Kawasaki Gt 550 won't start

[Jay2903]

I'm having issues starting this Gt550.
When i hit the starter button it makes a clicking nosie which i belive is from the solenoid and it turns a little. Its too stiff to turn by hand i've used a socket to turn it.

-The piston aren't seized
-the battery is fully charged
-starter motor seems fine
-It's been sitting for about a year
Any ideas ?
(im fairly inexperienced )

[Efes123]

Sounds like it could be a dicky solenoid. Is it a single click or multiple clicking?
Try sticking a multimeter on it and check the voltage when you hit the starter switch, it should read 12V
Try giving it a sharp tap, it sometimes helps but isn't a solution.
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[iooi]

[Jay2903]

[Jay2903]

[The Shaggy D.A.]

If you take all the sparkplugs out and then try the starter, does it spin up then?
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[Jay2903]

[temeluchus]

The battery may well be knackered regardless of what your meter or charger says. Try jump starting it off a large battery or car etc.

Solenoid is cheap enough to replace.

If those all check out you can look at getting new brushes for the starter.
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[Jay2903]

[Jay2903]

Definitely seems to be getting enough power. Should it be possible to rotate the crankshaft by hand when holding the flywheel ? I thought something was seized up so the starter motor couldn't turn it

[iooi]

[Jay2903]

[Bru]

Battery charger will not be able to supply enough current to crank the motor, despite promising optimal voltage.

You need to use a battery. If not a bike-specific battery, then jump it using a car battery - the bike system will draw the current it needs (assuming no dead shorts ignite the loom, that is).

[Jay2903]

I thougt that had something to do with it being shaft drive

[Jay2903]

[Diggs]

Get a suitable source of power connected to the battery then bridge the two terminals on the solenoid with a rubber-handled screwdriver. Be prepared for sparks...
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[Jay2903]

Finally got time to mess with this. yea the new battery sorted it out but it still wont start. Petrol doesnt seem to get to the plugs.
i tried it first using a plastic bottle conected straight to the fuel line. fuel went into the carbs but didnt get to the plugs when i tried starting it. Then once the tank was cleaned i connected it up but then petrol wouldnt get to the carbs.
ive cleaned the carbs + fuel tap and that hose that goes from the fuel tap to one of the carbs is connected
any ideas ?
thanks

[Robby]

Fresh fuel.
Make fuel tap is turned to ON.
Crank it until it catches. No throttle, no choke, just crank it.

You may have to charge the battery a few times.


Or, pull everything apart and clean it, for the same result.

[Teflon-Mike]

You are doing this by 'random'
Put it in a higher gear, 3rd or 4th, plugs out & try 'dry' bumping it.
Unless it's a 1950's sunbeam with a worm & pinion final reduction, rather than crown & pinion, driving the back wheel should turn the engine over.
Squib a LITTLE as in a few drips of two-stroke oil, for preference, if not cooking oil.. extra virgin olive oil is good... if only for the name.... but, either will lube dry pistons/bores as you crank a 'derelict' and avoid rings etc snagging if it's not too late already... will also tend to bring the compression 'up' if the rings are sticking.
IF the engine turns over on the dry-bump... add a little more oil and keep working it over to make sure all good and free.
IF you can get enough amps out of knackered old battery you are falorn hoping on, leave ignition switched on & kill switch 'off' so you can watch the idiot lamps; be good if you can get the oil warning lamp to turn off on dry-bumping, to tell you working it over has got the oil pressure up.
IF it wont turn over, on a dry-bump, plugs out, in a tall enough gear to give you advantage... then we must assume it be siezed... but I doubt it.
Back to the battery..... your starter, IF its in good condition will draw something in the order of 60amps or more...... a 'good' battery charger will kick out maybe 4 or 8... and if you try boost starting off one, it'll usually pop the fuse in it! So, as it seems you have been trying exactly that... check your charger! Lights may be on, but if you have sucked the fuse from it, might not actually be putting current 'in' to the flattery.
Battery probably rated at maybe 30Ah.. in theory if new and good, can supply 30a for an hour, or 1a for 30hours... should spin the starter up readily enough for a good while, if nothing else drawing current... so check you have the lamps and anything like heated grips switched 'off' to give it best chance.
On a good-new battery, though, starter applies what's called a 'deep cycle'.. an ampage above the Ah rating, that it can only sustain for a short duration... asked to deliver that many amps, that fast, chemically you get an 'ion depletion' thing happening on the plates and in the electrolyte... and the terminal voltage drops..... which is what makes the solenoid click out; stop sucking amps from it and let it 'recover' and you will get the terminal volts back, and a few more moments of cranking.... BUT more you deep cycle a battery, more that ion depletion thing becomes permenant and reduces the charge capacity of the battery.....
IF you have a faulty starter.... the brushes wearing leaves the contact ring covered in carbon, and more coils in the starter trying to suck current than they should, worse the magnetic fields they produce competing against each other, so with the bearings in the starter probably also gummed up, it's not making the force to spin up so easily and sucking more amps to do it... if over current then thins the braiding wire in the brushes, sucks even more current, in a vicious cycle, that can, if dire, kill even a new battery in very short order....

