Bike suddenly doesn't want to start!

[bombshelter13]

I went out to the garage this chilly morning to discover that, all of a sudden, my 2007 GS500F doesn't want to start.

I've been riding it daily throughout the season and it's been working well enough. I rode it about 25 km yesterday and everything seemed fine.

Today when I went out to start it, I just get the starter noise. Once or twice, I got a little bit of ignition for a second or two before it bogged out again. I probably tried a dozen times.

- All the lights go on.
- The starter definitely goes.
- There's definitely gas in the tank, and I've tried all three petcock positions.
- I tried a few idle adjustment screw positions.

Things I know are issues with the bike already:
- Carbs probably need at least a bit of cleaning, I don't know if it was stored properly before I bought it.
- It's due for it's first valve check. I was going to do this this week, just need to get to the auto tools shop for smaller feeler gauges.
- There's a pretty slow oil leak from the valve cover head gasket. I have a new gasket, was going to install it while doing the valve check.

So... I guess what I'm looking for is a checklist of things that are likely to be wrong, so that I know what to look at it. If I can't get it going I'll take it to a shop, but I'd like to check all the basics first.

I was going to do the carb cleaning and valve check this week, but I'm not sure if I want to do it myself now if the bike's not in a running state.

Anyone got a checklist of what to look at when a bike, all of a sudden, won't start?

[bigfatcat]

How old is the battery ?   If old as the bike ur pr'olly due for  new one especially with advent of colder weather ...

How long did u have it on prime before trying to start ? 

Sounds like not enuff fuel in the carb bowls and then u ground down a already sub-par battery while cranking...maybe...

Choke cable may need adjustment...

[Suzuki Stevo]

When M/C battery's die...it's quick, abrupt, and sometimes from one day to the next with very little warning, did you use your kill switch........j/k that's another thread 

Did you use full choke?
When battery's are at the end of their life cycle, they might be able to spin the starter, but not have enough juice left for the coils to saturate. If you turn your key off and hear a "Pop" from one of the cylinders, that's what's going on.

[bombshelter13]

Battery is, as far as I know, as old as the bike.

I've taken the battery out, topped up the water (it was a bit low in a couple of the chambers) and have it on the charger now. It's definitely not the kill switch, starter does spin.

My multimeter and my charger both have voltage readouts on them, but they're not really giving me the same reason so I'm not sure which is right. Charger seems to think it's lower than the multimeter.

The closest setting on my multimeter is 0-250V in blocks of 25V with five markers per block (next setting down is 10V)... on the multimeter, it reads as being between the second and third marker, closer to the third, which makes me wanna say the voltage is pretty good, but the gaps are so small it's hard to say.

I tried full choke, mid choke, and no choke (normally in my weather, about 2/3rds choke will start the bike nicely).

If the coils weren't 'saturating', would I still have spark? I did a spark test against the outside of the engine, and both plugs fire. Not entirely certain what it means for the coil to 'saturate'.

I drained the carb bowls (mainly to see if they were empty), and some gas did come out (yes, gas-tank pet chicken is off - actually, I took the tank off entirely before draining the bowls). So... gas is at least getting into the bowls.

Bigfatcat, the first few times I tried to start it, I didn't leave it on prime first at all - historically, I have never needed to use prime to start this bike. After a few failed tries, I did attempt the prime setting. No change.

So... now I have the tank off. Since I was going to check the carbs and valves anyhow, proceed with that - maybe the problem is in there...

[Suzuki Stevo]

If it's the original battery, there is a pretty good chance that it's the culprit. An 07' could have an 06' battery in it, if you don't use a float charger while not riding, 5 years is about all one can expect out of a MC battery?

if it ran yesterday and you rode it to the spot where it's not starting today, put the tank back on and go buy a battery 

[bombshelter13]

If it's the original battery, there is a pretty good chance that it's the culprit. An 07' could have an 06' battery in it, if you don't use a float charger while not riding, 5 years is about all one can expect out of a MC battery?

if it ran yesterday and you rode it to the spot where it's not starting today....go buy a battery 

Okay... if I don't see any improvement when I try the battery out tomorrow (after leaving it charging overnight) I'll probably try to get to the store to pick up another battery, then.

