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2001 Won't Start

C

chasnasty1812

Guest
Guest
So, New to me 2001. Bought it recently. It started and ran as soon as 3 weeks ago. Previous owner trailered it to my place.

The bike will crank and crank till the battery dies but just won't catch.

Some things I've tried.

1. Beating on peacock and carbs and kill switches with a mallet. Lightly
2, Starting fluid into the air box with the air filter removed. Had zero effect.
3. Jumping off a car battery. Made it crank faster, but still no start.
4. Setting peacock to prime for a couple of mins then back to on.

I did notice today while trying to jump the bike. If I have it in 1st and pull clutch in, the starter will cause the bike to move. Not sure if that's normal

For anyone that says "check plugs" how would I do that?

Any help is appreciated.

Charlie H
 
Welcome Charlie
How long has it been since the bike was actually ridden long enough to fully warm up? What's the temp wherever you're trying to start it? Being frosty doesn't make it easier. How old is the gas? Ethanol or pure gas? Does everything light up that should? If you're going to whack something, the most whackable is the jbox under the left side panel. Bad solder joints in the jbox creates problems. You might drain the carbs and set up an auxillary fuel tank so you could be starting with fresh fuel. Pulling the plugs would tell a story that would be helpful. To pull the plugs, pull the seat, side panels and the fuel tank. Twist the rubber caps on the plugs to break them loose, then remove the caps. Pull the plugs and report back what you see. HTH
 
If its not at least trying to run or sputter on starting fluid, I would start with checking for spark and correct wiring of spark plug wires.
 
CHARLIE. Drain your tank completly. And take it off. Drain your Carb bowls. Their is a screw at the very bottom of them turn it out slowly put a rolled up rag in their. No more starting fluid. ( PLease ), You need to pull the plugs. start on the left side. first one is easy. After you pull the cap blow down in their to get all the crud out get a flashlight & make sure nothing down in the plug wall. if their is keep blowing. until it is clean. Get the plug out & put it to the side. Mark it # 1. go to the next plug. the coil will half to come down for the next two plugs. Do the same thing you did on the previous plug. last plug easy do the same thing you did on all the rest get that dirt out. It will go on top of your pistons you do not want that. Buy some new plugs. ck & set the gap. CK owners manual for gap info set all four. Blow The top of the spark plug cap. Put a rag over the engine before you start blowing. Put 4 gallons of non ethanal gas with 2 ounces of heet to get rid of any water. Put some fuel conditioner in their also. Plugs in & clean gap set. wires all hooked back up properly . Check #1 THRU 4 plugs to make sure they have spark.. If your good Put the tank back on & hook it up. If it is orig it should be set to on. We wanted to get the old gas out. do not do anything but hit the started. DO NOT BLIP the throttle. Cross your fingers & hit the starter. make sure you tighten those drain screws first.
This is a good starting point Charlie. Wish I was their to help you.

Dean
 
Very possible Bryan. But my 2000 will turn over with the kill switch down. IT just won't start

Interesting to see what others might say about theirs. Thanks for your input Bryan

Dean
 
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I'm with stasch..... check for spark. It should tumbled and spit off on starter fluid. And my 98 wouldn't crank with kill switch off...thats ur first clue when u turn the key, set the choke, and hit the go button... nothing happens without the kill switch on..
 
Power comes from the kill switch to the starter button. Kill switch off no crank. Any of the safety switches that disable the ignition also kills the starter. With it cranking strong, I would look at ignition or fuel. No joy with starting fluid takes you to ignition or compression.

Set yourself up with a small fuel tank for troubleshooting. Lifting that big tank off several times is a pain. Make sure you take the side panels off so you don't damage them with the tank. Plus you bypass the petcock so you know you are getting fuel to the carbs. Make sure the carbs fill with fuel and don't overflow.

With the tank off you can use an inline spark tester to each plug. No fuel in the area. If no spark, disconnect wires from the coils, trim 1/4" off wire and screw it back onto the coil. Screw the wires in first then the retainer. Test again. Corrosion at the coils happens resulting in weak spark.
 
Good point on it not cranking over with the Kill switch off.

Ok, next guess. If it's cranking over but won't try to start. (even with starter fluid) you probably don't have any spark.
Most likely reason for that is Side Stand switch, or clutch switch.

Unplug the side stand switch and short the 2 wires together.
Then try to crank. If it cranks, you have the culprit.

If that is the issue, you can then go back, clean the side stand switch with WD-40 and see if that fixes the switch.
ie; They sometimes don't work correctly due to grit in the switch.

