Bike Storage - Think I did it wrong !

[Inno]

Hey,

I have left my bike in a garage over the last 2 months, its hed very little pertol inside and its been on and off of trickle charge.

I went to try the bike (CBR600F) at the weekend and the thing will not only start but after running up and down the road the push start it the engine sounds soooo bad !!

When the engine gets going after the push, the revs are all over the place, the speedo, rev counter and heat counter needles are all over the place (160mph standing still ), I was unable to give it any revs at all even after leaving the engine running for 20 mins. As soon as there is a little throttle it dies.

However if I apply the front break teh revs go so high it sounds like the engine will blow. Also when standing still the exhaust was firing, it sounded really unhealthy !

After leaving it running then having it die, I checked the battery and its saying there is 9volts, however the starter switch when pushed does'nt even make a noise, it does'nt do anything. The lights come on but very faint.

My dad says there is water in the engine (condensation) and that the battery will need to be at 12volts before it does anything. Before I got the engine to tick over he starter when pushed made a noise but did'nt start and this was with less volts in the battery.

Does anyone have any ideas on why the engine is like that and why the starter is worse !!!

The bike is a Honda CBR600F, year 2000.

Is this going to cost me!?

[Thet2]

could be a number of things, the speedo i had a similar problem on my scooter, ended up that it was faulty, as for the misfiring, could be the grounding is not good, check your ground cables as this could also be the cause of the speedo being all over the place.

[G]

Some of the problems sound like dead-battery problems, while others sound like a possible water in the carbs problem.

Apparantly some bikes won't start charing until the revs reach a certain limit.
If it's at 9v, there's not enough charge. Give the battery a decent charge.

I would then drain the carbs.

There should be a little screw on the bottom of each carb which opens a small drain hole.

Now empty out the petrol tank, check for rust and get some new petrol.

[Scotsman37]

Well with a 12 volt battery as according the Haynes Manual that if the bike's battery reading is below 10volts then it needs to be recharged. You also need to check it's fluid level (electrolyte) is actually sitting between the upper/lower markings on the battery. If it still doesn't show approximately 12v after recharging then you'll need to buy a new bike battery as it will not work properly anymore!

I would possibly try new spark plugs just in case the ones currently left in it as one or more of them are no longer working properly.


In regards to carbs they are no doubt partially clogged up with crap and so I would definitely try Silkolene's Pro FST which is a fuel system treatment and is designed for problematic engine start ups due to severe cold weather causing icing in the carbs ie water is remaining. Do also use Silkolene's Carb Cleaner or Redex which is also a carb cleaner for helping to remove the crap out of the carbs.

Better still: Either physically remove the carbs unit yourself, unless you know what you're doing otherwise I would get a mechanic to look at it instead because they will know how to put it back together again - correctly as they will have the right tool for the right job!


With the engine revving high/low intermitently can be due to above mentioned but you may also find that your choke/clutch/throttle cables may actually be rusted up too. You can find this out easily by using an actual cable oiler tool and it only costs about £5 plus some WD40. After several squirts of oil into cable via that device then you should see appearing at the other end of the cable leaking through some WD40, but if you don't see it appearing then your cable is definitely rusted and you'll need to replace each of you cables that this happens with.


If it now eventually starts up and appears to be smoothly running this time then this would be the best time to do an engine oil change as you've cleaned everything else at the beginning anyway. I would highly recommend Silkolene Pro 10W/40 as that is highly recommended for your bike rather using crappy the stuff sold under Halford's own name as you'll lose about 10 - 15mph off the top end.

Also, I hope you've given your brakes a good clean with brake cleaner and plastic bristled brush i.e a hard type of toothbrush is a good device for this.

[Kickstart]

Hi

The problems sounds like dodgy electrics to me, quite possible caused by the battery.

Check that the battery terminals are clean and secure. Charge the battery (although it may well be knackered) and also check that once it is started the bike is charging the battery at a sensible level. It is a Honda so the regulator / rectifier is not going to be that long lived, and charging from flat will put a load of strain on it.

As above put some fresh fuel in the carbs.

I would not bother with FST as carb icing is very unlikely to be a problem at low speed.

All the best

Keith
____________________
Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Robby]

If its still rough after doing what they suggest above, fill the fuel tank and put a very little bit of meths in - like a capful. That should absorb any residual water in the system.
If you don't like the idea of putting meths in your fuel tank halfords sell a product to absorb water in your tank. Probably just meths with some fancy packaging.