Bloody bike will not start

Hi,

Have brought an SV650s K2 however it now will not start. I brought the bike a few weeks ago (and it started fine!), and it had been in storage for about 2 years. The bike did have an MOT before I brought it so assume it was running fine then. The starter motor is working however the engine just will not start. I have charged the battery fully and checked the spark plugs, but that it where my technical knowledge ends! When trying to start in the garage, there is a smell of fuel of that makes any difference?! Plenty of oil in it, am trying with the kick stand up and clutch in as well.

Any help would be gratefully recieved, as starting to think I have brought a duff bike!

Thought you were somebody else, there is another more dangerous Dangerous Dave on here.... What out....

Check all the idiot switches, clutch and sidestand first.

Do you get any noise at all when hitting the start button ? And I assume you haven`t got the kill switch set in the off position , it`s been known to happen and discovered with a very loud "DOH" when noticed

Yeah get the noise as if it's going to start... it just never does! And no, its def not the kill switch - have tired in both positions just to make sure!

[yorkie_chris]

Have you just flooded it with trying?

Maybe - how would I know?

So does it make an electrical "clicking" noise when the button is thumbed ?

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by dangerousdave

The starter motor is working however the engine just will not start.

If this is the case then it isnt the kill switch, side stand switch or the clutch switch. As they stop the starter from turning.

When you say you checked the spark what did you do ? Sounds to me you either have no spark or no fuel, but you say theres a smell of fuel so its not likely to be that.

How long as it stood for before you got hold of it ? Has it had any fresh fuel since then ?

Personally next thing I would try is a fresh tank of fuel unless you know 100% that what you have in there is fresh. Failing that it may be worth taking the carbs off and cleaning them out.

Unleaded doesnt keep well and it goes off, when it goes off it leaves a gummy residue that can clog up the works, but it does take months rather than weeks for this to happen.

I pulled the sparks out and had a look - they seemed fine. Slightly black so cleaned then, just with a cloth tho as no wire brush handy. It was stood for about two years and I put 5 litres of fresh fuel in today as the light was flashing when I first tried to start it yesterday, however this has not made a difference.

I would take one plug out one at a time but still connected to the cable and press it against the crankcase of the bike to ground it and hit the starter button to see if it gets a spark . DO NOT TOUCH THE SPARK PLUG WHEN DOING THIS , hold it by the rubber part of the lead that fits on top of the plug . If there is no spark then you will have a suspected wiring problem . Try this with both plugs to eliminate them from this fault finding process . If there is a spark then I would say that fuel would need looking at to see if it`s getting to the spark properly .