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Choke won't stay fully up...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Taliesin
  • Start date Start date
T

Taliesin

Guest
When starting my bike, I have to have the choke fully up, or else it just won't start. This is if it's even sat for like an hour, etc. I don't really have a problem with that...except...

My choke won't stay up. When I pull it out all the way, it immediately lowers, and I have no idea how to tighten that up, or whether I'm missing a part that would have provided more friction to keep the choke knob fully up until I press it back down.

Anyone else experience anything like this, or know what my problem could be?

I know the choke assemblies in each carb are spring-loaded, so it doesn't really surprise me that it lowers back down, but it's a pain to have to play a game of Twister with my bike to get it to start:

Left Hand - Clutch
Right Hand - Choke
Right Elbow - Starter Button
 
Try tightening up the friction collar around the cable end. If it doesn’t turn you need a new cable – about $20 at your favorite OE parts source.
 
pull up choke cable then twist it. it should lock in that position. to turn it off, simply turn it the other way and it will go off
 
Sounds like a personal problem.......:p

Really... try tightening up the plastic collar around the cable, just under the knob. They have a way of snapping if you try to tighten it too much......like mine did. I have a new cable on order though.

In the meantime, you can get a clothespin, the kind with a spring in it, and clip it on until you need to release the choke, then put it in your pocket. It has worked great for me for a long time.:)
 
Oooooo. I really dig the twisty idea. I'll try that this evening when I get home from work. I'll also take a look at that collar, but I really don't want to have to buy a new one after breaking it. lol.

Getting her up and running has been maddening, but absolutely satisfying.

Thanks for the tip!
 
Last edited:
Larry D said:
Sounds like a personal problem.......:p

Really... try tightening up the plastic collar around the cable, just under the knob. They have a way of snapping if you try to tighten it too much......like mine did. I have a new cable on order though.

In the meantime, you can get a clothespin, the kind with a spring in it, and clip it on until you need to release the choke, then put it in your pocket. It has worked great for me for a long time.:)
Click to expand...
all it takes is a twist! cheaper than a clothes pin and less embarrassing too :)
 
Agemax said:
all it takes is a twist! cheaper than a clothes pin and less embarrassing too :)
Click to expand...

It takes alot more than that to embarass (sp?) me !!!!:p

I've tried the twist thing, it didn't work for me. I ordered $164 worth of parts last night, including new throttle, clutch and choke cables. So, it won't be a problem for much longer.:)
 
Not sure about the "friction collar", but I have found on my son's bike that if you twist the knob itself (careful, it doesn't go very far), it will stay where you leave it.

Another way to prevent playing "Twister" is to disconnect the clutch safety switch. If you do this, you have to be sure to verify the bike is in neutral before hitting the key. To disconnect the safety switch, remove the headlight (just two or three screws), follow the wires coming from the clutch switch into the headlight bucket. Those wires are yellow with a green tracer. You will see some bullet connectors in the wires. Disconnect the bullets, then re-connect the bullets that are part of the main harness to each other. The bullets that go to the clutch switch can be left alone, if you want. Put the headlight back in. You no longer have to hold the clutch to use the electric starter.

A third way to reduce your chance of playing "Twister" is to thoroughly clean your carbs and set them right, but do this after checking (and adjusting) your valve clearances. With proper valve clearances and clean carbs, you might not even need to use the 'choke' at all.

.
 
The carbs have been cleaned and dipped. Float heights were re-set. (PO measured from the wrong part of the float.) Valve clearances were checked, and a shim was replaced to keep everything in spec. (Thanx for the spreadsheet again, by the way.)

I really like the concept of the clutch safety, so I don't know I want to go the route of disconnecting that particular safety feature. :)

I'm going to try the twist idea and see how that works. Then I'll take a look at the connect assembly and see if I can't figure out how to cause it to have a little more friction. In the worst case scenario, I'll continue to do the Twister thing.

In cold weather, it's almost like a theft deterrent. ;)
 
Larry D said:
It takes alot more than that to embarass (sp?) me !!!!:p

I've tried the twist thing, it didn't work for me. I ordered $164 worth of parts last night, including new throttle, clutch and choke cables. So, it won't be a problem for much longer.:)
Click to expand...
thats what you get when you buy cheap after market choke cables...they dont work like the genuine suzuki cables
 
Nessism said:
Try tightening up the friction collar around the cable end. If it doesn’t turn you need a new cable – about $20 at your favorite OE parts source.
Click to expand...

