1986 GPZ 600r wont start

[starjammir]

Hey guys, NEWBIE HERE
I just got a 1986 600r with 11,365 miles on it and I can not for the life of me get it to start. It cranks over perfect and all the lights come on, but thats all it does is crank. I smell gas after a few seconds so I believe it is getting gas. I know nothing about bikes. The previous owner said it started to make a ticking noise when it got warm so he shut it off. I think it needs a valve adjustment but who knows. Any ideas what to check or anything?
Another thing, which way should the petcock be turned? And which way is the choke on?
Sorry for all the newbie stuff but I am still learning.

[acergremlin]

First thing is to get yourself a manual its worth its weight in gold if you fix your own.
Petcock pointing forward is reserve, backward is prime, straight down is on. In normal use it should be in the on position, i only use prime when i know the carbs are empty, if you have it in the prime position now you could be flooding the bike making it difficult to start. Choke on is towards you, Ticking sound could be a few things but the valves or a leaking exhaust gasket would be a place to start.

[starjammir]

Well today I went out and pulled the plugs, I got spark on them so I sprayed some starting fluid in, nothing. Still no pop.
I also pulled the tank off and the petcock and noticed that some of the screen on the pick up is missing and the rest is very fragile...any suggestions? I am at a loss

[acergremlin]

Was the bike laid up for a while before you got it, if it was carbs may need a good clean out.
Where did you spray the starting fluid in.
Dont think you can buy a new screen for the petcock, so you may need a replacement petcok from ebay or dealers.
Not sure what to suggest to try but the basics are spark compression and fuel, any one of those missing and nothing happens, is the airbox fitted properly because these bikes can be a bit touchy if not.

[starjammir]

I imagine the bike was not working for awhile but the previous owner said that he just rebuilt them. Who knows though what he did.
I sprayed the starting fluid directly into the cylinders when the plugs were out. The air box is NOT fitted correctly. The rubber part is on the top but not on the bottoms. I looked online and think ill just order the whole new thing for 50 bucks from cycle parts. I might pick up a compression gauge and test it. I dunno what else to check. Maybe if the valves are out of adjustment it would cause it not to start?

Another thing, when I took the petcock off, I blew into the big hose end and it was very hard to blow into so I took it apart and put it back together and I can blow into it now. I have not tried to start the bike since I did that.
Also, the hose on the left side of the bike going to the reserve tank, where does the other end go? It just hanging there in the breeze.

[acergremlin]

Normally with starter fluid i think (never used it) they spray it into the airbox while trying to start bike, i expect with filter removed, i`m sure somebody will correct me if i`m wrong.

The large hose and blowing through it, dunno never tried. You should have 2 hoses coming from the petcock, large and small. The large one is for fuel delivery and the small one is the vacuum pipe which should connect to one of the nipples on the inlet rubbers just infront of the carbs, some are connected to number 2 and 3 inlet and others just to number 2. The petcock works on a vacuum when its in the run or reserve position, so fuel will only pass when the engine is turning over and creating the vacuum, once it stops turning the petcock turns it self off, with the petcock in the prime position fuel will flow all the time which can cause problems with carbs flooding.
Never tried it but i have seen a couple of threads where people tested the petcock by sucking on the vacuum line to see if fuel came from the fuel delivery hose.

Jeez thats a lot of typing for me, i need a rest now

[starjammir]

So if you were in my position what would you try next? I got the bike for 500 bucks so I can dump some money into it. I also have a spare motor sitting here for it too. I also have the Kawasaki repair manual for it too. I think I am going to get the Chytons also just to cross reference.

[acergremlin]

You already got a spark, so next on my list would to make sure its getting fuel. When your sure its getting fuel and if it still wont start it would be carbs off and cleaned and check float and fuel heights. All these checks are well detailed in the manual.

I had a lot of trouble when i was trying to refit the carbs with the airbox in place, so eventually i removed the airbox and they went back on no problem, but then i had trouble refitting the airbox. My solution which for me works great is to seperate the front of the airbox from the main body (about 8 screws), fit the front to the carbs very easy, then drop the rest of the airbox in behind it, it is very slightly tight fitting but goes in fine. To refit the screws in the front of the airbox i bought one of the cheap 90 degree screwdriver attachments which makes it easy. It seems long winded but its not and you get to keep all your fingers.

[starjammir]

Okay, sounds good to me. I think I will check that stuff out on Friday which is my next day off of work. I think I have a few things to order too so I might just add a carb rebuild kit to the list.
Another thing, does the side stand have to be in the up position for the bike to start?

[acergremlin]

Not sure all my safety features are disabled

[starjammir]

I dont know either. I know the bike still cranks and has spark when the side stand is down but I know newer bikes you have to have the stand up. Maybe you can start it but when you put it into gear it it shuts off? I again know nothing about it

[BH 1987 ninja 6]

no the stand can be down mine starts fine with the stand down, but in gear the stand has to be up

[gerkin]

any luck yet?

[starjammir]

Not yet, I ordered a compression adapter and the parts to make it at least hopefully runable. Parts will be here on Monday so hopefully I will have some time to go try to get her running before I get more snow

[starjammir]

Hey,
Well today I went out to start it again and drained the floats and installed a new petcock and new plugs gapped correctly. Nothing still no start. Pulled the #1 plug, which was dry, put it on the frame to check for spark. It was sparking at the threads on the plug and frame, is that bad? The spark looked weak also. What should I look into checking? I tried to check the coil voltage but couldnt get it to read.
Thanks,
Bill H.

[MFolks]

Input (primary winding) side should read the same as battery voltage minus maybe a volt or two. The output(secondary winding) might be as high as 30,000 volts or more and will need special equipment to measure that high.

If the spark is weak looking it might indicate an ignition component failure such as an IC igniter, ignition coil, or a pick up coil starting to die.

Most good sparks are a hot blue type you'd swear a person could arc weld with.

[starjammir]

How do I test that? I turned the key to the on position but got 0 volts. Do I have to be cranking it over to get juice out of the primary coil?
LOL I def. could not weld with this spark. Maybe maybe light a dry piece of straw on fire if I was lucky. Ill try to take a video of it with my cell phone.
Any other ideas....I OHMed the igniter out and came out to be pretty close to the specs from the k. manual so I am guessing that is ok.

[MFolks]

You should be able to read battery voltage(or close to it) on the primary side of the coils when the key is turned on. This will be where the wires from the harness plug into the coils and has smaller wires usually 18-16 gauge wires.

[starjammir]

Nope I got 0 volts on mine but it was still sparking...weird.

[StarGate]

Are you measuring across the 2 wires on the coil input? If you are, don't. Put the meter ground to the battery neg then put the meter pos to each of the 2 wires on the coil. One of them should give you battery voltage.