Sorry to add to the "My bike won't start" list of members who seems to be posting in the last week, but I just want to make sure I'm not missing something here.

Bike has been in storage since November. Tried to start it yesterday, no go. Seems to make all the right sounds just not firing.

Today I swapped the battery from my girlfriends CBR250 into my bike, same thing.

I tried opening the throttle with the choke closed. Tried different increments of choke open. I set the petcock to Fuel, Reserve and Prime.

Fuel is just a bit below the filler cap. (Pretty much exactly where it was when I filled it up before storage)

Nothing seems to be working.

I did start it in late November after it sat for about a week. It took some coercing and was rough at first but it did start.

Am I missing something, should I continue on this route and just keep trying?

Pop the seat, check the air filter.

Check spark too.

I know it's after the fact, but any bike that ran when you parked it, and then now it doesn't want to start after sitting a few months?

>>Sta-Bil and a Battery Tender<<   

Maybe drain the carbs and get some of the better gas from the tank, small quanity's of gas, like in the bowl's goes bad quicker than the larger quanity in the tank.

Thank you both,

I will check spark and the filter tomorrow.

Yes I know  , I meant to put stabilizer into the tank but just "never got around to it"... poor excuse I know.

If I drain the float bowls, will they refill automatically? Is opening the drain valve like opening the flood gates?

Quote from: Johnsoir on February 23, 2014, 04:32:34 PMIf I drain the float bowls, will they refill automatically? Is opening the drain valve like opening the flood gates?

When you drain the bowls the floats will lower and open the needle valve.  If the petcock is in the on or reserve you will simply drain the bowls; setting the petcock to prime will allow the bowls to refill.

You have some control of the flow rate based on how far you open the drain screws.  It is best to attach a bit of hose to the drain nipple and route it to a collection container.

Thought that would be the case, but perfect to here it.

Will give it a go tomorrow and check back!

Thanks again.

Pulled plugs, checked fuel flow to carbs, checked airbox (definitely needs a new filter) and all seemed to check out fine. Nothing out of the ordinary.

I'm hesitant to pull the carbs out and check them over, could there be another issue at play here? Could the smaller battery from the CBR250 not have enough juice to start the GS500?

Thanks again for any help.

Making all the right sounds to start but just won't give it to you... and, the regular checks seem fine... my money is on your gas.  Just drain the tank into a fuel canister, put it in your cage along with 5+ gallons of good gas already in the cage's tank won't hurt it... Just clamp the reserve line and then unhook it from the frame petcock - direct the end into the canister, unclamp and let it drain.  Then, fill your bike with fresh fuel, and try again.  Cost you about 12 bucks if anything else... and you are going to use the gas some way anyway...

Gas will go bad in the bowls and lines first just due to the lower amount in them vs surface contact, etc... so sometimes you can get away with just draining the bowls and refilling them from your tank... but if the gas in the tank is already bad, you have to drain her all the way.

- Bboy

What happens when you spray some starter fluid into the air box? If there is any spark, that will make any motor blip a little even without carbs or an exhaust system (he he he - we did that for the fun of it!)

Fresh gas and clean carbs.
Cool.
Buddha.

I had a similar prob in my kawi and it had water in the tank from the condensation  ( so I was told ) had to drain tank and clean the lines ended up wit about a qt of water in the tank

Tried the started spray, didn't seem to do anything at all.

How would I clean the carbs? Can I just disconnect them and run a bunch of carb cleaner through them?

I would try pulling off each electrical connection one at a time and check for corrosion.  Could be a weak connection

So thanks to everyone;

I drained the tank, put new fuel in.
Pulled the carbs and sprayed them down with carb cleaner.
Replaced the spark plugs.

And it started first go, it was glorious. It ran better than every before..... But.

But only for 2 days. It than sat for a day and the day after it had trouble, but it went.
And then the same issue. If it sat for a day it had an issue starting.

Went down today after it sitting for 2 days and back to square one. No go at all.

I'm in east coast Canada, the temperature is around 1-7 Celsius most of the time for the last week or so and  dips down to -3 every few nights. The bike is in a garage where I doubt it ever gets below freezing.

The fuel is from Irving (to which I have been told is some of the worst around here).

Is the fuel fouling that quickly? Am I missing something? The same fuel has been in my girlfriends CBR250R since october and though fuel injected has had a not issue at all starting.

I was so happy when the GS revved up last week but now I'm back in the dumps.