I have about 120 hours on my V-Force. It has gradually gotten harder and harder to start. Once it is running, it has always run great and starts easily with a warm engine.

Cold engine is a different story though. In fact...I could not get it to start at all today. Clean air filter and brand new plugs. Plenty of gas. Even tried some starting fluid.

Any ideas? I am thinking I need some carb work, but the darn dealer wants 300 bucks just to start looking at it.

Anyone in central MD that has a suggestion on where to take this?

Thanks in advance....

 

try full choke and give it no gas and try and crank it over. and if that doesnt work try the same thing with the choke off.
if none of them work then i dont know.

 

I have tired all combinations of choke/no-choke. Full throttle/no-throttle....half throttle....so on.
For the past few months this process would finally get it started and then it would be fine while the engine was warm. Now the problem has gotten worse. I am thinking the carbs need cleaning and adjustments.

 

Have you had the valves checked? And whatever else they do at the interval checks? I take pretty good care of mine, oil change, air filter etc, but I still take it to the dealer every 50 hours or so and have them check the valves and whatever else. I figure it doesn't hurt to have experienced mechanics look at it once in awhile.

 

Nope. All I have done is oil changes and air filter, and plugs.

I agree the valves may need adjustment, but if they are out enough to make it hard to start you think they would be noisy when running. Once the engine is running I don't hear any valve noises at all.

I assume this engine has solid lifters? Why don't they use hydrolic on these engines yet?

 

No lifters at all.... They are overhead cam's , I would first buy yourself a repair manual or cd from ebay and adjust your valves and then remove clean and reset your carb air screws, Also check the carb boots for any tears etc while you have them off, the valves are no big deal & niether are the carbs, With the manual to walk you through things you should just wizz away a good afternoon of work along with a 6 pack [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

I had a yamaha one time they would not start either..........the reason was the valves where to tight.............had them adjusted and it started right up every time. A tight valve is quiet and a valve that is adjusted properly is just a little noisey.

 

Got it started tonight. I drained the carbs. Gas was clear and clean.

I think I am having a problem with the choke(s). I do have the shop manual so I may tackle the choke linkages and make sure they are in adjustment. The choke lever has been very hard to move recently and I am afraid the carbs are not going to full choke.

Dirtpig- would you think the valves are too tight since they have never been adjusted from the factory? 100+ hours on the bike. If anything I would think they have gotten looser over time not tighter.

Thanks for everyone's replies.

 

Choke problems are somewhat common with these. I lubed my cable and checked the linkage and mine has worked fine ever since.

 

Definately check your valves. They do tend to tighten up. I had mine checked and reset at about 100 hours and was supprised how much power I had lost without knowing it. Also it's alot cheaper to check and adjust your valves than it is to burn them and have to replace them. The old saying an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure really applies to this.