Hard starting after long storage

I use 110LL and it works great in my 69S. No plug fouling at all. I'd say clean the carbs good, make sure the passages are all clean and flowing right. Squirt some carb cleaner in one of the 3 ports and watch for it to come out of the other 2. I've stored 110LL for over a year and it's fine. I also wouldn't hesitate to switch to Pazon or similar. I get good flow out of the tickle operation, check your float level, make sure you do it right. Read Buchanan's page on the carb. Good luck.

Dave
69S

A quick shot of starting fluid will tell you what you need.
if it fires right up - the carbs need work
if it don't - check the electrics

Since you cleaned the points and got spark, My guess is the idle circuit needs cleaned out.

Torontonian -- yes indeed. all those chips really made my 18 year old heart sink at the time. It took about all the cash I had just to buy it. But it did fine with a disassembly, cleaning and a top end job including pistons, rebore, and valves. But that was back in the 1970s and 15000 miles ago. All was well before it slept for all those years.

A magnet into the oil tank is now a mandatory check for me before I buy anything if I can get one in the tank/reservoir.

As for the rest-- I didn't mention it, but did put in brand new NGKs. I also rotated them through my mower to re-check them and it starts fine. Also runs fine if/when I get it to light. I think the idle passages are a good bet, especially if the tickler is supposed to slosh through them. Then,if PARTLY plugged, maybe that explains why I can tickle till I have a big pool on the floor while it is still not flooded AND why it takes a long time to warm up enough to idle well. The darned things looked really clean in the bowls, but as Hobot observes, the metal can do the white corrosion thing and maybe its just internal, not visible.

More later. Thanks all

DogT said:

I use 110LL and it works great in my 69S. No plug fouling at all.

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What is 110LL ??

Do you notice any deposits building up on the plugs ?

Ted Lang said:

I think the idle passages are a good bet, especially if the tickler is supposed to slosh through them. l

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There amy be some misunderstanding here.
The tickler only fills up the float chamber.
The idle jets simply draw fuel out of the float chamber.
Maybe you have a fuel flow problem into the float chamber - there are
little filter screens on the fuel lines, maybe they need cleaning out too.

That magnet into the oil tank is a good idea.
make sure its firmly attached to your fishing line though. !
All engines make a little metal residue though - an oil filter is designed to catch it,
if it doesn't just settle out in the oil tank....

Any metal as described sends up teardown warning flags. Hey maybe the float bowls are warped so air being sucked into mix through ill fitting or hopelessly old bowl gaskets. The list goes on. :|

Ok Rohan, the funny man... lol
(I had to look awhile before I noticed your point.) Our "110LL" is the fat fingered version of 100LL. Actually 110LL might have been a historic aviation fuel; there have been quite a few, but most are no longer readily available. The 100LL stuff is still going for $6 / gallon locally. I don't think the local airport knows about the oil price collapse yet.

Back to the bike -- new bowl gaskets from the start (last year) and fuel screens are clean as a whistle. Plugs were a nice tan when removed after warmup. Also runs fine once warmed up as well as under full load, so fuel gets to the bowls.

Regarding the long ago metal filings-- these had a straight shot to the oil tank on the older commandos without a filter, so when the PO blew the bearings, he just didn't go far enough and sold it to an unsuspecting kid (me). I added a real paper spin on filter long ago in the 70s (hand fashioned adapter), and I have cut the filters open ever since and have seen nothing troubling. I added the filter before the conversion kits were readily available (didn't have cash for one back then anyway).

I think I just need to get initmate with the Amals.

Test, don't guess. :idea: :mrgreen:

Rohan said:

DogT said:

I use 110LL and it works great in my 69S. No plug fouling at all.

Click to expand...

What is 110LL ??

Do you notice any deposits building up on the plugs ?

Click to expand...

It's what I get from the local airport, from a BP tanker. It's the only ethanol free fuel I can find locally. No carbon buildup that I can see. Runs clean and evaporates like crazy if you leave it in the open, so the carbs are usually dry after sitting a day, but with a blue residue.

I use a credit card to clear up said problems. Do you have one ? :|

Pilot jets are probably clogged....PhillySkip

Substitution yes ,best tracer ,substituting a known good part ,matter of elimination. as mentioned before.

Re: Hard starting after long storage-- solved -- Thanks!

The bike was slightly apart till this week, so I never finished this string with the resulution. Sorry it was so long in coming.

Anyhow, despite the fact that I had drained the fuel from the float bowls prior to storage, and I had cleaned the carbs with solvent and air before I fueled it up last year, and I could see no deposits anywhere in the internals, it seemed to be the consensus above that the idle passages had to be cleaned with a fine wire. I had not done that, so I did it.

Wow! First kick starter again.

Then I put on a boyer ignition I bought a few years ago. Even better.

Ted

Dry carbs can sometimes "grow" oxidation deposits in the passages despite being drained and stored clean. Sounds like you knocked them loose with the wire.

At the time I pushed the wire through the passages, I couldn't really say that I had done ANYTHING with the wire, except one carb MAY have had slighlty more resistance to the wire on the first pass. I might have even imagined that--it was hard to say. But what a difference once it was back together and I tried to start it!!! Last Summer it sat around a lot just because I didn't want to fight with it. Now I can ride with confidence and no embarrassment (having people watch me sweat and rest after dozens of fruitless kicks). One or maybe two kicks is heaven.

we are happy to read your joy even w/o knowing excatly why but I have learned not to feel to0 smug on successes as Cdo are simply so complex ya may have just bumped wire connections to conduct better while farting around on something else w/o as issue or fix one thing but leave another lurking... True normal and pretty common is one kick almost everytime with maybe a 2nd for tradition, before checking whats not turned on or opened or left disconected to save wasteing time energy. My bud Wes rode his 71 over today so we tried to get my SuVee to start after vac gas valve crapped case full of fuel but would only run on primer feul and could not get the vac valve rebuilt kit to function, so wasted $30 and time plus full Suzuki valve for ~$100. Then I topped his tiny tank off with fresh 91 and as it had 1st kick off at home Wes reaction of no fire on 1st then 2nd made him just shake his head at the ground, He said it should start right up and did - after another 6 boots. He had spent hours prior changing tire and trying to seal tank and remount from the mount posts cracking with spine pads so snidely said he should just park it while everything working again. I stayed home cycleless doing catch up labors but got to smell and hear a Commando so pretty good day.