Joined
·
32 Posts
as mentioned in another thread, i'm mechanically retarded, haven't worked on cars before, and this is my first bike. i'm assuming this is going to end in "take it to a shop," but thought i'd ask, just for my knowledge.
it's a 99 sv650, stored in my unheated garage during minnesota winters. i put stabil in a 3/4 full tank, ran it a little bit, but probably not as much as i should have. during the winter, i kept the bike hooked up to a battery tender jr 24x7, and every now and again, went out to try and start it just for kicks. i never was able to get it to go on cold days (20F or below), but when it did start, i'd let it idle for a while -- 15 minutes or more.
it's finally warm enough to melt the snow and keep the roads mostly dry. when it came to starting, the bike would idle pretty rough for about 10-15 minutes, then eventually die out when the idle started to hit 2.5k rpm or less. i dumped less than a 1/4 bottle of seafoam into the tank, think the floats might be stuck. we tapped on the float chamber to try and get the needle to move, dumped a little less directly into the carb, and kept trying to run the fuel through. we finally felt like it was idling pretty strong, ran the tank near empty, put in another 1/4 bottle of seafoam, and the bike started with no problems in the morning or leaving work. seemed like the bad gas from the winter was gone.
yesterday it got to around 30 overnight, and the bike wouldn't start. it was turning over, but after firing it 2 times for about 5-8 seconds each, lights went dim. threw it back on the tender, waited for a solid green, same thing. it'd kick for a bit, but never went all the way over.
bought a new battery, yt12a-bs, charged it over night, had a solid green this morning. the bike kicked for a while longer, still only firing it for 5-8 seconds. i started with the choke on, no throttle, and then tried a combination of no choke some throttle, a little choke and alternating throttle, but nothing worked. the temp this morning was a bit colder, around 24F when i went out to start it.
i'm dependent on the bike for commuting to and from my new job, so i need to get this sorted out quick. i'd like to learn what's wrong, and if i had the time, i'd be a little more patient in the process.
alright, so the question:
is there anything easy and relatively straight forward that i can and should try, or should i just eat it and bring it in to the shop?
i've got the MOM as a pdf, but again, pretty limited in my experience (and tools). i did manage to change the battery on my own, though
thanks for any input and suggestions.
-matt
it's a 99 sv650, stored in my unheated garage during minnesota winters. i put stabil in a 3/4 full tank, ran it a little bit, but probably not as much as i should have. during the winter, i kept the bike hooked up to a battery tender jr 24x7, and every now and again, went out to try and start it just for kicks. i never was able to get it to go on cold days (20F or below), but when it did start, i'd let it idle for a while -- 15 minutes or more.
it's finally warm enough to melt the snow and keep the roads mostly dry. when it came to starting, the bike would idle pretty rough for about 10-15 minutes, then eventually die out when the idle started to hit 2.5k rpm or less. i dumped less than a 1/4 bottle of seafoam into the tank, think the floats might be stuck. we tapped on the float chamber to try and get the needle to move, dumped a little less directly into the carb, and kept trying to run the fuel through. we finally felt like it was idling pretty strong, ran the tank near empty, put in another 1/4 bottle of seafoam, and the bike started with no problems in the morning or leaving work. seemed like the bad gas from the winter was gone.
yesterday it got to around 30 overnight, and the bike wouldn't start. it was turning over, but after firing it 2 times for about 5-8 seconds each, lights went dim. threw it back on the tender, waited for a solid green, same thing. it'd kick for a bit, but never went all the way over.
bought a new battery, yt12a-bs, charged it over night, had a solid green this morning. the bike kicked for a while longer, still only firing it for 5-8 seconds. i started with the choke on, no throttle, and then tried a combination of no choke some throttle, a little choke and alternating throttle, but nothing worked. the temp this morning was a bit colder, around 24F when i went out to start it.
i'm dependent on the bike for commuting to and from my new job, so i need to get this sorted out quick. i'd like to learn what's wrong, and if i had the time, i'd be a little more patient in the process.
alright, so the question:
is there anything easy and relatively straight forward that i can and should try, or should i just eat it and bring it in to the shop?
i've got the MOM as a pdf, but again, pretty limited in my experience (and tools). i did manage to change the battery on my own, though
thanks for any input and suggestions.
-matt