Won't Fire Up

Haven't been able to get the bike to fire up yet this spring. Here's what I've done so far:

-Cleaned the carbs
-New spark plugs
-Changed oil (added some Seafoam)
-New Fuel (added some seafoam)
-Cleaned up/painted the gas tank
-Replaced the fuel line, same inline filter
-Recharged the battery

Aside from the above, no changes have been made since the fall, when she ran fine. Gear in neutral, clutch disengaged, I press the start button. I play the choke back and forth before and during start, as that helped last year. Not this year. I see fuel flowing through the filter.

Grabbed the manometer, and tested the ignition coils (primary and secondary) and the new plugs, and everything looked fine. However, when trying to start with one of the plugs in my hand (still plugged in), I saw no spark / heard no tick. (Not sure if you should be able to see a spark or not.) At the end of the day, one of the spark plug caps twisted off the cable, so I need to look into resecuring that connection, but it showed a complete circuit earlier during my manometer tests.

Tried spraying a little carb cleaner in the air intake as well, and nothing. Early on in my adventure (last week), she fired just enough to turn on the headlight; nothing even close to really firing up though.

She just doesn't want to wake up, and I'm not sure how to kick her outta bed. She ran well enough last year (needs a synch and colortune), so I know she's got it in her.. Suggestions? The bike's at a different location than my apartment right now, so it'll be a couple days between experiments.

Thanks guys!

 

You are more of a man than me if you held onto the sparkplug and tried to start the bike!! 8O
Yes you should see spark.

A quick test to check for a bad clutch safety switch:
Unplug the connector in the headlight bucket and cross the wires for the clutch switch, on the main wire harness side. Then try to start.
If nothing then try the kickstand relay:
Unplug the kickstand switch connector at the kickstand, and cross the wires that go to the back of the bike. Then try it again.

They can be the bain of many a frustraited biker. Make sure to reconnect them for your safety!!
Gamuru has a good thread for cleaning relays if you are up to it.
Clean or replace if needed. They relays arn't hard to clean up.
My kickstart relay was so full of rusty crud that the contacts were jamed.
Please don't hold the sparkplug unless you need excitement in your life
Try these first after checking fuses.

 

Heh, well I held the spark plug by the boot. Just wanted to see if it was sparking. The kick stand relay on my bike...isn't there. I was able to start the bike with the stand down last year. Even had a 'whoa!' close call. I noticed it earlier today as I combed over the bike. I don't think I'd be able to fix it, as it looks like parts were eliminated. Still, it did fire up like that last year.

Fuses are good. Visual and manometer approved. Built a new panel last year.

I'll check out the headlight bucket connector tomorrow. Thanks.

 

I hate to ask this. But when you were checking for spark, did you have the plug touching any part of the motor? If not, then the plug won't ground and you'll never see a spark.

I only noticed that you said it was held by hand and plugged in. Never mentioned that it was ever grounded to the bike.

Just my $0.02,

 

Eep.. Yeah, definitely didn't ground it. Completely forgot. I'll give that a try. Well if it is sparking, then I'm completely stumped as to why it won't fire up...

 

So I checked the ignition coils again, and they look fine. I'm really stumped here. Is there anything I should be looking for, based on all the above info?

 

I take it that you mean that there's spark?
If you have spark and won't fire, then you have a fuel problem.
When you cleaned the carbs did you by accident turn the idle screw too low? It might not be getting any air to fire.
Try turning it up a little at a time to see if thats the prob. When I bench sync'ed mine, the butterflies were closed too much.
It was having a senior moment.

 

I did bench synch my carbs over the winter. I'll play with the idle adjustment tonight. Thanks.