Turns, sparks work, no fire!

[Rasta-ninja]

Recently changed my shims and i took one of my ignition coils out so i had a bit more room to move about. Problem is now the bike is turning but wont fire. Im pretty sure its not a fuel problem because when i drain the float bowls on the underside of the carbs they get filled straight back up, and compression is fine so this leads me to spark. All the sparks are sparking so theres nothing wrong with them, they just must not be getting an earth or something. Ive read the manual and it says that #1 #4 need to have a black wire connected to it. I own an english model L8 and i can't find this black wire so possibly its a different colour? If so could someone please tell me! I was trying to get #1#4 earthed through 2 n 3 but they lost the rubber things that keep em in the frame so they used to get there earth from 1 and 4! you see my problem any help is appreciated, many thanks!!

[cargo]

The coils are NOT earthed and do not need to be earthed

[cargo]

I've just realised who you are.............................your the guy that took his cams out to remove and replace shims


Funny isnt it that you omit to provide this vital information now that your bike wont start.........................


I do hope you put your cams back in correctly....................not easy to do when the engine is in the frame


you've got sparks and you've got fuel....................it should start !

[Rasta-ninja]

indeed i am, im pretty sure cams are in correctly, otherwise a valve would of hit a piston by now.... and i know it should start but its not =S ,it turns and turns till battery dies and doesnt fire, which is why im so confused!!! It wasn't starting before i changed the shims but since the clearances were out by loads decided to change em, ive got the fuel/air mixture screws 2 turns out, is that enough? What do you guys usually set it at? cheers!

[cargo]

indeed i am, im pretty sure cams are in correctly, otherwise a valve would of hit a piston by now

Not necessarily.


ZXR 400 are IMHO (which of course you dont rate) difficult to start after a lay up

I myself flattened two batteries this very day while trying to start one of mine.........................it started by the way and is running sweet

Carb settings are I believe in the manual

[Rasta-ninja]

why would i be asking you questions if i didn't rate what you had to say? Im sure you know about 10 times more than i do when it comes to these machines so anything you say i wouldn't disregard. I have charged the battery up a lot of times to max capacity and kept trying, it does really want to start but just doesn't fire....its really messing with my head! Ive got killswitch on run so its nothing stupid like that, as for air/fuel mixture screws cant find anything in the manual

[thomp1983]

if you've got spark and definitely got fuel and your certain the timings right then id probably go with spraying a bit of easy start or carb cleaner down one of the spark plug holes and see if that gets it going

chris

[Rasta-ninja]

sparks are all working, definitely got fuel, im assuming the timing is fine. When i put the cams back in i made sure to check, if timing was out wouldn't the valves hit the pistons, bend, and make a not too nice sound?

[thomp1983]

as pointed out above, if the timings only a couple of teeth out it's possible it won't damage anything but could be out enough to not let it start. also valves hitting pistons isn't a big noisy effort, usually a slight change in turning over note as the offending valve heads are taken off and after that they bury themselves in the piston or head and it turns over as usual so it would be possible to do it an not realise, a bit in hindsight now but whenever you had any engine apart that has involved disturbing the timing you should gently turn it over by hand with a spanner or breaker bar to check the valves and pistons don't meet. in your situation your 2 options are cam cover back off and make sure the timing is correct again, or some easy start, id be going for the first option as it's more of a definite answer.

chris

[Rasta-ninja]

I wasn't ruling out that it could be out of time, its worth it to get the covers off just to double check. I made sure that i turned the engine over just to check that it wasn't grinding with anything and all seemed fine, the clearances were good as well. But tomorow il get that cylinder head cover and pick up cover off and check its all timed right. Im looking to have the timing marks on the cams parallel with the tops of the cylinder head at TDC aren't i?

[Robbie]

STEP FAR FAR AWAY FROM THAT BIKE.ITS GONNA BE WORTHLESS BY THE TIME YOU ARE FINISHED

[cargo]

How long is it since the engine actually was running............................................

Have you had the plugs out for a clean?

Have you tried heating the plugs and puting them back in hot

Are you using fresh fuel


Your fully charged battery might not be as fully charged as you think...............what are you charging it with


And finally Why Feck am I helping you ?

[Rasta-ninja]

worthless maybe to someone else but its always going to be mine so thats not an issue....plugs are so clean they are practically brand new and yeah i tried heating them up and sticking them in, fuel is new as well, and battery is being charged by a motorbike charger that fully charges it and once fully charged trickle charges it. I'm bout to check timings now

[RedexRobB]

Thing about the battery, is that it can 'appear' to be fully charged but can loose its charge very quickly. Ive always thought about it like this, imagine a water bottle, and everytime water is poured in (on charge), a layer builds up round the entire inside of the bottle, with every fill that layer gets thicker and thicker. Eventually it will be so thick that you can hardly store any charge in it and it drains very quickly with every use.

If it were me id try jumping it off a car, plenty of juice there but dont try it for too long! Assuming everything you have done is correct, and if that doesnt start it then i dont know what will.

[cargo]

Thing about the battery, is that it can 'appear' to be fully charged but can loose its charge very quickly. Ive always thought about it like this, imagine a water bottle, and everytime water is poured in (on charge), a layer builds up round the entire inside of the bottle, with every fill that layer gets thicker and thicker. Eventually it will be so thick that you can hardly store any charge in it and it drains very quickly with every use.

If it were me id try jumping it off a car, plenty of juice there but dont try it for too long! Assuming everything you have done is correct, and if that doesnt start it then i dont know what will.