Ride safe, Ted
 
deanbuffington909409 said:
CHARLIE. Drain your tank completly. And take it off. Drain your Carb bowls. Their is a screw at the very bottom of them turn it out slowly put a rolled up rag in their. No more starting fluid. ( PLease ), You need to pull the plugs. start on the left side. first one is easy. After you pull the cap blow down in their to get all the crud out get a flashlight & make sure nothing down in the plug wall. if their is keep blowing. until it is clean. Get the plug out & put it to the side. Mark it # 1. go to the next plug. the coil will half to come down for the next two plugs. Do the same thing you did on the previous plug. last plug easy do the same thing you did on all the rest get that dirt out. It will go on top of your pistons you do not want that. Buy some new plugs. ck & set the gap. CK owners manual for gap info set all four. Blow The top of the spark plug cap. Put a rag over the engine before you start blowing. Put 4 gallons of non ethanal gas with 2 ounces of heet to get rid of any water. Put some fuel conditioner in their also. Plugs in & clean gap set. wires all hooked back up properly . Check #1 THRU 4 plugs to make sure they have spark.. If your good Put the tank back on & hook it up. If it is orig it should be set to on. We wanted to get the old gas out. do not do anything but hit the started. DO NOT BLIP the throttle. Cross your fingers & hit the starter. make sure you tighten those drain screws first.
This is a good starting point Charlie. Wish I was their to help you.

Dean
Click to expand...
Dean,

All Great advice. I plan on doing all of this once I have some time. Meantime, I had a friend of a friend take a look. He was saying Kawasaki had a problem with Alternator and Rectifier being "cooked" due to placement ect. Is this the case? and even if it is, would this be an issue or the parts involved in it not starting?

Thanks in advance!

Charlie
 
connie_rider said:
Good point on it not cranking over with the Kill switch off.

Ok, next guess. If it's cranking over but won't try to start. (even with starter fluid) you probably don't have any spark.
Most likely reason for that is Side Stand switch, or clutch switch.

Unplug the side stand switch and short the 2 wires together.
Then try to crank. If it cranks, you have the culprit.

If that is the issue, you can then go back, clean the side stand switch with WD-40 and see if that fixes the switch.
ie; They sometimes don't work correctly due to grit in the switch.

Ride safe, Ted
Click to expand...
Ted,

Would it still crank if the side stand or clutch switches were bad?

Charlie
 
chasnasty1812 said:
Dean,

All Great advice. I plan on doing all of this once I have some time. Meantime, I had a friend of a friend take a look. He was saying Kawasaki had a problem with Alternator and Rectifier being "cooked" due to placement ect. Is this the case? and even if it is, would this be an issue or the parts involved in it not starting?

Thanks in advance!

Charlie
Click to expand...
Never heard of this with the c10...regarding cooked components
 
The bike will start with a bad charging system. It takes over from the battery after the engine is running.
 
Bike will start with stand down with a properly working switch, then cut out when placed into 1st gear. I was thinking maybe a bad switch would imitate the stand being down and not let the bike start. Anyhow, you need fuel, air and spark to run an engine. Start at the beginning, take off tank, check for spark, check battery, open fuel tap to reserve, getting fuel? turn on key, make sure dash light are on, make sure kill switch is in on position, open air box, clogged filter?, make sure all spark plugs are connected and connected to coils, make sure plug wires are properly placed on the correct plugs, engage enricher/choke.
 
Charlie. I do not think their is any problem with the alternator at all. Strawboss may have a good point on the side-stand switch. Their is a lot of good advice in all the above posts. Start with some of the simple ones first then move up the ladder. One way or the other you will get it fixed and be back riding again.

Dean
 
The only issue with the alternator is that the wiring harness connector will corrode , raise resistance and heat up. If it's bad enough it will melt the connector.
 
chasnasty1812 said:
So, New to me 2001. Bought it recently. It started and ran as soon as 3 weeks ago. Previous owner trailered it to my place.

The bike will crank and crank till the battery dies but just won't catch.

Any help is appreciated.

Charlie H
Click to expand...
Charlie - Where are you located?

Another course of action - call previous owner who had it running just 3 WKS ago, their familiarity with the machine might be beneficial and save you a lot of headaches.

My money is on something very simple and easily resolved.

Wayne
 
2andblue said:
Charlie - Where are you located?

Another course of action - call previous owner who had it running just 3 WKS ago, their familiarity with the machine might be beneficial and save you a lot of headaches.

My money is on something very simple and easily resolved.

Wayne
Click to expand...
I'm a little North of Buffalo NY
 
Looked at the ignition and starter wiring diagrams. The side stand switch will shut off only the ignition. So it can crank with a bad side stand switch. Follow Strawboss instructions. Jump the brown and black wires. The green wire doesn't connect to anything. This will put the bike in a side stand up condition. Make sure you are in neutral when you do it. Look for the switch plunger being broken if not flush the switch with contact cleaner or wd40.
 
Jpd11958 said:
Looked at the ignition and starter wiring diagrams. The side stand switch will shut off only the ignition. So it can crank with a bad side stand switch. Follow Strawboss instructions. Jump the brown and black wires. The green wire doesn't connect to anything. This will put the bike in a side stand up condition. Make sure you are in neutral when you do it. Look for the switch plunger being broken if not flush the switch with contact cleaner or wd40.
Click to expand...
I have tried starting the bike in neutral with stand up. I wonder if that would matter?
 
If you put the stand down and the bike was running. It should shut the bike off. But it is not running so this will not tell you nothing. look at post #15 #21 & #26 and follow those instructions.

