Engine not giving any power.

OK, I've had my bike running for the past few days now that I solved my problems with the rear sprocket, but I came across a new issue this morning that I have yet to figure out. I rode my bike to work and home both Monday and Tuesday and it ran beautifully.

This morning, I left my house, hit the tickler twice real fast, turned it over, cut the choke from full to about half on once it started to sputter, and started to go (same as I had done the past 2 mornings). A few moments later, the engine stopped giving any power and just made a hollow rumbling sound. As soon as I pulled in the clutch lever, it died, so I tried it again and got the same result. My ride to work is about 2 miles, and I tried it repeatedly (minus the tickler) on my way to work, and while it would turn over, I just got that hollow rumble. I checked my spark plug when I got to work and it was wet but otherwise pretty clean. I noticed about 5 minutes later, there was a decent pool of unburned fuel beneath the bike dripping from the exhaust pipe. I left the plug out all day, and then took it around back of my office and tried to start it again. No luck on any try, so I swapped the plug for one of my spares and the same result. After letting it sit for a few minutes, I noticed a fresh pool of unburned fuel. The new plug, when removed, was dry.

I ended up leaving my bike at the office and caught the bus home. I'm hoping someone can tell me where to look or what I may have done wrong thats causing this. The only major change between the past 2 days is that it was about 10 degrees colder this morning than the past 2 days, but this afternoon the temperatures were back to their normal afternoon levels, and I still had the problem, so I think I can rule out it being too cold.

Any suggestions?

Right, I'm pretty sure your having a problem with the ignition side of things. Have you tried turning the engine over with the spark plug connected to the HT lead, but not actually screwed into the engine. rest it against something metal then turn the engine over. Check for a spark, its probably not the spark plugs at fault but instead the magneto or maybe even the CDI.

Be Careful, checking for spark, if your engine is flooded.

sounds like you're getting way too much fuel, if it's leaking fuel out of the engine.
check your float & needle valve.

well to me this sounds like a fuel carb problem

stuck float maybe ?

you have fuel all over the place -- thus can only be a fuel problem ?

no guarantees from up on the mountain top

but -- sure do hope that you GET IT UP and ride that THING

Good suggestions from everyone. If Its on the fuel side......

If the float needle isnt seating, gas will dribble out through the tickler onto the ground.
But sometimes it will seep into the head flooding the engine.
I'll give my 2cent's worth. Guessing, With the pitcock in the "ON" position the float needle wasn't seating properly. (sticky) Now your plug if fowled and your float needle still isnt seating correctly.
___Id say get a new plug, also remove the float bowl and spray the carp out of it with carb cleaner.
Maybe also tweak the needle adjustment prongs VERY slightly (as per photo) so your sure the float
pushes the needle up, seating it.

try a new plug u be surprized the difference

Well, I have tried a different plug and got the same result, so I'd say its not the plug. My guess is that it is indeed the float, but I won't know until I get it home. It's been sitting all day today and I noticed the fuel seems to be getting pulled in because when I left yesterday, the line between the petcock and the carb was full, and now the hose is about 3/4th full, and empty the rest of the way to the petcock. The tickler doesn't appear to have any fuel leaking from it.

The fuel isn't leaking from anywhere on the carb, it only seems to pool the unburned fuel when I try and start it and run it, and then it drips from the exhaust.

Hopefully I can get it home tonight and then disassemble the carb and see what the problem is.

good luck & let us know how it comes out.

graucho said:

(as per photo)

Click to expand...

nice job with the pic!!

OK, I adjusted the little arms for the float. What I'm wondering is how much fuel should be in the float? As it is currently, when filled, the fuel stops just below the rim of the bowl where the small square area is (seen at the top of the float bowl in the picture a few posts up.)

Its a little too late at night for me to try it as is, and I'm hesitant to try it tomorrow morning as I'd hate to have it damage the engine if I have it wrong. I'm guessing it should be full enough that the jet is within the fuel but not so high that it drowns the whole bowl, but thats just my guess and I could be totally off.

Any suggestions as to a good height for the fuel to be at? Also, below is a picture of the amount the prongs are bent on the float stop, and I'm wondering if that looks like too much or too little. Sorry for the bad quality, my cellphone cam is all I have for another week or so.

Alright, I rode to work on it again today but was unable to start it. I cleaned the whole carb and tested the float about 5 times before I re-mounted the carb and as far as I can tell, the carb is fine. When I got to work, I decided to check the spark plug again. I tried to turn it over a whole bunch and like fastboy9 said, I wasn't getting a spark. Since I have about 6 spare plugs, I tried 2 others and had no spark from any of them. So now I'm wondering how I go about checking the CDI and magneto.

Thatks for all the suggestions so far, even though I assembled this thing, I think I've learned more after tearing it back down again to troubleshoot.

EDIT: OK, now I think I'm getting somewhere. I checked and it looked like the yellow wire from the kill switch had wiggled loose and come into contact with the white wire as well as the blue, which if I have understood all the guide I have seen, the white wire is a line for powering a light or something. I totally taped off the white wire, and resecured the kill switch wire to the blue wire from the magneto to the CDI (it should be VERY secure now, I soldered it in place) Once I get to my lunch break, I'll take it out and see what happens, but after those tweaks, I tried getting the plug to spark and it was successful (and a little jarring, I got a little zap.)

One thing maybe someone can anwser, should the black wire from the kill switch be attached to the black wire on the ignition system or is it ok to be grounded elsewhere? Reason I ask is because I currently have it secured to a screw on the float bowl, which is how my friend had his, but I've seen instructions saying I should have it attached to the black ignition wire. Any advice on that?

EDIT2: OK, success! I was able to start it and ride for about 15 minutes. No pools of unburned fuel and the spark plug is burning nicely.