Motorcycle Repair: bike wont start, blown fuses, honda xl

Question
Hi Chris, I am having a major problem getting my 125 bike to start and stay started.
I am in the UK.

I have an X-tream X-dirt 125 dirt bike bought in September 05 (cheap chinese import)said to be a copy of a Honda XL (or LX I get it mixed aoround a lot.
Symtoms: 1. the elec. start will not turn over fast enough to start the engine and tends to flood it more often than start it so I dont realy use it now.
2. kick starting, the bike would normally start after 2 or 3 kicks with a little throtle exept when I flooded it, at which point I used no throtle and let the bike slowly even out the flow itself which took more kicks than I care to count. Now, no matter what I do or how long i kick it over the most I get out of the engine it a few seconds of running (very slow rev's) then it dies again, after a few more kicks it will run for a few seconds less and then nothing for a lot of kick time by which time I need a seat.
3. The spark plug is new and there is a spark, the battry metre on the disply console states there is power in the battry, as far as I can tell fuel is making it in to the carberatta and on the odd occatian I can smell fuel.


If you can recoment any tips to help I would be greatful as i only need it to run untill I can save for an better one.

Hope to hear from you soon.
Raymond.

Answer
Hi Raymond.

Lovely country over there in the U.K.  It's where I learned to ride, as a matter of fact.

You've given me a great deal of pertinant information, which is exactly what I need to help you.

First thing that you will need is the repair manual.  Get one so that you have all of the correct specs and testing proceedures for some of the components that require special tests.

Start by checking the battery with a hygrometer.  You could have a bad cel in it, which would cause the slow turn over issue.

Then make sure that everything is tightened correctly and there are no shorts or blown fuses in the electrical system.

You could have a bad magneto as well.  Check it with a multimeter as you kick-start the bike.  See what it shows for a charge and match it against the specs in the manual (this will probably require a second person to either kick-start the bike or read the meter).

Also check compression against what the repair manual says it should be.  A loss of compression could be the problem as well.

Start with those and let me know what you find.

Good luck and ride safe.
FALCON