250 no start

[Nkf]

I recently purchased a 2008 ninja 250. It’s been sitting for a few years and I did all the maintenance to get the bike running again(battery, drained old gas, cleaned the carb inc jets and bowls and all the routes, oil change, new spark plugs). It has less than 1400 miles I’m the third owner. I went to start it up today after letting it sit for a 2 weeks and it fired up but then died when I let go of the gas. I did have the petcock valve on prime then switched to run. So then I started it again and held the gas so it would stay running and it did. I had less than a half gallon of gas in the tank so I went to get fresh gas from the gas station and came back(10 mins tops). Now it just cranks again and won’t run again. I didn’t change any of the positions of all the adjustments on the carbs when I had it off. I know it had spark, fuel and compression cause it was just running and didn’t feel off like there was a misfire or dead cylinder. Do I have to take the carb off again and do a more thorough clean? I thought I got everything out/cleaned. The gas tank doesn’t have an rust or anything inside of it when I emptied the tank. I did crank it til the battery was just about dead to no avail but I didn’t lock up the motor. The starter works perfectly fine. I have a good bit of experience working on motors and such but I’m just stumped and I want to get it started and running right before it gets too cold as I live in the northern states. I’m just confused and stumped at this point. Should I let it sit for a few days and then try again? Or what should I do? Also I did mix in carb cleaner into the gas as to attempt to remove any other debris in the carb I may have missed.

[Triple Jim]

Originally Posted by Nkf

Do I have to take the carb off again and do a more thorough clean?

Welcome to the board Hkf!

There's about a 99% chance you didn't get the carbs truly clean. This is a recurring theme on the board. They're about 10x as complicated and difficult to clean than a typical old Mikuni VM, for example.

[Nkf]

I did let all the parts sit and parts cleaner for almost 10 hours. And then proceed to take a can of carb cleaner and spray everything down to remove any left over funk and then wiped it clean. While I was at my job. And then I made sure to spray and clean any surface that I thought needed and I even cleaned the needles and made sure everything had no blockage or signs of any contaminate from the bike sitting. So should I take it off again and take it to a dealer to be properly cleaned and adjusted, attempt to clean it again, or buy a reman/new carb? I’m well familiar with cleaning carbs as I have done it many times in the past and have learned from my mistakes and having to clean them again.

[DannoXYZ]

Hi Noah, welcome to Ninjette!!!

I had exact same problem with my 2008 track-bike and 2009 street-bike. Same symptoms, starts up and runs for little bit, then died forever. Turns out cleaning was insufficient and some particles I dislodged in cleaning effort just flowed into tiny bleed-hole in carb-venturi and clogged it.

Unless you buy brand-new carb from official Kawasaki dealer, any carb you get will be used and require thorough restoration. So you might as well do that on your existing carbs.

1. note that modern carb-cleaners are useless with removal of chlorinated compounds. Just weak carrier solvents with no cutting power. You'd have better luck using pee because it at least has ammonia.

2. depending upon how long bike was sitting, you'll need to completely disassemble carbs and petcock down to every last nut, bolt, and individual component.


3. secret hidden passages need to be mechanically scrubbed with brushes using strong solvents and PEA-based cleaners http://n4mwd.blogspot.com/2013/10/se...-passages.html

4. everything soaked in ultrasonic cleaner

5. jets and emulsion-tube bleed holes needs to be flossed out with matching gauge wire


6. everything micro soda-blasted

7. replace all rubbers: fuel-rail O-rings, pilot-screw O-rings, float-valves, float-bowl gaskets.

8. set float-levels, do functional wet-test to verify levels, sync carbs


Do search on here for "ducatiman clean carbs" to see how many experts have had to remove carbs 4-5x times for ever deeper cleaning before bike would run right. It's easier to send them to expert ducatiman who has all tools and thousands of years of expertise restoring millions of carbs. Here's post from extremely skilled mechanical type who've had to disassemble carbs multiple times for cleaning and it still wasn't good enough. Sent to ducatiman, was quickly restored and returned. Bike ran like brand-new off showroom floor!
https://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=365823
https://www.ninjette.org/forums/show...13#post1225613
https://www.ninjette.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1040828 - numerous other testimonials on this thread.

[Triple Jim]

Originally Posted by Nkf

So should I take it off again and take it to a dealer to be properly cleaned and adjusted, attempt to clean it again, or buy a reman/new carb?

There are some passages that are fairly well hidden that require at least a fine wire to get clean. I wouldn't trust a dealer to do the job right, but I would trust @ducatiman here to do it. I had him completely restore my 2005 carbs and they were truly like new when I got them back.

There are some threads on this board that show all the parts that need to be cleaned. You should be able to find them with a search.

[DannoXYZ]

Originally Posted by Nkf

So should I take it off again and take it to a dealer to be properly cleaned and adjusted, attempt to clean it again, or buy a reman/new carb? I’m well familiar with cleaning carbs as I have done it many times in the past and have learned from my mistakes and having to clean them again.

Unless dealer has old guy hidden in back who've been around since Civil War having worked on carbs for at least 50-yrs, not likely they'll be able to help you. I sent my 2009 to local dealer to get carbs cleaned and no-start condition fixed. Nothing... then 3-days layer, I get phone call asking, "we can't find where to plug in diagnostic scanner." Went and retrieved my bike before they even hung up!

[Nkf]

Originally Posted by Triple Jim

There are some passages that are fairly well hidden that require at least a fine wire to get clean. I wouldn't trust a dealer to do the job right, but I would trust @ducatiman here to do it. I had him completely restore my 2005 carbs and they were truly like new when I got them back.

There are some threads on this board that show all the parts that need to be cleaned. You should be able to find them with a search.

I will have to message him tomorrow about it so I can figure out pricing and such.

[ducatiman]

nkf- i'm frequently on here. PM will follow shortly to answer your questions.

edit....PM sent a minute ago.

[CaliGrrl]

Welcome!

[Bob KellyIII]

LOL Yah Welcome !
that Ducattiman guy will fix ya up ! he's the best ! I've hurd nothing but good things about his work and prices.... you can't go wrong sending the carbs to him !!!
....
Bob........