Okay, I'm new here and I figured now was as good a time as any to start picking your brains. Here's the story: my brother's LS650 has been sitting for months, and I want to ride it. So, I replaced the battery and checked the voltage, put in a new spark plug, checked the petcock and fuel line for flow, made sure the vacuum hose was good and not getting any gas, and drained out all the old gas. Before it would turn over but no cranking at all. Now it'll crank and run for a second, but that's it. It responds a little better with the choke full out, but nothing to get excited about. I tried priming it while starting and it doesn't make a difference. I'm not too sure where to go from here. There are no leaks that I can see or hear, so should I start with the carb and start taking things apart bit by bit until something jumps at me, or do one of ya'll have a possible solution to this?

Thanks for any help you can give, and thanks a ton for building up such a good community for us. I look forward to getting on board the scavenger hunt soon.  

Been sitting for awhile
fires but does start
I think it's the carb
a quick test is to spray wd40 in the vac port
the propellant is propane.

drain the carb, refill with seafoam, let sit overnight, drain as it won't run on seafoam.  set to prime and start.

Serowbot wrote on 06/04/11 at 08:39:54:


Dang it, guess we're gonna have to find something else.
would you know if starting fluid would work?
never used the stuff myself.

Yea,.. most any auto parts store sells "starting Fluid"...

It's a mix of Propanes, butanes, and other various -anes, and will do the same job WD used to...
Pyroil and Gunk sell versions of it.... $3 to $5 bucks can...

It sure was handy when WD did the job, 'cause everybody already had some around the house anyway...

What exactly does the starting fluid/seafoam do for the carb? I'm new to carbs (my experience is in late model cars so I've never touched one before) so excuse the novice questions but I'm hungry for anything I can learn. I'll be asking a fair amount of questions.  

Just to be clear, it will idle for a few seconds, but then shuts off (any throttle immediately kills it). Slight gas smell when cranking, the carb drains beautifully, and the spark's sparkin. I'll try the seafoam after lunch.

Also, could it be just plain crappy fuel? Too much water in the gas I got?

Okay... Time to give up looking for the miracle cure...

It's carb time... You need to pull it,.. and take it apart, and go through every jet and passage...  I use different gauges of guitar strings to run through the passages and jets, or you can buy special carb passage cleaning rods... but just spraying won't remove lacquered fuel deposits...
Sea foam is hopeless,.. it'll maybe help a rough runner, but not a non-runner...

Carb time it is then. Thanks for the help guys, I'll try to find out where the restriction is.