Not starting.... grrrr

[CarlS]

You can do it. Once you do these things one time, you will have the confidence and do it more quickly the next time.

If you find water in the carb bowls and decide to drain the tank, leave a little bit in the tank. Take the tank off, shake it around and pour the remaining gas out. This can help remove any trash in the tank.

 

[The Seeker]

Instead of draining the tank you could pour in some dry gas available at auto parts stores too.

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[devo]

A point that hasnt been mentioned re water in fuel.
As you are probably aware,fuel is lighter than water,so any water will always sink to the bottom of the tank.
If you can leave your bike overnight in such a position that the petcock is at the lowest point,you can then drain of a small amount of fuel and remove all the water at the same time.If you drain it into a glass jar,when left to sit for a minute or two you will clearly see if there is any water in there.
This way,you dont waste all that fresh fuel you put in the other day and you wont have so much to dispose of.

 

[Rocky]

Anything is possible of course, but generally speaking, if you buy gas from a station that is fairly busy and has a high turnover of gasoline sales and delivery, there usually isn't a water problem.
If you do as devo suggests, put the petcock on reserve so it will drain from the lowest level.

 

[devo]

If you do as devo suggests, put the petcock on reserve so it will drain from the lowest level.

Thanks Rocky
that was a careless oversight on my behalf.

 

[Rocky]

Thanks Rocky
that was a careless oversight on my behalf.

 

[golfingirl]

Well, I got my bike started! Yayyyyyyyy. Thanks everyone for their help and sage advice. I started by changing the spark plugs. That was easy. Then I checked the air filter etc. It was clean. I attempted to start it with no luck again. It really sounded like it just wasn't getting enough fuel. I was doing everything I could to avoid seeing if the jets were clogged or draining anything. Out of my comfort zone but I was willing to try if necessary. I opted to bang the crap out of my carbs in hopes it was the floats. It must've been because all of a sudden it started up like I revived it from the dead!

Thanks again everyone. You guys are like my support group. So glad it was a pretty simple fix. I'll be riding tomorrow.

Cheers!

 

[devo]

. It must've been because all of a sudden it started up like I revived it from the dead!

Thanks again everyone. You guys are like my support group. So glad it was a pretty simple fix. I'll be riding tomorrow.

Cheers!

Good news
sounds like it may have been a stuck float.
Enjoy the ride,youve earned it,and well done on your quest and determination to sort the problem.

 

[hemibee]

COOL We now have another mechanic in the membership.

Rule #1 If all else fails, grab a BFH and knock the snot out of it.


. . . BFH = Big effin' Hammer. . .


Posting with Tapatalk while riding my Tiger 955i at 15 over the speed limit.

 

[CarlS]

That is good news, Laura. Congratulations. You are now a certified Triumph mechanic. . Glad it is running. Have a great ride.

 

[Mad On Triumphs]

I opted to bang the crap out of my carbs in hopes it was the floats.

Thanks again everyone. You guys are like my support group. So glad it was a pretty simple fix. I'll be riding tomorrow.

Cheers!

Bet that solution wasn't in the Haynes manual. Good for you.
Have a great ride, don't forget your camera for some nice pictures


P.S This is this forum at it's best

 

[DaveM]

Well done

 

[Rocky]

Bet that solution wasn't in the Haynes manual. Good for you.
Have a great ride, don't forget your camera for some nice pictures


P.S This is this forum at it's best

You're right about that!!! That's "old school" stuff that often works. It's those silly freaky things like this that are hard to diagnose.
Great to hear that the bike woke up and is flying right.
But this wasn't all for nothing. Remember all the stuff you learned from this exercise - just in case

 

[golfingirl]

You're right about that!!! That's "old school" stuff that often works. It's those silly freaky things like this that are hard to diagnose.
Great to hear that the bike woke up and is flying right.
But this wasn't all for nothing. Remember all the stuff you learned from this exercise - just in case

Yep. It usually is the simple stuff. I'm so glad it wasn't more involved. I am not unhappy this happened though, it forced me to learn some basic stuff which I'm very excited to know. I love learning. It was a great experience for me. My only regret is missing some perfect weather to ride to work. It was 65f in the morning and 85f high. It's chilly today but that won't stop me. I'll just take this cafe racer to the coffee shop to warm up.

 

[Rocky]

Basic stuff like this is good to know. The fact that you're willing to get in there and "do stuff" is great and will help you in the future.
Knowledge is power

 

[mr roper]

I'm glad you're running again. Hitting the float bowls was the first thing you should have tried.

 

[golfingirl]

I'm glad you're running again. Hitting the float bowls was the first thing you should have tried.

Well, I did try that first but I think I was unsure how hard to hit 'em. So I tapped them with the end of a screwdriver to no avail. I went onto the other simple fixes. Before I started to take apart things more, I got desperate and started to whack the heck oout of the carbs with end of a rubber coated wrench. Voila! Live and learn.

 

[Rocky]

I can understand your reluctance to hit too hard. Things like this are learned through experience and knowing how far you can go and how much will it take.
You don't want to hit metal on metal so the rubber coated wrench was a good move
Metal on metal has better shock value, but it can also damage the carb - which is a very bad idea.
You now have a pretty good idea should this ever happen again.
I've never had a float stick on any of the bikes and thousands of km's I've ridden - which includes vintage and modern bikes.
But it just goes to show you that just about anything is possible.

 

[The Seeker]

You can't really say for sure if it was the sparkplugs or sticking floats however.

By the way....what did the old sparkplugs look like? You can tell alit from "reading" their appearance.

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[Rocky]

This link may help you in reading your spark plugs.

http://www.ngksparkplugs.com/tech_support/spark_plugs/faqs/faqread.asp