hi im new to the site i have a 98 honda vtr 1000 superhawk it was stored for a 1yr. now ready to use. it will turn over but will not start, i replaced spark plugs, got new battery, took out carbs inspected & cleaned-also float is working ok, cleared old fuel out of lines, flushed tank put new fuel, after trying to start i slightly unscrewed both carb drain screws & gas is getting to carbs from tank, no gas leaks. after all this it will not start. please help

 

check the fuses,just to be on safe side.
when you put in spark plugs,did you unscrew the tip,sometimes people dont remember to do that and could be losing contact.
make sure coils are pluged in to the loom.
make sure battery has good connection,and that it has a full charge.all it needs to do is drop a little,and wham,wont start.
make sure petcock vacuum hose is in correct spot,not the bottom of it,but on the back of the petcock.
make sure fuel is turned all the way in the on position.

 

Make sure the kill switch is in the "run" position....

 

lmao,i forgot the obvious,i did that once or twice

 

Haha yeah first reaction is wiseass until I realize how many times I've done that

 

Yeah I think we have all done it once or twice.....
For me it is usually when I am trying to be quiet and we all know how loud the bang is when you remember and get it fire with all that fuel in the exhaust....

 

Does it sputter at all? When the carbs were out of sync on one of my hawks it was near impossible to start coming out of storage. I drained 2 batteries trying. Finally got it and did a carb sync. I think it may have been easier to start if i used starting fluid. So the question is , is there a place to spray starting fluid with the bike still assembled? Also, may as well check for spark with a tester first.

 

Have you checked for spark? As a rule if you have fuel and spark you will run. Many stored bikes benefit from starting fluid. If it starts with that you have spark & lack fuel delivery. You may have to open the airbox to get a good shot to the intake to spray it in.

 

Be sure and keep your face away from the delivery point if you use this method because if you do have spark the chances of a fireball coming back up the chute are good.

 

Fireball? Dont let that scare you. You can drive a car by spraying the aerosol into the motor. (the spray guy sits on the hood)

 

thanks alot for all the ideas. i checked fuses are good. have spark on plugs. battery good. got the bike started with starter fluid. but it wont stay on unless i keep revving the engine. had to adjust, idle adjuster all the way up it stays on at 2500 rpm. once it warms up & stays on, i try to adjust back down to 1500rpm but then it stalls. i thought (idle fuel?air mixture adjustment?) i more of a car guy & a noobee with bikes.

 

PVLIR.

Search for it.

 

So now you need to search your butt off looing for PLVIR which is the small hose that goes from carb to tank. It creates a vacuum without which the fuel wont flow. Cranking on your idle adjust is no way to do it.

 

PVLIR i copy pasted to search bar looked through all the thread results & i cannot find, is this a title? not sure what im doing wrong. as for vacuum line it runs into the engine intake, not connected to carb what can i do to check vacuum line?

 

found threads Primary Vacuum Line Inadvertant Relocation. lines are connected properly. reading threads but not sure what to do next as far as checking vacuum. originally when i put carbs back together & installed them. there was no gas in carb or fuel lines, then i connected the fuel tank & after i started it with starter fluid, i opened both carburetor drain screws to see if i was getting gas to carbs & i was. so i assume the gas is flowing. so what am i missing?

 

What kind of exhaust pipes and air filter? I know when I got my Hawk the PO said it ran "wicked" cold and you had to use choke most of the time. He had put 2 Bros. and K&N air filter in but did not jet so it was running incredibly lean. Had to tape off half the air box until I got the carbs jetted. Just another thought.

 

sorry no nomex suit. i'm just a learn as you go type. i have the honda service manual from haynes, and have done everything i could that i found in the book with no luck ??

 

thanks vtr surfer i havent tried that yet. i will let you know how it goes thanks

 

Super old thread I Know. Anything ever come of this? I keep a bike in storage in cal and get to ride it for about a week once a year. It's ALWAYS hard to start. Every time I kill the batt even when it's full and charged and end up cranking her boosted from a car for about 30 min befor she decides to fire up. Does end up firing though. Jus like you said it idles very rough and needs the idle adj cranked just to keep it running. Once it's hot it does ok. cold actually Needs the throttle held open to keep from stalling out. Trying to start with the choke is a definite no go. Haven't had the carbs syncd or plugs changed I'm guessing it's a combination of fuel moisture uptake and water/ethanol separation and likely carbs/plugs. It was stored with stabilizer.... def not like starting a fuel injected bike lol.

 

You are making it worse by cranking up the idle. That is what the choke is for. Also a bad idea using a car to jump it. You will destroy stuff if you keep doing that. Have you seen the difference in cranking amps from car to bike?

If it always happens, you should drain your tank & start with fresh gas. Use a stabilizer specificly for ethanol. I think startron or tectron makes one with enzymes. You want that one. Ok, here you go, this one
You also need to own a float charger to leave the battery on. If you fully discharge it you drasticly shorten its life and strength.

Even if you stabilize the fuel, go get new gas once you get it started to dilute the junk old gas. Modern gas degrades as soon as it gets in your tank. Ethanol is hygroscopic (hydroscopic) and sucks water from the air. Water doesnt burn very well so water mixed with gas is not your friend.

No fuel treatment is going to clean your carbs if gunk, debris, laquer (forms from gas), etc is in them. At the least, learn to drain the bowls of your carbs before starting. This will at least remove some gunk.

You really need to clean your carbs by hand first as a baseline. Its not that hard. A properly clean carb should start right up even after storage.

Take a minute to put fuel filters, there are write ups on here on how.

Water will form in your tank also since it is vented to atmosphere and condensation happens in the tank. You cant change that.

 

Mines been sitting 2 yrs and cycles with starting fluid, but dies after stop spraying. Someone suggested I clean out the bowls..

@smokinjoe how do you 'drain' the bowls?

 

Just take the carbs out and clean them.

 

Each carb has a screw on the bottom to drain the float bowl.

This video is the closest one I found to show you float bowls and how they drain. To really drain them you would just run the hose down to an old bottle.

The petcock will be off when the bike is not running.