I did already do that, but I'm doing it again to be sure my battery is at full charge and plug is still firing. I have checked fuel flow to carb only, I don't know if it's stopping there or not. As far as timing, the bike ran fine when I put it up besides the tapping (from the tensioner) and that every now and then it would die unless I ran it on prime (I assumed the stock petcock was causing this). Changed those two things and this is where I am.

AFter you check the voltage.....get yourself a can of start gas/ether and a FRESH plug. The one you have must have been totally drenched during your efforts.

Seriously - change it, and donīt crank the engine just yet. Hereīs a sure-fire way to troubleshoot this:

Close the petcock. Pull the supply hose between the petcock and carb. DRAIN the carb (loosen the screw underneath the float bowl) to prevent any stale or contaminated gas to reach the engine. Push the choke lever all the way in.

Now, take the air filter off to get access to the inlet of the carb. Lift the slider to about half throttle, and stick a 10mm drill bit into the carb, just far enough to keep the slider quarter-way  open or so. Switch ignition on, spray a 2 second squirt as far as you can into the inlet opening, under the slider. Then crank it.

(Start gas will fire under the most crappy compression conditions, and for the tiniest spark, and in a totally oiled up cylinder, even with the decomp valve partly open.)

If it wonīt fire at all with a FRESH plug, your ignition timing is off a lot for some reason. If it backfires, and refuses to run properly for a second or two, it may be off a tooth or so. If it runs properly for a second...and fires up properly if you repeat the above a couple of times, all is well with the timing and plug.

..take the drill bit  out. Reconnect the fuel hose, make sure the vacuum hose is ok and connected and put the petcock on PRI for 4-5 secs, then close it. That should give you gas enough in the float bowl to try again without drenching the carb. Stay off the choke. Crank it at practically no throttle.

Any results? Start? Cool. Now you know it was the plug all along.

No start? From there, itīs a carb cleaning job and time to swap the gas in the tank. Gas gets stale in 3-4 months over here, especially low-price stuff.

(Been there, wasted one month and a lot of cash by looking in the wrong places)

Status update: checked decomp, it was a little tight but still some play. I loosened it some anyway. I just followed the how to in the tech section. Didn't make any difference. Tried the new plug, open carb thing. Engine still the same, won't run. Pulled the carb and cleaned everything. Put it all back, same thing. Still turns over but won't run. I'm lost... Do you think it may be timing? How do I check that?

safety switches won't let it crank either.

verslagen1 wrote on 04/09/14 at 19:27:49:


It sounds like it is cranking over, just not firing up and running. From what I saw when I replaced my chain tensioner, I don't think you can mess up timing doing that. (I could be wrong...)

I'd try different choke settings too.  Try starter fluid without the choke pulled out and maybe half way pulled out instead of all the way.

Once you figure this out it's probably going to be a forehead slapper for everyone.

verslagen1 wrote on 04/09/14 at 19:58:39:


Ah, cool... the same principle as a water level we use in construction.

I think we found the problem. At TDC the rocker arms don't budge.