I went out to start the sleds yesterday and 4 of them fired right up, but the ZR 500 would not do anything. I put new plugs in it and tried again, but nothing. Then I pulled 1 plug and grounded it against the motor block and there was good spark. The machine has only been ridden twice (270 miles on it) and was taken in for service for re-jetting etc. after the second ride. All 5 sleds had full gas tanks and I put gas stabilizer in all of them before putting them in the garage during the off season. I called the dealer and he said I might want to pull the carb bowls and see if anything is gummed up. Does anyone have any ideas on this or experienced this? I don't mind doing this but thought I would post this first in case someone had an idea so I would not have to unnessarily take the carbs apart. I start them up monthly and until this time have never had a problem.
Thanks

Did you store with wd40.

WD40 will short out the spark plug and it wont fire, even if you put a new plug.

Only way around this is to pore a bit of gas down the sparkplug hole and put in a new set of plugs.


If you didnt your not getting fuel. Do you have an on/off valve. Do the simple things first.

No I didn't put anything into the motor. I considered fogging the motors, but decided to start them monthly. There is no gas shut off valve on the ZR. I really find it hard to believe that 1 out of 5 sleds would gum up.

Pull the carbs and clean them out real good. Did you check to make sure that you are getting spark to the plugs? If you are getting spark then it is most likely gummed up carbs, or dry carbs with no gas in them. You could also pull the plugs and try some starter fluid. ;)

I put new plus in the sled, but maybe I will try the priming idea putting a little gas in the cylinders. I am going to look at it within the next few nights and find out. It is probably something simple.

Prime the cylinders and I bet it'll start. I'd still check the carbs out though.

did it look like the plugs were wet of gas? that'll tell ya if it's gettin fuel or fouled up. How about your fuel shut off maybe ya turned it off last time ya used it and forgot to turn it on. check it out before ya take your carbs apart.

Quick look at the key switch...On? The reason i'm saying is my key switch on my ZR actually was turning and not the key in the slot section, it was fixed easily just by tightening the large nut on the back...this was after only 600 miles.??

make sure the airbox is hooked up correctly, i have had this problem twice, take the airbox off to get to the carbs, and forget to plug the hoses back in, and it will NOT start, coudlnt figure it out, then i plugged the hoses back in, started.

Your not giving it any throttle while you are pulling it over are you?? If so the magnetic switches in the carbs are not allowing it to spark ;)

Originally posted by CatzAzz@Oct 29 2002, 10:54 PM
Your not giving it any throttle while you are pulling it over are you?? If so the magnetic switches in the carbs are not allowing it to spark ;)
I wondered about that i hardly use the throttle to start but when my sled would start one year i touched the throttle and it sounded dead as Hell. lol got it started but i never use throttle anymore on it.

Maybe your not getting any fuel to the carbs, possiable gummed up fuel filter, or possiably bad or gummed up fuel pump? may sound stupid but ya got fuel in the tank?

my zr has a fuel shut off valve, i would start looking for one, then i would pour a little mixed gas down the spark plug holes, not much a little will do, pout plugs back in, start it like you regularly eould snd see what happens.

I would check and make sure you have spark to.

My buddies 98 ZR500 got a vapor lock that prevented gas from pumping. Easy to check, remove the gas cap and prime. If it starts and stays running put cap back on, if it dies, thats your prob.

I will look to see if there is a gas shut-off valve on the sled. I thought only our 370 had a shut-off. I wasn't aware that if the throttle was pulled it prevented spark. I am getting good spark and I will check to see if they are getting wet at all. The key is turned on and the kill switch is in the "run" position. The carb boots appear to be fine. The sled has almost a full tank of gas. I will try the gas cap off idea. I spoke to a friend yesterday and he said he didn't like Stabile gas stabilizer. He said it gummed his machines up. I hope that is not the problem although the other 4 sleds start right up and they were all put away for the summer in the same manner.

I went out to the sled at lunch time and checked a few things. I pulled a plug and grounded it againt the block and pulled the throttle to see if that prevented spark and it sparked just fine. I pulled for a while and noticed that gas was not going from the diaphram to the carbs, then put a rag over the exhaust pipe (a trick we learned from rc nitro trucks) to see if it would pump to the carbs and still nothing. I called the dealer again and he said to bring it down and they would fix it under warranty. It is going down this afternoon!

Sweet deal! Sounds like you have a good dealer, I doubt mine would do that. ???

not a chance mine would! although my sled is in there right now, getting some extra DESS keys made.

Let us know what it is after your dealer fixes it SWRules

Seems you say you checked, and there is good spark, check the fuel. If it still won't start, check the compression to ensure they haven't seized over the summer. If there is spark, fuel and compression, it HAS to go!

Well, here is the story! We took the sled to the dealer yesterday afternoon and unloaded it in front of the service door and went in to take to the owner. After a few minutes of talking to him we came out to see the sled running fine. I asked Ryan (the guy who started the sled) what he did and his reply was he just pulled it over 4 times and it started. He said that sometimes when the sleds sit for the off-season the floats can stick and prevent gas from getting into the carbs. He thinks that during the transport to them in the trailer the floats worked loose again. He suggested that if it happened again to tap the sides of the bowls with a small wrench and that should take care of it. The dealer was really nice and friendly and did not have a problem with looking at our sled which made me feel good about him being the new owner. Thanks to everyone for their reponses. This is good forum!

Glad to hear your running again. :D