Bike was working, now it's not.. Help!

Hi,

I bought an 85 XJ700 awhile back that was running really rough. I took it to a mechanic to clean/ sync up the carbs because thats a little beyond me at this point. Bike seemed to run well after that, but I have yet to get it registered so I haven't really been able to ride more than around my block.

The previous owner had basically stripped everything non essential off the bike including the fenders, turn signals, horns etc. In the process of putting these items all back on (he saved all the original stuff) I was able to get everything working but the horns.

I have the horn wires, and the very first time I hooked them up it made a super weak dying duck type noise, then nothing on subsequent attempts. I decided I would deal with it later after trying to figure out the wiring.

I went to start my bike, and now it wont start, it turns over but wont catch and after a couple of attempts it backfires violently..

Any ideas on what I might have messed up when I was plugging stuff back it?

Thanks a lot for your help!

 

I would suggest recharging your battery, it sounds like the horn may have stuck on and drained down your battery. Even tho the bike cranks, it needs full voltage to crank and fire.

Throw it on the charger for 30-60 minutes and then give it a try. I would suggest unhooking the horn again tho so it doesn't drain the battery as fast as you charge it.

If that gets it started, then check your horn button to make sure it's not stuck.

BTC

 

Thanks for the reply, ill give it a shot on the charger..

 

That didn't seem to work, any other suggestions? The battery is brand new, and I would always turn the ignition immediately to off after trying the horn and having it not work.

Any ideas would be great!

 

You need 3 things to start and run an engine. spark, air and fuel. Are the plugs wet when it's cranked? Too wet perhaps? Do they spark?

 

Take out one of the spark plugs and ground it to the engine hit your starter and see if it sparks. It should be a thick blue spark. If sparks orange/yellow it probably won't spark inside the cylinder. what do your plugs look like? Are they gapped correctly?

 

Double-check that you didn't put the wires to the sparkplugs on backwards, or re-hook up the coils backwards when you were putting things back on.

Keep posting, and asking, and we'll figure it out...............

Dave