Steve said:
Not sure about the "friction collar", but I have found on my son's bike that if you twist the knob itself (careful, it doesn't go very far), it will stay where you leave it.
Click to expand...
Under the choke knob is a round rubber cover. if you lift/pry up on the rubber cover, as Ed said, you will see the plastic friction "device" (nut). however there is no need to remove the rubber cover, you just turn the cover and the nut (friction device) will turn with it. clockwise increases the friction, anti-clock lessens the friction on the choke knob cable.
try it...
Taliesin said:
My choke won't stay up. When I pull it out all the way, it immediately lowers, and I have no idea how to tighten that up, or whether I'm missing a part that would have provided more friction to keep the choke knob fully up until I press it back down.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Taliesin said:
When starting my bike, I have to have the choke fully up, or else it just won't start. This is if it's even sat for like an hour, etc. I don't really have a problem with that...except...

My choke won't stay up. When I pull it out all the way, it immediately lowers, and I have no idea how to tighten that up, or whether I'm missing a part that would have provided more friction to keep the choke knob fully up until I press it back down.

Anyone else experience anything like this, or know what my problem could be?

I know the choke assemblies in each carb are spring-loaded, so it doesn't really surprise me that it lowers back down, but it's a pain to have to play a game of Twister with my bike to get it to start:

Left Hand - Clutch
Right Hand - Choke
Right Elbow - Starter Button
Click to expand...

My bike has the choke on the top of the steering head, if yours is like this, this may help.

The choke "cable" is a rod, that goes through two nuts.
the top one causes friction ... when tightened down it compresses a plastic "cone" onto the choke cable/rod. unfortunately, this cone wears out, and the top nut cannot compress it anymore before it bottoms out and can't be screwed any further.

I just unscrewed the top nut all the way, took small piece of flexible tubing and placed it in there (I forget if between nut and cone or between cone and cable/rod)

Pretty much free, took 2 minutes, and now my choke stays in place again.
 
Taliesin (interesting sitename esp considering ur religious refs btw...would love to know what it means as I'm a curious guy) -
where in central coast are you? I'm off 68 near laguna seca. if you need help wrenching, let me know, I will try to help you out...2 heads are (sometimes) better than one...and almost always more fun...
 
Agemax said:
pull up choke cable then twist it. it should lock in that position. to turn it off, simply turn it the other way and it will go off
Click to expand...

Hey thanks for the tip, I wondered why mine wouldn't stay upright. Now it does!!!!!!!!!
 
The twist thing didn't work for me for whatever reason. However, I was able to cinch the friction collar down a little more, which provided some grip on that rod.

I think I'm going to have to check out the flexible tubing option pretty soon, though, since it's bottomed out now. And a little more grip would be a good thing. However, I didn't need to do the Twister Start method yesterday afternoon!
 
Temporary fix, put a quarter, nickle, penny or something else the right size in between the arm on the end of the sliding choke rod and the side of the #1 carburetor to hold it open until the engine gets warm enough to ride.

I had a 750 with a bad cable when I bought it, I'd use a quarter to start it up for about half a minute until it revved up too high, then put in a nickle and go riding. When it was completely warmed up, pull the cable, the nickle falls out, push it back in, away we go.

These days I might stop to pull the nickle and put it back in my pocket.
 
Good information...

I've been with out a choke nob/cable/everything except the choke itself since i bought my bike...

I have to manually feel it out until it gets warm enough... my good old fingers do the trick... how bad is this for my bike i wonder??
 
Taliesin said:
The twist thing didn't work for me for whatever reason. However, I was able to cinch the friction collar down a little more, which provided some grip on that rod.

I think I'm going to have to check out the flexible tubing option pretty soon, though, since it's bottomed out now. And a little more grip would be a good thing. However, I didn't need to do the Twister Start method yesterday afternoon!
Click to expand...

You are not supposed to twist the cable, or the pull knob, you twist that cable friction device just under the knob (rubber cap looking piece). Try turning it in tighter until the cable will stay put when you pull the knob out. If it won't hold the cable properly, just get a new cable and be done with it.
 
Right, I understand the concept of that friction device. Some have reported success with turning the knob/rod and thus locking it in the up position until they want it down and then twisting it back. Others have reported that it didn't work for them. I'm in the second group.

I twisted that collar down and got a little more grab on the rod, which will serve for now.
 
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