Starts fine when dry, but the morning dew trumps it

borgy95 · L Plate Warrior Joined: 29 Mar 2012 Karma :

Hi BCF,

Sadly my first post on this forum is a troubleshooting one! hopefully more pleasant ones will follow!

I recently bought a 1992 GPZ500s.

As the title suggests the bike starts really well when its dry so anytime after about 11 when the morning dew has gone and the sun is out.
But whenever i come to start it for my journey to work around 8.30am it is really unrelaible and sometimes plain refuses to start...

This suggests to me damp in a connection? what do you all think?
if it is how do i remedy this?

(i know very little about bikes this is only my second one, and i've only been riding about 6-7months now and had no issues with my previous one ever.)

stinkwheel · Bovine Proctologist Joined: 12 Jul 2004 Karma :

Does sound rather like there's damp somewhere.

Does it turn over ok?

Two places to check for problematic connections on a GPZ500.

1) Main fuse holder. This is located on the starter solenoid. Follow the fat wire from the battery positive, it attaches to the solenoid under the ?left? side panel. There is a snap connector attached to the top of it, under which is a 30A fuse. Check the terminals and ends of the wires in this snap connector for signs of corrosion (green and furry, damaged contacts, wire may pull out of terminal when waggled). I've had three of these fail in exactly the same place.

2) In the ignition switch itself. It makes and breaks a few different connections. It's possible for it to fail in such a way as the lights come on and the starter motor turns but you don't get a spark. Look for the rev counter needle moving slightly as you turn it over. If it doesn't, you probably don't have a spark.

Spray a load of WD40 down the switch, give the key a good wiggle about and try again. If this fixes it, the switch is on its way out, buy a new one. I've also had three of these fail in this exact way.
____________________
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P.addy · Red Rocket Joined: 14 Feb 2008 Karma :

Using the choke?

Do you leave your bike outside under a cover or in the open?

borgy95 · L Plate Warrior Joined: 29 Mar 2012 Karma :

steven_191 · Nearly there... Joined: 31 May 2009 Karma :

sounds like your choke circuit. If you have a manual choke that is??

if so you could unbolt it from the carbs and make sure that when you pull the choke lever it physically pulls the cable and opens the circuit.

dont use the throttle when using the choke. If you have to use the throttle, your choke circuit probably needs tuning to suit the bike.

borgy95 · L Plate Warrior Joined: 29 Mar 2012 Karma :

Thanks for the help guys...

Figured out what the issue was... a combination of things...

One was the battery not holding enough charge so that needs replacing..
two is my inexperiance using a choke, and making it harder for the engine to start.

and i took a thrid precaution by wd40'ing the connections... as stinkwheel suggested.

i will continue to generally observee starting performance to see if there may be anything more serious going on

again thanks