hot, then pin the throttle a few times when riding it and in gear. This creates maximum fuel draw from the carbs. If you have water in them, doing this a few times will suck the water out of them and may completely cure the problem.

If the engine idle speed is to low, the bike's manual should be able to show you where the adjustment screw is. It is probably a thumb screw and you might be able to find it just by looking for it near the top of the engine and without removing any parts from the bike.

Lee

P.S. Unless there's something I don't know, I just can't imagine that the bike the bike or any of its parts deteriorated over a winter. I wouldn't replace any parts yet. I think you had old fuel and a run down battery.

[Lee]

I think you still have a bad battery. Sounds like a dead or shorted cell.

I'd sure go get it tested. You don't want to be stranded somewhere.

Lee

[Notorius]

its a 95, carbureted. i gave it a few good rips on 83 after the stalling at the stopsign and it didnt happen after that so it might be fixed now. we will see today.

the bike seems to run great now. one press of the start button to get it going, idles good while cold, everything it used to have problems with is gone. but now its got a new one.

i got back from a nice almost 2 hour ride yesterday, parked it and was letting it idle and noticed it was surging every 10-15 seconds from ~950rpm to ~2000. did it the entire time i let it idle. i turned the bike off, closed the fuel system switch, etc, and there was a loud high pitched whine coming from the bike. opened the gas tank and there was a lotta pressure built up that got let out but i didnt really think anything of it. closed the gas tank again and went inside.

then i woke up this morning to the smell of gas, got up and my dad said the bike was leaking gas. went outside and sure enough there was a puddle of gas beneath the bike. traced the drip up to the right-side carberuator. the intake pipe was loose and wiggling it got more gas to drip out.

anyone know what might have caused this? im guessing the pressure that was built up in the gas tank did, which i think there is a valve on the gas cap that is supposed to vent that pressure right? so can i suppose that vent is broken? what i dont understand is how so much gas got loaded into the carb even with the fuel valve turned off?

[Lee]

You've stumped me on this last problem(s).

At this point, if I were you, I would take it to a dealer.

Lee

[Notorius]

is there a dealer or reputable shop in colorado springs that could work on it?

i worked on it after work today. both carbs were completely full of gas, to the point that when i loosened the intake pipes gas just poured out. once that had stopped i opened the valve on the bottom of them and they drained for another minute+. searched around and couldnt find any reason for it. i checked and the fuel petcock valve does in fact close. a mechanic friend thinks that the floater valve isnt sealing.

2 interesting tidbits though. i finally got the ike started after the flood had cleared out and it would idle fine until i revved it, then it would seem to stick somewhere between 2000 and 3500 rpms. i checked the throttle cables and they had slack and the throttle wasnt stuck open. im not sure how carbs work but it seems like this shouldnt even be possible if the throttle isnt stuck open, but i literally pulled on the cable itself on the carb and there was indeed slack and the throttle plate? on the carb wasnt stuck either.

at this point i noticed the exhaust had smoke coming out of it. a thin grey smoke that i at first thought was just normal exhaust gas. but it wasnt. it smelled like fuel but i thought fuel was black. so something is definately FUBAR

last "shit!" thing was that i pulled the seat off to see if there was anything wrong with the fuel pressure regulator and discovered that a roughly 5 inch section of wires were hot and the flue on the electrical wrap or whatever that is around them, the glue was begging to warm up and become tacky. nothing in the general vicinity was hot though so im wondering if i have a short or some wires are touching or something.

but anyways, any reputable shops in the springs? or any shops that are known for doing good trade-in prices on bikes in les than perfect mechanical condition? im lookin for a sportbike anyways so maybe its time...

[Lee]

The 2 dealerships I have always done business and service with and had good results are Apex Sports and Rocky Mountain Cycle Plaza.

I really like RMCP.

Lee

[pauliep]

went to start my dads Kawasaki Vulcan 750 today and it wouldnt start. in fact it wouldnt even turn over. after 2 tries it didnt even try to turn over, it would just click rapidly when i hit the Start button. i hooked up cables to jump it with and it turned like 1 revolution maybe (i heard 1 "puff" out of the exhaust, not a backfire) then went silent. after that it did the clicking thing. the third try it didnt turn over, wont try, doesnt even click. i hit the start button and its just silent although the tachometer goes up to 3000 rpms and stays there.

anyone have any ideas what i should look for, or any "*** is broken/blown up/fried/dead/etc" comments.

*edit* went out and unplugged the cables for jump starting. the clicking is back, it tries to turn over once or twice then gives up. the tach isnt freaking out anymore. so i dont think i broke anything, but something somewhere is broken or on its way out. i just dont know what

I am having the same problem today with my 03 gsxr 1000. I'm having a problem on pulling the battery out

Starting fresh or hooked up to a car it will turn over once. No other luck with bump starts or car jumps

[Devaclis]

.... gsxr .....

I think I found your problem ^^^^

[pauliep]

I think I found your problem ^^^^

well that doesn't solve or fix the problem, but thank you for looking at my post and responding at least.

Theres a damn screw on the side holding the battery in place that doesn't like to turn

[N1KSS1KS1x]

go buy a charger and let it charge before you try and take it out. Your gonna need one anyway so you can keep that sucker charged. The battery will probly be good.

[DevilsTonic]

I have an '05 R1 and it won't start either. I had it started a week ago, but now she's not so happy. I suspect part of it might be the battery, every time I try to start it, the battery drains almost completely. I've had some issues with the battery this past summer, so I'm going to go buy a new battery today.

The gas was a tad low also, so I put some fresh gas in it. Even after charging the battery and putting in fresh gas it won't start, it cranks...but will not turn over. It will only crank a couple times before the battery dies again. The battery was swapped out with one that was able to start an older R1 without a problem, but she still won't turn over. In fact after cranking on it with the swapped battery a couple times, the swapped battery drains too.

The bike has only been sitting for about a month, but like I said she started right up last week without a problem and was running smooth.

I'm no mechanic, but if any of you have any other suggestions I sure would appreciate it!

[*GSXR~SNAIL*]

I have an '05 R1 and it won't start either...
I'm no mechanic, but if any of you have any other suggestions I sure would appreciate it!

Buy a 'Zuki!

[DevilsTonic]

Buy a 'Zuki!

Not on your life!

[jplracing]

I have an '05 R1 and it won't start either. I had it started a week ago, but now she's not so happy. I suspect part of it might be the battery, every time I try to start it, the battery drains almost completely. I've had some issues with the battery this past summer, so I'm going to go buy a new battery today.

The gas was a tad low also, so I put some fresh gas in it. Even after charging the battery and putting in fresh gas it won't start, it cranks...but will not turn over. It will only crank a couple times before the battery dies again. The battery was swapped out with one that was able to start an older R1 without a problem, but she still won't turn over. In fact after cranking on it with the swapped battery a couple times, the swapped battery drains too.

The bike has only been sitting for about a month, but like I said she started right up last week without a problem and was running smooth.

I'm no mechanic, but if any of you have any other suggestions I sure would appreciate it!

First thing is don't let Bob work on it.

[Sully]

[DevilsTonic]

First thing is don't let Bob work on it.

Then get your ass up here and start it for me, muffin!! j/k we got it started tonight...combination of things. bad battery, bad gas!! My baby is all better!!