SO.. avoid killing a brand new battery straight off the stops.....

Once you have dry-bumped and are sure that the engine turns over, and you can get oil pressure.....

Plugs still out; use a car battery.. which will normally have more than enough capacity to spin up a bike starter without even going 'deep cycle'..... BUT... do NOT 'jump' start from a car.

Bikes normally have a separate rectifier/regulator, external to the flywheel alternator.. cars have an integrated rect/reg in the alternator, and they bung out BIG amps... think the one on my mota knocks out something like 120a, and regulated to about 16-17v, where the bike is regulated to about 13.5 or so.....

IF you bung the out-put of a car alternator, which is being delivered to the terminals of the car battery when the engine is running, that many amps, at that many volts, put on the bikes charge circuit... MAY try and fry the bikes reg/rect.. which is yet another problem you probably could do without making.. but you may have if any-one else, or even yourself has made this mistake trying to get life in the old beast previousely...

SO, remove the questionable bike battery from the bike... get it right out the way.. get the car battery on the floor next to the bike and put it into the circuit where bike battery should go with jump-leads...

Plugs still out and the Extra-Virgin down the plug holes.... kill switch 'off'... give it a wazz over on the starter.. see IF the starter turns over and IS nominally 'OK'.... if it's slow with no plugs in the holes... then you need to look at it & overhaul with new brushed, possibly bearings or replace with new..... if it spins the engine up to oil pressure,, no garantee it's 'good' but you are in with a chance....

Plugs still 'out'.. turn kill switch back 'on' and check for sparks... I find using a spare jump to hold the threads of a plug and make a good earth to the frame, a fuck site easier and less shocking than trying to hold plug against the engine whilst cranking, BUT make sure you give the plug an earth... and then still on the car battery... give it another spin, and see for sparks....

THEN you can put the plugs back in..... now starter has to work against compression... so Kill-switch back 'off'... and spin it up on the car battery again, see if it spins up hapily and quickly enough to get oil pressure... if not, then starter prob needs stripping/replacing... if does.. you MAY be able to risk a new bike battery on the thing, AND instructions followed for filling with the acid pack; letting the electrolyte 'settle' and slow-charging, before you put it on the bike and ask big cranking amps of it....

AND if tests above did give 'sparks'... you are in with a chance of seeing signs of life.... and if you dont.... likely down to fuel, not sparks.... but that is pokes & prods for another day....

First job, sort out the turning the engine over issues... make sure its NOT siezed and will turn over on a push in a high enough gear.

Check the starter over without load; and on a known, good, charged and over rated battery.. recheck with load, and make sure you get sparks....

That is the logical place to go, eliminating one variable at a time; working methodically & systematically and LOGICALLY... Random don't fix motorbikes very well in my experience.... nor does telling half truths, of implied 'facts' or trying to kid any-one that a problem cant possible be somewhere you suspect, possibly fear, but don't want it to be, cos means 'money' or 'hassle' you hope to avoid..
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[Jay2903]

so i tried to work kind of systematically. it does indeed turn over freely and is getting a spark. it was a bit stiff at first when using a socket on the crank shaft but is alright now. when i hold the spark plug agaisnt the engine and hit the ignition it shows a good spark. the battery was new and charged but ran low on juice after a while. after trying to start it for a while i checked the plugs but theyre dry.

[jaffa90]

I would remove air filter choke off full throttle and spray some EASY START or carb cleaner spray in there and then start with half throttle.

[bypass2]

I had a similar problem I took the air filter box of got a piece of plastic to cover the carb mouths up tight . turn the petrol on choke on then try starting it. worked for me.

[Robby]

It always take a while to awaken a bike from hibernation. If the battery is flat, stick it on a charger overnight - no point trying to revive a bike on a flat battery.