Dean
 
Charlie. Someone suggested to call the previous owner post #24 you really need to do this first it could be very helpful. Also Strawboss suggested to ck the air filter. I can tell you this. When I got my bike I pulled the air filter out and was shocked at what I saw. It had a filter in their that had all the foam cut out and a pair of woman's black pantyhose tied on each end. That told me one thing. He did not want to pay $60.00 dollars for a oem filter. And made his own. Problem was it had a run in it. Had I of seen that when I bought the bike I might of walked away.

Dean
 
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deanbuffington909409 said:
Charlie. Someone suggested to call the previous owner post #24 you really need to do this first it could be very helpful. Also Strawboss suggested to ck the air filter. I can tell you this. When I got my bike I pulled the air filter out and was shocked at what I saw. It had a filter in their that had all the foam cut out and a pair of woman's black pantyhose tied on each end. That told me one thing. He did not want to pay $60.00 dollars for a oem filter. And made his own. Problem was it had a run in it. Had I of seen that when I bought the bike I would of walked away.

Dean
Click to expand...
Dean,

I called him when it 1st wouldn't start. He didn't know why it wouldn't, and it ran and started no problem when I looked at it before I bought it. He even offered to come take a look real quick but that seems like Homer thing to ask.

Charlie
 
I've already pulled the air filter, when I used the Startin fluid to try to get it to start. Looked up into it and saw the carbs. Looked normal ish. Anything I should be looking for?

Charlie
 
A nice big fat Rat Nest. Trust me it could happen
Took my town car to have the ac repaired. They put a new compressor, belts, cleaned the system out, gave it back to me, $1100.00 dollars. I drove it for a couple days and called him back and told him it was not cooling like it used to at all. They found a rat nest blocking the air intake I think he said. Might not of needed a ac at all. Very disturbing. Will not be going back to them.

Dean
 
connie_rider said:
Good point on it not cranking over with the Kill switch off.

Ok, next guess. If it's cranking over but won't try to start. (even with starter fluid) you probably don't have any spark.
Most likely reason for that is Side Stand switch, or clutch switch.

Unplug the side stand switch and short the 2 wires together.
Then try to crank. If it cranks, you have the culprit.

If that is the issue, you can then go back, clean the side stand switch with WD-40 and see if that fixes the switch.
ie; They sometimes don't work correctly due to grit in the switch.

Ride safe, Ted
Click to expand...

And moisture that has frozen. Many times I've had to sit and wait with the clutch lever squeezed in until enough heat came off of the adjacent exhaust pipes to thaw the moisture enough so the SS switch plunger would pop out.
 
Good point. We don't have many freezing problems in Houston, never experienced it, so I hadn't thought of that.
Always bypassed it or sprayed with WD-40 to flush it out.
I think it's the side stand switch that is causing the no start.

If that doesn't work, I'm not as sure on "how to explain the clutch bypass.
But, it's also a possibility.
 
connie_rider said:
Good point. We don't have many freezing problems in Houston, never experienced it, so I hadn't thought of that.
Always bypassed it or sprayed with WD-40 to flush it out.
I think it's the side stand switch that is causing the no start.

If that doesn't work, I'm not as sure on "how to explain the clutch bypass.
But, it's also a possibility.
Click to expand...

Clutch bypass:

Side stand down
In neutral
Clutch lever out
Bike will crank and run

Side stand down
In neutral
Clutch lever in
Bike will crank and run

Side stand down
In gear
Clutch lever out
Bike will not crank, or run

Side stand down
In gear
Clutch lever in
Bike will crank, and run

Side stand up
In neutral
Clutch lever out
Bike will crank and run

Side stand up
In neutral
Clutch lever in
Bike will crank and run

Side stand up
In gear
Clutch lever out
Bike will not crank, or run

Side stand up
In gear
Clutch lever in
Bike will crank, and run
 
Step one is call the seller and ask if he had any previous issues.

On the side stand switch, the problem is often just a sticking or dirty switch.
Before bypassing, you can first try flushing it out with WD-40.
It's difficult to get to the switch on the bike, but do-able.

Place the bike on the Center stand.
Exercise the Side Stand while heavily spraying WD-40 in/on/& under the cover of the switch.
ie; Place the tube of the WD-40 inside the cover and spray everything "a lot".
An indication that it was dirty; You'll get a lot of grit on your hands etc while doing so.
 
gbyoung2 said:
Clutch bypass:

Side stand down
In neutral
Clutch lever out
Bike will crank and run

Side stand down
In neutral
Clutch lever in
Bike will crank and run

Side stand down
In gear
Clutch lever out
Bike will not crank, or run

Side stand down
In gear
Clutch lever in
Bike will crank, and run

Side stand up
In neutral
Clutch lever out
Bike will crank and run

Side stand up
In neutral
Clutch lever in
Bike will crank and run

Side stand up
In gear
Clutch lever out
Bike will not crank, or run

Side stand up
In gear
Clutch lever in
Bike will crank, and run
Click to expand...
OK well, how about this. In 1st with clutch in. Bike lurches forward when I press the starter button
 
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