My girlfriend's 84 Big Red has been sitting up for about a year and now I can't get it to crank. I charged the battery and checked the plug. It won't crank at all with the starter, but if I pull it just right, it'll idle for a few seconds. But if I give it any gas it instantly goes dead. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

If it has been sitting for a year, chances are the the fuel has gone bad unless there was some type of stabilizer additive in it. I'd try draining the carb and tank, and putting new fuel in it. If that doesn't work, change the plug.

If the gas went REALLY bad, it's possible that you could have to tear down and clean the carb.

Hope this helps.

Dave

 

I'll try draining all the gas and giving it a go. Should I spray some starting fluid in it?

 

NO !!! PERIOD. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ? NO !!!.

You could cause WAY more damage that way. Engines weren't designed to run on starting fluid. Unless something is wrong, it will run on gasoline. New fuel and a new plug are cheap.

Dave

 

I would buy some carb cleaner and tear down the carb. If the fuel has gone bad chances are that the jet, etc are gummed up which can cause a lean condition. On a two stroke this is deadly. On a four stroke I am not sure. This is a small job and well worth the effort.

Temp

 

Oh well, I already used some starting fluid on it. I looked in the carb and it seemed ok so I put everything back on. I did drain all the gas and put some new gas in it, but I had to use the 92 octane from my Warrior, is that ok? Anyway, I checked the spark plug and it wasn't sparking with the starter at all, but was a little with the pull rope. Oddly I had an extra sparkplug for my Warrior and they're the same size. After a little of that starting fluid (which I'll stay away from now with your advice), it actually cranked and I rode it around a little bit. I couldn't keep it idling, but that could be from being cold. Hondas are notorious for taking a while to warm up. It was doing a lot of spitting and sputtering though. Anything else I should do? Thanks for all your help, I really appreciate it.

 

U are probably oing to have to adjust the carb and clean it out again.It might just need to be ridden a little again.My neighbor gave me a SL70 dirtbike.I brought it home put a different fron tire/wheel on it,put a different gas tank put a new plug in, cleaned the carb.All this stuff is off a RM80.It ran like crap for a while but after riding it for a weekend it started easier,and ran fine.Then it fouled a plug and my freind got hurt on it so I gave it to a my dads freind.LOL it was the funniest thing U ever saw.My freind was being stupid coming up a hill shifted into 3 and just yanked back on the bars and leaned way back.The thing stood straight up and just stayed that way just dragging him along!!!!!!IT finally flipped out from under him.It was on black top so he had a hurt tailbone.LOL.I guess U just had to be there.I would adjust the crab again and flush the tank.

 

the only safe starting fuild is wd-40 works great already has oil in it