QuestionI have an 86 intruder that has been sitting about a year it had a dead battery
so i charged it off my pickup. All lights came on but it would not attempt to
start. There is a stand light which i read on here needs to be off to start. I
just do not understand what would keep it from attempting to even start if it
has power
AnswerHi,
Whenever a bike sits for an extwended period of time, sometimes for only one or two months, the gas in the carb goes stale, the small jets in the carb get clogged and if the bike has an advanced case of this, say if it sits a year, the gas in the carb bowl turns to goo and the entire fuel system needs a flush, meaning the gas tank, and the carb must be completely disassembled and cleaned out manually.
What happens is the carb bowl has an atmospheric vent and this is there to maintain atmospheric air pressure in the bowl so that the fuel can siphon correctly enabling the action of carburetion so the bike runs. This fresh air supply to the carb bowl, and the gas inside causes the small amount of gas in the bowl to turn to the goo I mentioned.
The fix, take the carb apart and remove the jets, clean all passages with carb spray, clear all jet openings with a fine wire, spray alone will not clear them sufficiently. I sometimes use a wire from an old wiring harness, or you can get a jet cleaning wire-tool from the Honda ahop. Spray everything inside the carb, at reassembly with wd40, put it all together, use fresh gas in the tank and a charged battery and it should run fine.
Thanks.
