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« on: December 24, 2013, 12:22:07 AM »
Hi all,
I just wanted to give a breakdown of my starting woes on the 2012 Like LX. It started the day after a trip from the store where the bike was running flawlessly. The next day, no start....just the typical starter cranking. Naturally I thought low battery. After a day on the tender, I got the same cranking noise when I tried to start the bike. For the heck of it, I drained the tank and added fresh gas...nothing. I thought the battery (even on the tender) did not have enough juice so I bought a new YUASA battery. Still nothing. I ran through all typical starting scenarios....definitely a starting problem here.
I now thought it was a spark issue. I took the plug out and reconnected the coil wire and layed the plug on the exhaust pipe. When I hit the starter, I saw the plug was getting spark, so I ruled that out. I really didn't think it was a solenoid problem b/c the starter was cranking nicely. I even put thinner oil in the crankcase thinking the thinner viscosity would help turn the bike over...nothing. I thought the valves may be too tight for the bike to turn over so I took out the trusty gauges, removed the cylinder head, rotated to TDC and measured....valves were spot on, no adjustment needed.
Just when I resolved to give the bike over to the shop, I thought i might examine the plug again. I took a wire brush and cleaned it off a bit and put it into the cylinder.....hit the starter, and now got a little 'chug' versus the cranking starter. I then immediately bought a new plug (copper for me) and installed. Bike fired right up.
From what I gather my short little jaunt to the store and back did not give ample time for the bike to heat up....repeated short trips built carbon on the plug and the bike acted like it was flooded (no start). Even though the bike was getting 'some' spark, it wasn't enough spark to fire it up. New plug and all is well. I hope someone can benefit from this short story.
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