But... is this still likely to be the case if the battery's been working well for me since March? It's not like this was left in a garage for years and died right after I took it out, I've been using it without major issues for 8 months.

[bombshelter13]

So, since the tank was off anyhow, I decided to look in my airbox. There's a bit of oil coming down from the breather hose attacked to the top of the valve cover - not enough to actually pool on the bottom, but enough to see a vertical line of oil going down towards the drain hole.

Combined with the slow oil leak at my valve cover head gasket, this makes me wonder - could something be happening that increases the pressure beneath the valve cover to the point where it wants to expel oil? Is there a valve problem that could have that result (maybe exhaust valve isn't open at the right tame and pressure rises, instead of releasing? Not really sure if that's actually how things work)?

[remn]

How has your gear shifting been? Smooth or difficult? I had problems starting cold recently, and just got into the habit of push-starting in the morning because I didn't know what to do about it (battery was fine, etc.). My gear-shifting was really rough at the time, and when I removed the little cover on the left side to adjust the clutch release mechanism, the locknut fell right out. I think the vibration from riding had loosened it until it fell off. I replaced it and used some threadlock to keep it on--starting problems went away instantly and haven't come back. So you might want to check your clutch release mechanism. I have no idea why that would be related to cold-starting, but it definitely was in my case.

[bombshelter13]

remn, shifting's generally been pretty good, and I actually did adjust my clutch beneath the cover the other week, so I'm pretty sure it's snug. I'll double check in case it's fallen out, but I don't think so. Also not sure how that would affect starting the bike in neutral.

[bombshelter13]

Bump...

Okay, hopefully I'll be able to pull the carbs and take a look at them tonight. Still no feeler gauges (well, I have a set but they only go down to .051 mm, which is a bit above the GS's minimum clearance) so I can't really examine the valves yet. Also gonna test out the petcock and make sure it flows.

My tank breather seemed to have a bit of liquid blocking it - not a lot, but enough that it resisted for a moment before dripping out the other end of the hose when I blew threw it. That shouldn't be enough on it's own to prevent it from starting, should it? Also might not have been there when we were starting it, I can't really guarantee that a bit of gas didn't just slosh upwards and into the hose when we were removing the tank from the bike, either.

[Paulcet]

Barking up the wrong tree with the breather hose.

[bombshelter13]

Barking up the wrong tree with the breather hose.

Okay, so oil coming into the airbox from that breather is normal, and isn't the symptom of some other problem? Just confirming that this is what you mean.

[bombshelter13]

Okay guys... so, if I take off the carburetors, spray starter fluid into the manifolds and the engine turns over but still doesn't fire, that means it's gotta be spark or compression, right?

Gonna pick up a can of starting fluid and try this.

[afterbooster]

I've had some issues with the ignition pickups, whatever it might be called on the right side of the engine that has the pickups to fire the spark plugs, it might be worth taking a look under that protective cover to make sure everything is in tact in there?

[bombshelter13]

afterbooster, what kind of 'issues' did you have? Specifically, did your ignition pickup issues cause the plugs to not spark, or did they spark but the engine didn't start despite the spark?

I'm definitely getting a visible spark on both plugs.

[bombshelter13]

Okay, it fires up for a second if starter fluid's shot through the back of the carbs.

Detached the carbs and going to take a look inside tomorrow.

[twinrat]

if you do a lot of short runs  your battery is drained slowly because it takes time for alternator to recharge battery after using starter.Short runs mean you need to supplament battery discharge by more freqant recharging

[Suzuki Stevo]

Was it the battery?

[afterbooster]

afterbooster, what kind of 'issues' did you have? Specifically, did your ignition pickup issues cause the plugs to not spark, or did they spark but the engine didn't start despite the spark?

I'm definitely getting a visible spark on both plugs.

If you have spark on both sides, its not the issue... I had spark on the left cyl randomly... so sometimes it would work sometimes it wouldnt...resoldered it and ran like a champ

[Big Rich]

A weak battery can cause all sorts of problems. If you suspect it at all, replace it. Cleaning the carbs is a good thing (especially now that you have them off), and checking the valves can only help as well.

Instead of chasing down problems that you aren't sure even exist, get a new battery. I would bet that is your source of everything else. What kind of water did you add to it anyway? Distilled?