I'm at my wits end and about to break...Oil pan hell.

[Detman101]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I took the plugs out and found that fuel is flowing. Sadly, the battery cannot be recharged and after sitting on the charger for over 2 days it only recharged to 11 volts and not the 12 that is necessary for starting the bike.

CloudbreakMD is going to get me a gel mat battery next week. After that I'm sure the bike will start. Once we get it started the oil pan gasket will be replaced with a replacement that is on it's way as I type this. The bike will be sealed up correctly so that it doesn't leak oil under the bike and possibly slick my rear tire on the highway.

Patience is one of my failures. I have very little of it and even less for machines that will not function as they are supposed to. CloudbreakMD knows me well.

Yes, the crowbar has been decomissioned from my army of tools as of the day the oil pan died.

But I maintain that the bike is going to be sold this winter regardless in order to make way for my new SV-650. These are the last days of the ratbike.

[Detman101]

The battery is on it's way.
More results in a day or two...

[flyingace]

While you're at it, decommission any sledge hammers you have laying around.

Ace.

[gspaul]

No! you need that to sync the carb's .................''

[flyingace]

Actually, it's the best tool to use on a broken tach. Works as well as anything else!

[Detman101]

Well, put the new battery in and the bike still won't start.
I just don't get it.
The new battery is a Gel-Mat battery and comes from the dealer ready to go. It reads 12 volts on the voltmeter that I have in the house. When I put it on the bike it reads 11 volts (with the headlight off) by the bike's internal voltmeter. The bike will crank and crank and crank but it just won't catch.

I don't know what the *@%^$*@%^$*@%^$*@%^$ else to do at this point. God doesn't want me to ride or something...
I've never encountered totally confusing bull*@%^$*@%^$*@%^$*@%^$ like this that just doesn't *@%^$*@%^$*@%^$*@%^$ing add up. It has everything it *@%^$*@%^$*@%^$*@%^$ing needs to start. Compression, gas and *@%^$*@%^$*@%^$*@%^$ing spark. WHY THE *@%^$*@%^$*@%^$*@%^$ WON'T THIS PIECE OF *@%^$*@%^$*@%^$*@%^$ *@%^$*@%^$*@%^$*@%^$ING START!!"?!?!?!?!?!?!

[hostar]

might sound stupid.....did you try push starting it?

[flyingace]

Detman,
I don't think any of us who responded to you thought a new battery would solve the problem. To confirm this, hook up jumper cables from a car battery and try to start the bike. The car should NOT be running. If it doesn't start, you know it isn't your battery. Because 12 volts sounds low to me, I would continue to jumper the bike for further diagnostic checks. Once you get the bike running, you can return to the battery issue. If a car is not available to you, then trickle charge the new battery overnight to make sure it is fully charged.

first:
make sure your choke is functioning at the carb levers. If it isn't, fix.
make sure the plug wires from the coils go to the correct cylinders.

then:
remove the plugs and turn the engine over to
1. check for a nice big spark on the (grounded) plugs.
2. make sure there's gas vapor coming out of the plug holes.

If 1 or 2 is missing, you have a place to start looking.

Ace.

[redliner1973]

Go buy a can of GUMOUT carb cleaner, Gumout, ONLY...If you have spark, this stuff will burn, period, it will not, however, damage engine like ether can. Now, remove a spark plug, spray some down teh cylinder, screw on teh plug (by hand), crank her. If it putters or fires, you know it is not a spark issue. If it does not fire, reconnect that wire you pulled loose when you crowbarred teh crap out of that oil pan. if it DOES fire, make sure fuel is getting To the carbs, and that your not flooding the engine. turn petcock to 'prime' (if equipped), wait a minute or two, then try ity again. let us know what happens..

[Detman101]

Well, if the wires coming down the right side of the engine were damaged when I crowbarred the oil pan then that means I will need to dissassemble and/or replace my ignition from the case all the way back to the wiring harness.

Well, I did wanna put a dyna ignition in the pos anyway.
More money wasted...

:roll:

[Detman101]

If a car is not available to you, then trickle charge the new battery overnight to make sure it is fully charged.

The new battery is charging as of 8:00 last night.

first:
make sure your choke is functioning at the carb levers. If it isn't, fix.
make sure the plug wires from the coils go to the correct cylinders.

then:
remove the plugs and turn the engine over to
1. check for a nice big spark on the (grounded) plugs.
2. make sure there's gas vapor coming out of the plug holes.

If 1 or 2 is missing, you have a place to start looking.

Ace.

Choke is functioning correctly at the carb.
The plug wires do go to the correct cylinders.
-Spark is still measly and yellow (Not big and blue like it used to be)
-Gas vapor all over the place when cranking it.
-Still haven't tried push starting it. Waiting till saturday to try that when I have some help pushing this sack-o-*@%^$*@%^$*@%^$*@%^$.

[flyingace]

Great, you've made some progress - it's not a fuel issue. If you have a spark, but a weak spark - it sounds like a low voltage problem. If you have weak spark on all 4 plugs, it probably isn't coil related, either.

What changed to reduce the quality of your spark?

As I said, try jump starting with a car battery if it's available. If not, than push starting. Anything to eliminate the battery as the problem. The advantage to jump starting with cables is that you can see if the quality of the spark improves.

If it doesn't start, at least you can say with confidence it isn't the battery. It could then be plug caps, plug wires, ignitor, etc.

If it does start, then you may have a short somewhere reducing the system voltage available for starting. Either way, I would start a new thread asking for help from Earlfor - he's an electrical god.

[redliner1973]

You put this new battery in, and reading at the bike only 11 volts..now you also have weak spark..seems to me there is a ground or harness loose damaged, etc. somewhere. there should not be a volt loss in any of the systems. I keep seeing a *@%^$*@%^$*@%^$*@%^$ed of person getting crazy with that crowbar, and inadvertently knocking or tearing something unseen loose. Especially if the bike ran fine before you started this, as you said earlier. Walk away from it for a few, and when you see it next, look slowly over and under it at every wire or connector you can see or touch and see if there is a problem..

[Carter Turk]

Push start it by yourself. Neutral to 2nd full choke no throttle. I did it for a year when I installed the starter gear with two washers that come on the 1100, but not on the 1150. All I had to do was remove the washers, took me a year to figure that out.

That way you can save a few profanities that will ensue till Saturday.

[Guy]

Definitely an electrical issue. A weak yellow spark at atmospheric pressure usually means no spark at all under compression.