[3ll3nwood]

The bike ran fine on Sunday when I picked it up. I replaced the battery yesterday because it was supplying enough voltage to turn the engine over. After I replaced it I got the bike cranked easily and rode it down the street and parked it for the night. Today I could not get the bike to turn over for anything. Engine switch was on, bike was in neutral, choke was on?

Is it possible that the plug is fouled? This is my first bike. Is there a trick to cranking the carburated bikes that Im missing or is it likely that something isnt right?

I should mention that the bike is on the reserve fuel, as the main ran out of gas. But I can hear the gas in the tank when I shake the bike a little. MAybe its just out of gas? Really, I just kinda wanna know where I should start and the possible problems.

Thanks for any input.

[BDA116]

Could be plugs, could be gas. Take a good whiff while you're cranking it. If you smell gas, you're flooding it and it would be the plugs.
If you can't, you may have to pull a plug and see if it is wet and/or fouled.
You should be feeding gas even on reserve, but it wouldn't hurt to fill a gas can and top your bike off just to rule it out.

[3ll3nwood]

Filled up on gas. Still, the bike just doesnt want to turn over. Can anyone give me the run down on how to pull a plug out of this thing. Looks like i have to take the tank off. Im hoping it might be simpler though. Any more suggestions? Battery is testing right at 12v so its not that.

[BDA116]

You can get the plugs out without removing the tanks and airbox with the tool in the OEM toolkit. It's about the only useful thing they put in there.
If you have the kit, it is the funny looking tool. If you don't, you may need to find one.

[3ll3nwood]

Looks like a large flat wrench? If so thats the one tool I have. Has a straight handle with a kind of C-Shaped head?

[BDA116]

Nope, it's a plug socket pinned to a large hex that you can turn with a wrench and the pin point is a pivot, allowing some wiggle.
Without one the job is a bit bigger a pain.

[leelover]

Can you clarify something for me please?
You are stating that the engine won't crank or turn over. To me (and most mechanics, I think) this means that when you push the starter button nothing happens, the engine does not spin trying to start.
Is this what is happening?
Or does the engine spin over but not start, or fire?

[BDA116]

Yes, I (ass)umed it was turning but not firing, but clarifying that would be nice.

[3ll3nwood]

Yea my bad, by "crank" I meant fire up. It will turn over but it just wont combust. We got to the plugs and carbs (the hard way since I didnt have the tool) and 2 of the 4 plugs looked fouled up. All of them had some amount of gas/goo on them. The carbs looked flooded as well. Right now, its sitting open, in an enclosed area, allowing the leftover gas to evaporate from the carbs. Tomorrow 4 new NGK Iridium plugs will be going in.

Hopefully that clears up all the ignition problems. Any advice on avoiding this problem in the future? This is my first bike. My older brother suggested turning off the gas and letting the bike run til it dies after each ride, like we do with our dirtbikes. I really dont wanna screw up anymore plugs.

[niteowl955i]

Drain all the fuel and put in fresh regular fuel. Don't use high test.
Put in 4 new plug bike should fire.
I work for a motorcycle shop and most problem we see with hard start is bad gas.

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Now I'm not trying to get free advertizing. I'm just trying to info people about fuel issues.
Look in tech tips.

Also some very good reading.

[CBRBethesda]

Check your petcock vacuum line.

[3ll3nwood]

Its running fine now. Most of the plugs were fouled and the carbs were flooded. Probably mostly my fault for not knowing the do's and don'ts of starting a carburated bike. Its running good now, been riding it all weekend so far. Replaced all 4 plugs with NGK iridiums, replaced a small piece of fuel line and filled up the tank. Thanks for ur help guys.