Changed the stator, now it won't start

[Guest]

I have an 81 400 L.

I've been waiting almost two full weeks for my new stator to arrive in the mail, and in that time, I think I may have ridden the bike once and started it up maybe two more times after that.

We've also been having some cold and rainy weather over the last few days. I don't know if this is important, but I figure I'd mention it.

I finally got the new stator today. I quickly popped open the crank case, pulled out the old stator, and threw in the new one. Once I had the case put back together, I wanted to fire the bike up to get a voltage reading on the stator. The bike started up right away, but was idling a bit sloppy, I assume because it hadn't been started in quite a few days. The bike stalled out once, and then I could not get it to start up again. It's cranking, sounds like it's ready to kick over at any second, but the motor just won't fire.

Did I make some sort of horrible mistake when I put the new stator in? It's a fairly simple process, and I think I did it properly, but now I'm worried I have to open up the crank case to make sure I didn't forget something.

Is the bike maybe just bring finicky? Is it possible to flood the carb on a bike so it won't start? Is it perhaps something to do with the length of time the bike has been sitting, combined with the cold damp weather as of late?

Any hints or suggestions are appreciated.

[posplayr]

Do a quick test to see what state your battery is in. Sounds like low voltage or no choke

[jbthomp]

Is it flooded? Pull the spark plugs out and see if they are wet. Did you check all the fuses and make sure none of them are blown? What is your battery voltage? If it gets too low it probably won't start. Throw a charger on it and see if it will run.

[fyarl666]

I know the battery was a bit low when I started (12.3 volts, hence me needing a new stator), but the fact it was trying to crank over at all tells me the battery isn't necessarily the problem. After trying unsuccessfully to get the bike to start for several minutes, I checked the battery again. 11.6 volts.

Obviously I was taxing the battery, but the starter was still cranking so the battery wasn't completely dead yet.

That's why I thought maybe it was flooded. Gonna try again before bed, maybe it'll start for me.

[posplayr]

No idea what you are doing

[tkent02]

Probably why it won't start.

[habsdoc]

Battery

Just charge your battery and then try starting your bike. A worn down or weak voltage, may still allow you to turn over the starter, but there is not enough voltage to fire the coils.

[greg78gs750]

charge the battery.

[fyarl666]

And the saga continues...

So i took everyone's advice and charged the battery.

Success, or so it seemed...

So I let the bike idle for awhile so I could do various voltage readings to ensure that the new stator is doing what it's supposed to do.

As far as I can tell, as per my voltage readings and the Stator Papers, the bike is charging as it should be.

I decided to take her for a test drive so I could get some big rpm's through the bike so I could text the battery again after the ride.

That's when things started to go wrong.


The bike just seemed to be idling and running sort if herky-jerky. Sometimes it would hesitate off the start, not throttle well, stutter, and at one point, let off a massive backfire that scared the livin' poo right outta me.

As soon as I decided that maybe I better ride my skinny white butt back home before something bad happens, something bad happened.

Was cruising at an even 50 kph when it just sputtered and died. I tried to dump the clutch and keep it running while I was still rolling, but the engine wouldn't stay running. After it stopped, wouldn't start again. I olby tried a few times cuz I didn't want to max out the battery again.

Left it for a few hours, got my wife to come pick me up.

Came back later with my brother, who has saved my butt a few times by giving me a push start on the bike.

Tried to start the bike, but wouldn't go. As I was about to set up to push start the bike, I noticed that the petcock was set to 'reserve'.

Oh crap. Was that the problem the whole time?

I figured I must have flooded the engine with too much fuel.

After switching the pet cock back, we attempted to push start the bike where it has worked several times in the past, this time it was a fail. I figure the plugs were just too wet to fire and the bike refused to start.

Would running the bike on the reserve setting, when it obviously didn't need to, cause it to flood or stall? I don't think I really know how the reserved tank actually works.

Any info is appreciated!

[posplayr]

so if you think I don't trust you, but can you report the 6 Quick Start numbers?

[fyarl666]

Once I get the bike back home, and it's not a rainy crappy day, I'll start from the beginning and do the 6 quick steps all over again and report my findings.

[posplayr]

Once I get the bike back home, and it's not a rainy crappy day, I'll start from the beginning and do the 6 quick steps all over again and report my findings.

While the Quick Test 6 measurements are intended to make it easier to test for a wide variety of symptoms.

There are still subtleties in the data not captured in the diagnostic summary that can provide clues to what is going on or at least improve the chances of finding the issue in the shortest amount of time.

That is why it is best to report them if you can. Generally it provides a less ambiguous set of data than all of the other methods, one source of ambiguity is the lack of correct execution of test procedures.

[2BRacing]

Was cruising at an even 50 kph when it just sputtered and died.

I noticed that the petcock was set to 'reserve'.

I figured I must have flooded the engine with too much fuel.

Ahem... could it be that there is too little fuel in the tank? With the petcock on reserve, and the engine sputtering and then going dead and refusing to start again after running normally for a while, this sounds as if you do not have enough fuel in the tank.

[fyarl666]

It's got at least a half tank (approx. 5L) of fuel, but I don't know how the reserve tank works, if there's fuel in the tank and it's not necessary to set the fuel cock to 'reserve'.

Wouldn't setting the fuel cock back to 'on' rectify a not-enough-fuel situation?

[dorkburger]

Reserve is just that.....a reserve. The bike will first run out of fuel with the valve "on", then switching to reserve allows fuel to be taken in from a lower point on the fuel valve allowing one to get to the gas station.....if the bike ran out of gas in the on position, switching to reserve should give it fuel-providing all is well with the petcock. If running on reserve, switching to on will cause it to run out of gas.
Id suggest filling it with fuel, try to get it running then, attend to the charging tests.