07 ninja won't start

[Mark-96-XJ]

hey, I'm new to this forum and sort of new to bikes, been working on jeeps for awhile and got a ninja so thought this is the place to come

its an 07 250 with 1300 miles on it, i bought it with no key, took it to the locksmith, got a key, and it took quite a bit to drive it home. carb cleaner in intake, half choke, RPM's had to stay above about 5000 to stay running. drove it 11 miles home.

the PO left it in his garage for probably 2 months and the gas went bad, but he did have the carbs cleaned about 6 months ago and said it was running very strong then. i drained the tank and put fresh gas in.

right when i got it home it won't start at all. thought it was the carb but i pulled it out and cleaned it and put it back in, still won't start. checked the seals, they're good, boots are tight, ran carb cleaner through the gas line from the tank to the carb, have it hooked up to a jumper pack and the starter cranks all day no problem. got new plugs, old ones were very fouled. air coming out of exhaust smells like gas, and i have spark. when i pulled the carb off there was quite a bit of gas in there.

[dubojr1]

Still sounds like a carb issue.

Maybe this can help...

http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=10298

[alex.s]

stock jets?

[choneofakind]

when you tried to start it at home, did you fill the carb bowls first by sucking on the vaccum line attached to the petcock? it's NEVER going to start if there isn't gas in the carbs


*edit*

how are you trying to start it btw? try beginning to crank with just a little (i repeat, little) throttle and no choke, then slowly turning the choke on. As it goes from lean to rich, it *should* fire

*/edit*

[Mark-96-XJ]

i tried putting the choke on all the way, turned the starter for about 5 seconds and gave it about half throttle and kept going from 0-50% throttle then when it didn't start i turned the choke half way and cranked the starter for another 25 seconds doing the same thing, then repeated with no choke. then back down to full choke.

i apologize, this is only my 2nd bike and i had the first one running for 3 weeks before i sold it.

i did not suck on the vacuum line i suspect thats the one hooked up the the gas tank from below that isn't the fuel line?

[choneofakind]

that's correct. the vaccum line on the petcock is the one that isn't the fuel line. But you cranked it long enough that it should have been pulling fuel into the carbs.


as a side note, be careful cranking your engine for that long. The starter motor will overheat and wear out

[Mark-96-XJ]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

that's correct. the vaccum line on the petcock is the one that isn't the fuel line. But you cranked it long enough that it should have been pulling fuel into the carbs.


as a side note, be careful cranking your engine for that long. The starter motor will overheat and wear out

got it. i got the carb pulled but I'm not sure how to clean it pulled the float bowls and they were filled with gas.

have the carb sitting on my work bench not sure exactly how to clean them though

[ride2rideagain]

hey...try this
http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=65198

And if you think the carbs are clean enough...and like you said, plugs are good and everything is put back properly, it my be engine compression....I had that issue before.

[Mark-96-XJ]

Originally Posted by ride2rideagain

hey...try this
http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=65198

And if you think the carbs are clean enough...and like you said, plugs are good and everything is put back properly, it my be engine compression....I had that issue before.

there are no pictures, i pulled the floats out and wrenched the main jets out and saw the needle-like thing underneath, I'm assuming thats the main jet? i didn't pull that out i don't know how. the pictures on that link don't work, are there any better pictures somewherE?

[choneofakind]

http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/Carburetor_photos

these are good carb pics. There's also a link to a good carb cleaning article on that page. An air compressor really makes cleaning the carbs easy

[Mark-96-XJ]

opened the carbs, pulled the main jet and primary jet or whatever and sprayed em with carb cleaner and used an air hose to spray em out. got a good beam of light through the jets, put it back together, no start.

confused now, doesn't even seem like it wants to start at all

[mrlmd]

You use the choke, maybe on half way this time of year, NO throttle. If it won't start in a few seconds, increase the choke a little more. You may be flooding it the way you are doing it.
Do not overdose the fuel in the tank with carb cleaner, only 1oz/gal of fuel, (2 at the max for an initial treatment of a really dirty carb) or the bike will run like crap or won't run at all. You don't dump carb cleaner into the intake and expect it to run.
You also have 2 carbs and they have to be synchronized, which is another whole topic.
It sounds like you are not very familiar with bikes and especially carbs so you may need either some more professional help or some serious reading before you start fixing things that may or may not be broken and making them worse.
Gas two months old is probably still good, but changing it to fresh is not a bad idea.
You have the petcock on RUN, not PRIME (is that on an '07)?
Plugs gapped correctly? Can you pull one or both out and see if they are wet? I bet the engine is flooded.

[Apocolypze01]

Try the smaller things:

Spark plugs - replace
Carbs - clean
Battery recharge/replace.

Then work from there

[n4mwd]

In case you haven't already tried this, simultaneously spray starting ether directly into the intake with the air filter removed and crank with the choke off throttle wide open. See if the engine bites. If not, your spark isn't as good as you think.

Or you have a bad cylinder. Check your compression.