Aprilia RSV suddenly won't start

[loply]

Hi folks,

My new 2002 Aprilia RSV has suddenly stopped starting. This morning the battery was flat (it's been struggling for a while) so it turned over a few times then left it and walked.

I wen't back this evening (having left it on charge all day) and it was exactly the same. When I hit the starter it turned over, made a slight crack (nothing too loud though, I don't think it was anything...) and I gave up.

I hooked up some jump leads to my car and tried it... Turns over beautifully, nice and fast, sounds smooth as you like, but absolutely no firing.

Theres air poofing out the exhaust and I can smell the odd whiff of petrol but it won't fire or backfire no matter what I do.

I'm feeling like there's no spark? These are twinspark engines so... CDI? What would cause that?

I get no warning lights but for a few moments the dash intemittently flashed "EFI" whilst turning over.

Any suggestions? I can obviouslly pop a spark plug out and check if it's sparking, but I don't know what to do once I've done that...?

Thanks for any help,
Rich
____________________
Yamaha SZR660 Caution to the wind, the throttle pinned!

[Finglonga]

You may have just flooded it, try with the jump leads first so it has a good chance next time.

Then Get a new battery . . . a good one.
____________________
Andy Sez....
F.Y.Y.F.F.

[loply]

I considered that, but, given that I tried for quite a bit (in two sessions) to start it, and I never got a single backfire or even a cough or splutter, I thought in the end it wasn't down to that?

If it was flooded, the best bet would be to leave it for a while (say overnight) then try again?
____________________
Yamaha SZR660 Caution to the wind, the throttle pinned!

[Finglonga]

You can sometimes clear it by holding the throttle open fully until it catches(close it straight away as soon as it fires) but if not half hour standing should do it.
____________________
Andy Sez....
F.Y.Y.F.F.

[Cigaro]

A trick with fuel injected stuff is to pull the fuel pump fuse to clear the flood.

[ZaphodBeeble]

A few words of advice:

Don't try to start an RSV with a low battery charge. I know of people who have ruined their starter (sprag) clutches because of a weak battery. These sprag clutches are about £200 last time I checked and most of the time cannot be repaired, only replaced. Be VERY careful with it and make sure the battery is fully charged. Get yourself an optimate charger or similar.

As for the problem you are having; I would first check the spark plugs - as long as you have fuel in the tank.
____________________
Current bike: VTR1000F Firestorm. Previous: Firestorm (written off) - XJ600 Divvy - NSR125 - DT125 and a load of offroaders.

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

I was going to say the exact same Beetle.

The clag you heard was the motor kicking back against the starter clutch. Do that too often and it'll break. I always used to keep mine hooked up to an optimate(well once a week) as it had an alarm on it and I never had any problems.

The alternative is to fit a 14aH battery instead of the standard 12aH. Fit something decent like a Yuasa battery though.
____________________
My Flickr

[loply]

Okay folks. I have a new battery here waiting to go in, in the interim I'm jumping it off a car anyway so that shouldn't matter.

My plan is to check the fall-over/crash switch, then I'm going to connect the diagnostic wires which may lead to a code being displayed on the screen.

After that I'm going to pop a spark plug out and take it from there.

Problem is, that bike is left in a daft place where it broke down, so I need to either work on it there (and it's pissing down!) or wait a few days to move it with a van. Nightmare
____________________
Yamaha SZR660 Caution to the wind, the throttle pinned!

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

Be surprised if it was the tilt switch. They tend to not reset themselves after a fall. It's rare for them to just cut the bike out.
____________________
My Flickr

[ZaphodBeeble]

You can unplug the tilt switch on the RSV's to eliminate them. The only problem is they give you a dash warning when unplugged.
____________________
Current bike: VTR1000F Firestorm. Previous: Firestorm (written off) - XJ600 Divvy - NSR125 - DT125 and a load of offroaders.