From: A. F. Cano on
In article <84ae5990-4737-4834-a63a-9805ef9532c8(a)n35g2000yqm.googlegroups.com>,
Mack the Knife <bulldog101750(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
>On Nov 27, 7:54�pm, Billy <goeds...(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>...

I have a 2000 Vstar 650. I had weird starting problems that manifested
themselves mostly in colder weather. Went through all kinds of tests
and finally stumbled on the solution: There are a couple of large (in
Amps) fuses under the seat, on the right side, under the plastic cover.
One of those was very loose, not making good contact. I wrapped the
terminals in aluminum foil paper for a snug fit and reinserted it.
Problem gone.

My symptoms were not only not starting, but sometimes in colder weather,
while running at random speeds, the engine would just die, like the
spark plugs were unplugged all of the sudden. On suck occasions,
kicking the right panel with your heel would cause enough of a vibration
that electrical continuity would be reestablished and the engine would
run again. It would be interesting if your problem is caused by the
same thing (loose fuses).

A.
From: โอม มณี ปัทเม หุม on
On Nov 30, 8:07 pm, Mack the Knife <bulldog101...(a)yahoo.com> wrote:

> It goes along with the fact that you always get a gas smell
> after trying to start it, as if it's flooding.  That ought to tell
> someone in the know something.  

This problem, whatever it is, is probably not electrical at all, it's
probably a carburetor problem, combined with a lack of understanding
of how constant vacuum carbs work.

Maybe you have a sticky/leaky float valve on one carb. I know that my
Yamaha FZR1000 has at least one sticky/leaky float valve because of
the backfires when I start the engine the first time in the spring and
also when roll off the throttle the first few rides of the year.

I live in an area where the temperature gets up to 100 degrees every
day for half the year, and the other half the year it's cold and foggy
and riding is no fun at all.

So my carbs plug up if I don't ride for a few months.

I add fuel stabilizer to the gasoline before storing the bike for the
winter and I also add about five ounces of Berryman B12 Choke and
Carburetor Cleaner to a full tank of gasoline every spring.

B12 contains solvents like acetone, toluene, methyl ethyl ketone and
xylene which dissolve gum and varnish quickly.

But I will often hear one or two really loud and scary backfires when
trying to start the engine for the first time. And I get the smell of
unburned gasoline, but nothing runs out the float bowl overflow hose.

(If a backfire actually causes the engine to rotate backwards a
fraction of a turn, this can jam up the starter clutch and that would
be a major disaster for my engine, because the starter clutch is
buried deep inside the engine and I would need to remove the engine
and split the crankcases to repair it. Your starter clutch is much
more accessible.)

Berryman B12 comes in both liquid and aerosol cans so it can either be
added to the fuel directly or used to clean out the jets and passage
directly.

Your carburetors probably have a small hole in the intake bellmouth,
and, if you
squirt B12 (or GumOut or STP or other clear carburetor cleaner) down
the smaller of the two holes, that will clean out the idle mixture
circuit.

The larger of the two holes in the intake is the "choke". Actually you
don't have a flat plate type choke like a car's carburetor used to
have.

The cold starting enrichener circuit has a little valve that allows
air to bypass the throttle butterfly and the air rushing through the
air passage sucks gasoline directly out of the float bowl.

When you start an engine that is equipped with a cold starting
enrichener, the drill is to move the "choke" lever or knob to the full
on position and leave the throttle twist grip alone and push the
starter button until the engine acts like it wants to start.

Then you can help the start by twisting the throttle grip a little
bit. What you're actually doing when you twist the throttle is adding
AIR to the excessively rich mixture, so it's not surprising that you
smell raw gasoline for that reason.

An old trick to starting a stubborn engine is to turn the master idle
speed control knob all the way counterclockwise until the throttle
butterflies are completely closed.

When you crank the engine with the electric starter you get MORE
engine vacuum to suck fuel through the idle jets and passages and
through the cold starting enrichener because the throttle butterflies
are fully closed.

Then, when the engine starts, you can twist the throttle and hold it
open until the engine warms up and then you can turn the master idle
knob clockwise to adjust the idle speed to normal.

There's another thing to understand about the smell of unburned
gasoline after starting.

The engine needs a rich fuel air ratio to start, and if the carbs are
plugged up (or a float valve is stuck shut) the affected cylinder will
only fire every eighth stroke (four turns of the crankshaft) instead
of every fourth stroke (two turns of the crank) and it will blow
unburned gasoline out the exhaust pipe.

From: โอม มณี ปัทเม หุม on
On Dec 7, 2:27 am, beatyerbrainsout <bill_bone...(a)yahoo.com> wrote:

> This was always the way to adjust float levels on various vehicles
> I've maintained in the past but for this bike you need a special tool to
> measure the actual fuel level, according to the manual I've got.

You can probably make a fuel level tool out of a piece of clear
plastic tubing and some kind of home made adapter that can be screw
into the float bowl drain
screw.

The recommended fuel level is probably around 1.0 ~ 1.5 mm below the
float bowl gasket surface.

> Will keep trying, eventually will stumble upon the cause or
> causes of the current problem, and will post them here. Thanks for
> your help.

Have you tried the old trick of turning the idle speed all the way
down? Just turn the master idle screw (or two idle speed screws if the
carbs aren't interconnected)
all the way counterclockwise to close the throttle butterflies and
make the engine vacuum high enough to suck fuel out of the float
bowls.

That old trick goes back to the days of British 500cc thumpers...

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