I just know You "have been there and done that"

birdmannn101

birdmannn101

New Member
I used to be able to start the engine on the 1st or 2nd pedaling. The engine would catch on one of those tries. Now when I try to do the initial start or a re-start I don't hear the engine catching just the bike slowing down. Now I have to try the start 3, 4 or 5 times and I am running out of downhill road.

I changed the plug out, cleaned the carb, checked the mag wasn't sitting in oil and can't begin to guess what the problem is.

It runs great after it starts all the time It is just the starting....Dan
 
Got to rule out what the issue is with trial and error.

Remove airfilter and have a buddy squirt starter fluid into engine while you are on it. Pedal immediately and attempt start. If start is instaneous, then you know you have a fuel issue.

If not, then you have a spark, compression, or airleak (seal?) potential issue.
 
Try fresh fuel.
I always run Premium with a 25:1 break-in, 32:1 after that (1/2 a cup oil to gallon of gas).
Rule out gas first, it's cheap and easy ;-}
 
Thanks for all the input. Found the problem with the poor starts. The black wire from the CDI came loose from the splice to the engine but was half ass working since it was laying on the frame of the bike.
 
glad you figured it out. I had an engine that took a lot of tries starting, turned out the rings were burnt up. be glad thats not your issue lol.
 
I was wrong. The black wire was not the problem.

I tried fresh premium fuel (KCvale's suggestion) with a 20:1 mix and no start till 5-6 attempts.

So, I went with Drewd's idea with a squirt of starter fluid. It started right up after I tried it a 3 times after cleaning the carb.

I have been running this engine on 16:1 as per the manual and from the forum I see that is too much oil so I bumped it up to 20:1 and will end up with 32:1 or 40:1. Do you guys think this is why I am getting poor starts?
 
Well, I know my oldest bike needs to have the fuel spill out of the carb before it starts easy, otherwise it seems to take forever in order to start. I put a pull start on it just to get away from pedaling so much too. As long as fuel spills out of the carb during priming, she roars to life with one pull.

Now my other bike doesn't need this but pedal starts right away, so I have no idea why one does and the other won't.

dnut
 
hiker472 said:
Well, I know my oldest bike needs to have the fuel spill out of the carb before it starts easy, otherwise it seems to take forever in order to start.
Click to expand...
Ahh, the NT carbs 'primer' button, all that does is hold the float down so gas doesn't stop flowing when the bowl is full and not a pump.

In short if all the gas evaporated out of the bowl before your next ride it fills it up a bit faster and generally only takes a couple of seconds holding it down.

Another thing is if you are seeing fuel it is out of the back which means your carb is tilted slightly down in the back.

One the other hand with a carb tilted up in back holding the primmer down dumps that raw fuel into the crankcase. Raw fuel in the crankcase won't ignite and all that pedaling is just to get all that raw fuel up into the cylinder and out the tailpipe before the atomized ignitable air/fuel mix gets to it to fire up.

A level carb will get rid of both problems.
Also note that if you shut off fuel flow and let the motor die from lack of gas which you can hear as the motor will rev a bit before the last of the useable fuel leans out and is burned it will start a whole lot easier next time out, at least in my experience anyway other than the odd 'cold blooded' motor that really wants to make you work to make it work ;-}
 
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I appreciate all your help. I put new gas 40:1 in the tank and no start in 4 pedals. So I used the starting fluid again and it started. The carb is level and I normally turn off the fuel and let the carb burn out till it shuts down. I have been starting off with a dry carb with no problems. It must have something to do with the new bike and mounting because I never had this problem on the other bike. I will try starting with a full carb (kill swithch and turn tank off) to see if this makes a difference.
 
All of these little 2 strokes have personalities as varied as people. What one likes, another one won't. They all have that little 'sweet spot' where they start the easiest. The trick is to find it. Keep experimenting with rich or lean conditions for cold starts and it's a good bet you'll find out what your China Girl is happiest with.

Of course there are other factors like good electrical connections in the high and low voltage circuits that will play into how well the engine starts and runs. Splices should be soldered and protected with heat shrink tubing. Don't rely on the kit supplied bullet connectors. They are notorious for causing problems.
Good Luck. :)

Tom
 
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