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As the title say's i love my Falco but why won't it start?

I have spent more money than i should have ( deffinatly more than my wife knows about) on my bike over the winter, Belly pan, rear hugger, had the fairing sprayed to match the rest of the bike ( the previous owner had a spill and replaced the black fairing with a silver one), also put a millie shocker and linkages on.

any way why won't it start, i went to start it a week or so back and it fired up ok, i left it ticking over for a couple of minutes and then gave the throttle a twist and she died on me, i went to start her again and she didn't fire up!

the motor spins over fine, there is plenty of presure when i put my hands over the exhaust when i am trying to start her.
there is fuel getting through you can smell it when when you try to start it, and also when i took a spark plug out it was wet!

i have checked all the fuses they are all intact, you can hear the fuel pump priming when you turn the ignition.

when i had the spark plug out i checked for a spark, there was a spark but it was an orange colour is this correct?

I think I have given you all the information i have I hope somebody can help.

Thanks in anticipation.
M H

Falco's can be a bit of a pain to start. Is the battery absolutely, 100% full? If I haven't ridden mine in a couple of weeks then it has to go on the battery charger before it will start. - despite turning over ok.

Classic flooded motor

Wind with throttle WIDE open. Happens to me VERY occasionally

try some new plugs if there soaked youl struggle to get it going

Yep flooded

Orange is a fairly weak spark, blue is strong spark, dirty plugs would give you a weak spark ( from a flooded motor )
If you can smell fuel in the zorsts its flooded.
Leave it for a few mins,try again with NO fast idle and throttle third open

Yes and if you are checking your plugs out, make sure they are clean and correctly gapped (remembering there are 2 per cylinder)
It'll be more prone to flood if the sparks are poor and it fails to fire well on start-up.

Thanks for the advice.

the bike sits permanetly on an optimiser when not in use, i have tried the full throttle tirck with no results, tried staring it with and without cold start,
I have cleaned the battery terminals, changed the spark plugs and drained the tank and replaced with nice fresh fuel but it still wont start.

help is really needed now, its getting fuel it has a spark and the motor spinning nice and fast when i press the button.


Please help!!

M H

Still got the smell of fuel?

If so, throw in some FedEx and turn it over for a while - then leave it

Next, try it after a wait like a day

If still no joy, call griff

mellow haze wrote:Thanks for the advice.

the bike sits permanetly on an optimiser when not in use, i have tried the full throttle tirck with no results, tried staring it with and without cold start,
I have cleaned the battery terminals, changed the spark plugs and drained the tank and replaced with nice fresh fuel but it still wont start.

help is really needed now, its getting fuel it has a spark and the motor spinning nice and fast when i press the button.


Please help!!

M H

I am also having issues starting up. My battery is knackered, but tried to jump start it off a car and it still wouldn't start up. Annoying, isn't it.

If I come across anything out of the ordinary with mine i will let you know.

Dale

I had a similar prob early last year: I bought new plugs (even tho the old uns were sparking) and voila! Starts/runs fine again (touch wood)! Maybe they were breaking down internally?

It is worth noting that when plugs get tired they can give a nice fat blue spark when tested out of the head but fail to spark under load ( fitted ).
Although they are not that easy to find these days you can buy a test bulb that fits onto plug,fit plug cap on top of bulb and the handy liittle chap illuminates with every spark

Wahey she's come beck to life, i almost forget what a noisey bugger she is!

like i said earlier changed the plugs and changed the fuel so it must have one or the other or both.

Thanks for all the help and advice folks don't know where i would be without you.

Time for some cleaning and polishing now while i wait for my new chain and sprockets.

Cheers Folks
M H

Glad it's sorted!

Result MH
Glad you got it sorted !
Must say if it wasnt for encouragement and advice from here, I would have given up a long time ago !