Not starting but cranks good, like it's not getting fuel

[Rowdy]

  Took off early this morning for a ride - aparently the bike had other plans 

Went about a half mile when the bike acted like it was running out of fuel. I had just filled the tank the night before and had run all day the day before no problem.

Sure enough the gas valve was OFF  Turning to ON did not help  would not re start, turns over like gang busters, battery is only a month old   

I have let it set all day with valve ON - will try again Sunday
Yes I checked the kill switch, tried starting with gas cap loose, no have not had the tank off in a couple of years !!!  ???

Any thoughts on what to look for ?
Gas valve stuck in OFF ? Some sort of vapor lock ? Worse ?  ???

[N8171S]

pulll the vac hose from the #6 carb and use a vac pump to open the petcock.  Just turning it on will not get gas to the carbs.

[Curmudgeon]

Sounds like its 1 of 2 things. Water in the gas. There is a lot of that happening lately. Try some HEET or Pet rooster problems. If that's it buy a rebuild kit. Good luck! 

[Mr.BubblesVRCCDS0008]

Doesn't take a lot of cranking to lower the volts enough that the valk will crank like a son of a b-----  but not fire off. Like said above put a source of vac to the fuel valve and jump her off a non running auto battery  or charge yours up to full charge. I bet she come back to her old self.

[MP]

Took off early this morning for a ride - aparently the bike had other plans 

Went about a half mile when the bike acted like it was running out of fuel. I had just filled the tank the night before and had run all day the day before no problem.

Sure enough the gas valve was OFF  Turning to ON did not help  would not re start, turns over like gang busters, battery is only a month old   

I have let it set all day with valve ON - will try again Sunday
Yes I checked the kill switch, tried starting with gas cap loose, no have not had the tank off in a couple of years !!!  ???

Any thoughts on what to look for ?
Gas valve stuck in OFF ? Some sort of vapor lock ? Worse ?  ???

At the VOAI Reunion in Marlinton, WV two years ago mine did the same thing.  Riding good one day, took off on one of the rides the next AM, made it about 1/2 mile, and it died.  Had to do a cover set replacement in the petcock.  Has worked fine since.

MP

[Shepard]

Had the same issues you experienced with my '97 Standard. It ended up being the vacuum hose coming lose from the petcock. It was one I had purchased from Redeye, not blaming them, just saying that it was not stock. I put it back on with the provided clip and no problems since. And the reply about the battery is dead on, you will have to go for a decent ride or charge it back to normal. I chose to take it for a nice ride and so far so good.

BTW, I was freaked and could not figure it out. The bike was riding great and I just thought I might of misjudged the amount of fuel in my tank. Thank goodness for grandsons, he came out with his mom to help out and spotted the problem right away. That grandson got alot of love that day, I tell you.


Shepard

[Ricky-D]

Yes, if you run the carburetors empty the motor cannot develop enough vacuum to make the petcock supply enough gas to start again.

***

[bigfish_Oh]

Yes, if you run the carburetors empty the motor cannot develop enough vacuum to make the petcock supply enough gas to start again.

***

Do you mean running the tank dry as I did yesterday(opps), it should not have restarted near instantly when I added fuel? (idled rough for 30 seconds)

[Rowdy]

Maybe some progress    ???
The vent to the gas valve, would not hold a vaccum, might be part of the poblem.
With the tank OFF the bike, turn gas valve ON no gas flow unless I pull a vaccum - hmmm

Now I'm dead in the water, ordered new air filter and gas valve rebuild kit - might still be that vent line not making a good seal - have to wait and see

Ah, who wanted to go for a ride today anyway  

[Ricky-D]

Yes, if you run the carburetors empty the motor cannot develop enough vacuum to make the petcock supply enough gas to start again.

***

Do you mean running the tank dry as I did yesterday(opps), it should not have restarted near instantly when I added fuel? (idled rough for 30 seconds)

Yes! That is, of course, if you still are using the stock vacuum petcock.

***

[hubcapsc]

Maybe some progress    ???
The vent to the gas valve, would not hold a vaccum, might be part of the poblem.
With the tank OFF the bike, turn gas valve ON no gas flow unless I pull a vaccum - hmmm

Now I'm dead in the water, ordered new air filter and gas valve rebuild kit - might still be that vent line not making a good seal - have to wait and see

Ah, who wanted to go for a ride today anyway  

The vent to the gas valve, would not hold a vaccum                                                     Not sure what you mean

With the tank OFF the bike, turn gas valve ON no gas flow unless I pull a vaccum           That's how it should be

The hose that runs from intake #6 (the back one on the left side) to the petcock needs to be able to hold
a vacuum.

-Mike

[Rowdy]

  Yep that's it Mike

When I attached vaccum pump to number #6 hose back to the petcok it would not hold a vaccum with petcock ON or OFF      But when I applied the pump directly to the petcock vent it held a vaccum

I have these oversized hose clamps on the hoses #6 vaccum line that seem to distort the hose    I'm trying to find a smaller hose clamp - had the hoses changed out maybe 5 years ago  and my installer had used these oversized hose clamps 

I had rebuilt the stock petcock maybe 4 or 5 years ago 

[Willow]

My guess is you have two issues combining to cause a problem.

I believe you have a slight leak in the vacuum line to the petcock and your carb bowls are empty.  When the engine is actually running it will hold enough vacuum to keep the fuel flowing, although possibly not at maximum.  With just the starter turning the engine over you're not getting enough vacuum to get a fuel flow to fill the carb bowls.

You may want to check the end nearest the engine of the vacuum line.  Sometimes they'll develop a leak on that end and you can do a temporary fix by cutting a half inch off the end to eliminate the leak.

[Rocketman]

I concur with Willow and hubcap.  Sounds like your gas valve (petcock) is fine.    You've got a problem in the vacuum line to #6.  I'll be that the clamp is the problem, as well.

Yes, if you run the carburetors empty the motor cannot develop enough vacuum to make the petcock supply enough gas to start again.

Even with dry carbs, turning the engine with the starter will fill the carb bowls fairly quickly, unless you have another problem.  If the engine is already warm, then she'll start even with a low level of fuel in the bowls, too.

Mark

[Rowdy]

  I finally got it running today   
Parts came in today (air filter & petcock rebuild kit) put it all back together and I still was not pulling any vaccum on #6    Cut the ends off the hoses, could not find smaller hose clamps to fit the hose 

The hose was a fuel line - not very flexible - a bit oversized for the fittings - the clamps where too big - not sure when that all happened but I got a hunch 

Got some real vaccum hose and sure enough I finally got a tight fit and vaccum and it started 

Bottom line I ran it dry and I did not have enough vaccum to refill the carbs because the hose was not making the best conection due to the hose size  not pulling any vaccum to pull any fuel from the tank to the carbs 

[fudgie]

Wouldn't have that problem with a pingel.