[Teflon-Mike]

So any progress?
so.. engine turns... you get sparks.
Three things needed for 'life' spark, compression, fuel.
You got sparks.. do you got compression?
Rule of thumb is the thumb over the plug-hole... can you hold your thumb there while you crank (Throttle open)? If so you don't have enough compression! If you cant.. then you probably do.... so on to checking for juice.
Start with the simple and the basic, before diving in and pulling intricate carbs to bits!
Pull the fuel hose, and turn tap on, let it trickle, make sure you get fuel out the tap....

Some bikes have a vacuum opened tap, that has a hose from the inlet manifold to operate a diagphram valve, so that the tap wont let fuel out unless the engine is sucking.

If you dont get fuel out the tap, try different tap possitions; you may have to use reserve or prime to by-pass the vacuum valve.

If you get flo, then try start-up in that poss again.. and check the vacuum pipe to the tap; could be perished or split.

Next pull the fuel tap and dump whatever is in there... just as a matter of course.... you can always use it for cleaning stuff or lighting the bonfire.... but dump it and watch what colour it comes out and how much crap or sludge comes with it.

Its amazing how many reluctant bikes will fire up on fresh fuel....

BUT, condensation & contamination in the tank is often the prime cause of so many supposed carb issues... so eliminate them at source, and make sure that the tank and tap is clean....

Topic of a seperate discussion, BUT, these days I tend to do a POR15 tank treatment on renovation projects as a matter or course... saves so many hassles later down the line.... old bikes with steel tanks; condensation collects on the roof of the tank, then drips into the fuel to settle at the bottom, where it rusts the seams and low-spots in the base of the tank. In regular use, the amount of condensation is small and not allowed to build up, and fresh fuel put through the bike regularly flushes out the small silt that is produced. Leave one deralict a few years though, and it dont... so you put in fresh fuel, and get the bike running, and think all is good, but then start to have hassles, as use and vibration shakes shit loose, and it starts getting sucked into the carbs.... and often un-plugs a pin hole that had rusted through, and tank starts leaking..... POR15 is a fuel-proof paint kind of stuff, than properly appled, 'lines' the tank. treatment first cleans the tank of old crud rust and silt, then the lining stops any thats left getting sucked into the carbs, while also forming skin to stop any leaks forming. Its good stuff, properly applied, and deturs further tank deterioration as well as kill carb hassles before you get'em.. could be worth considering the £50 investment before you put the bike into service.

However.. clean tank, clean fuel, clean tap.... make sure you get good fuel to the carbs, before anything else...

then still... dont rush in to stripping intricate equipment.. check basics! Choke cables often forgotten and never lubed.. make sure that the choke is free and not sticking, cable lubes and not snagging etc.

Remove the air-filter, clean the air-box, make sure there isn't a mouse nest in there! It is not unknown!

Then, you can try neat down the throats... I tend to shun etha/easy-start... it has some rather unpleasant side effects, though does smell nice! I tend to use a bit of neat petrol in a squirty bottle.... conveniently I have a few unused ones from POR15 kits and I spray some neat either down the carb mouths or into the air-box as I crank....

Be careful not to flood it... can make starting harder, but you should get some sign of life.... be ready over the kill switch against 'run-away' though, as motor is running 'un-governed', and you will probably have the throttle wide open to let it suck the spray in.

If it fires on 'neat'.. THEN you know fuel isn't being delivered by the carbs, and that's where to look next, and all is other-wise probably 'OK'... if not? Then carbs may not be the root cause... and back to the beginning, looking at whether spark-plug leads are in the right places, and putting sparks in the pots when the fuel is there... and if that's not the problem..... getting a proper compression tester on it.

As warning in last post... I would tend to do all this testing, and sustained cranking off a car battery on jumpers, to save deep-cycle killing a new bike battery, especially if there is still any question-mark over state of the starter.

But go through it syetematically and methodically, and dont jump in to where you think or suspect or other people have found problems to be... eliminate one variable at a time.
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[Jay2903]

I managed to get it started a few times but I couldn't get it to stay running for more than a few seconds. It would Rev to around 1k then just cut out.
I'm also having issues getting fuel to the carbs. I took apart and cleaned the fuel tap and I have the hose that goes to the second carb all connected up but fuel doesn't flow when I'm trying to start it. (I can see it's not because there's and inline fuel filter).
Final thing - fuel seems to be leaking out of the two holes at the mouth of the carbs ( I have pod filters rather than the original air box and have a bottle of fuel connected to the fuel line)
All help appreciated
Thanks