Not wanting to start

[TerryG]

Hi, went out on my 550 this morning and after parking up for a coffee, went to start up and it didn't want to start. Engine turned over as usual but not to start, left it a few minutes and tried again, kept key turned for about 2 minutes before it finally caught and started, slight smell of petrol and when I got home, left it running while I opened the garage and still a strong smell of petrol but no sign of anything dripping. I'm a little nervous about going out again, any ideas?
Thanks, Terry

[Stereordinary]

I’m sure others will have better answers than me, but I’ve had somewhat similar issues, and it ended up being a dead spark plug, so you might check that out.

[Shedman]

Hi Terry, something like that has never occurred to my bike but as Stereo said, I'd change the plugs first, you can sometimes get intermittent faults on plugs. The smell of fuel suggests that the fuel was getting through but not burning in all four cylinders. Next I would go through all of the wiring connectors from the engine up to the coils, disconnecting and inspecting each block for corrosion, then I'd get a volt meter on the coils, HT leads and plug caps, I'd probably change the leads and caps anyway if they hadn't been done for a couple of years. If you've got no fuel dripping out the carbs but got a strong smell I'd check in your airbox, if that's clear then the smell must be coming out of your exhaust.

[Freddy]

Hi, went out on my 550 this morning and after parking up for a coffee, went to start up and it didn't want to start. Engine turned over as usual but not to start, left it a few minutes and tried again, kept key turned for about 2 minutes before it finally caught and started, slight smell of petrol and when I got home, left it running while I opened the garage and still a strong smell of petrol but no sign of anything dripping. I'm a little nervous about going out again, any ideas?
Thanks, Terry

Given what you describe, my instinct is to say its flooding. Are you familiar with how to start a flooded engine? It's more than just how to get an engine going if its flooding, it's that if it works it will tell you for sure that is the problem.

[TerryG]

Thanks everyone, I'll play this afternoon and let you know.
Terry

[Swampy]

I would go along with Freddy on this, I had this on mine around 8 years ago, pig to start when hot, i had all the floats checked and adjusted/replaced. If it happens again open the throttle to full when trying to get it started, you need some air in there !

[Freddy]

Also, from a recent experience which I'm pretty confident has now sorted a problem that occurred a couple time (engine just dying like it was running out of gas, and hard to start a couple time when hot, then suddenly just come good)........

Remove the petrol tank from the bike, remove the fuel tap (checking the fuel filters/strainers are clean) and COMPLETELY drain the tank. You can get virtually the last drop out the fuel tap opening. Blow compressed air though it for an hour of so to totally dry the inside out (alternatively sit in a nice warm dry spot for a few days). Then refill with new petrol from the gas station. Turn the tap to prime and flush the carbies out using this new petrol via the drain plugs in the bottom of the float bowls.

Now you have completely new fuel right through the system, and this process may even clear some crap that was on the seat of the float valves.

There was definitely something in my fuel that was problematic. And it must have been heavier than petrol and hanging around in the bottom of the tank not being pulled quickly through as I do go through quite a bit of fuel on a regular basis. Also indicating something in the fuel, I saved the old fuel and have already used some in both a lawn mower and edge trimmer. Might just be my imagination but both seemed to suffer the odd 'hesitation' during operation which is unusual.

It's probably the first time in 25 years that the petrol tank has been completely 'cleaned' of all liquids. So not unreasonable some nasties had built up over time. Doubt it was just water, no evidence of any rust whatsoever.

[Richard]

The problem sure looks like I had this year after I parked the bike for almost 2 years, it just wouldn't start no matter what I tried, sparks on all four and wet spark plugs. At the end I did exactly what Freddy said, got rid of all fuel in the tank and cleaned all carb jets and only then it started again. I'm sure it was water underneath in the tank, thanks to modern fuel...

[Freddy]

A bit of update on this, at least my problem, which sounded near identical. Since completely draining the tank, drying it out, and refilling with fresh fuel the problem has not returned. I've now done quite a few miles so confident enough to say its fixed.