No Start.. Plugs Wet & Black.. Now What? (97 Katana 600

[Stoeger]

Just bought it on Thursday, ran but kept stalling out, but was running with choke. Now, today I try it and won't fire. Turns over, a slight chug chug every now and again and a couple of loud backfires.

Pulled 2 plugs, all wet and black. Let dry and sanded down. Drained old gas, new fresh in. Still not starting.

Pulled all 4 plugs, they are dryingout... so now what?


- Do I need NEW plugs? Can i just sand off my current ones?
- Battery is at 11.95. (Charged goes to 12.5)
- Petcock is at PRI (which I understand to be Prime/Gravity Feed)
- Put gas down cylinders?

What else to try?

[CNF2002]

I dont know about bike plugs but I wouldn't consider sanding and reinstalling an old plug in my jeep. Get new properly gapped plugs, replace all of them at the same time. They don't cost much and I've had lots of luck correcting rough engines with a new set of plugs. Try a good tuneup, make sure you've got a good spark going to your plugs.

[BuzZz]

Check for sparkage.....

been meaning to show this thing for awhile, finally took some pics.....





This is a spark tester, this one is made/packaged by KD tools @$15 but Snap-On sells the exact same(I mean exactly the same) tool @$45.

Very handy if you want to check for spark on anything. Just pull the lead from the cylinder you want to check and plug it onto this tool. Clip the aligator clip onto any handy protrusion(metallic) nearby and crank the engine over. If your ignition system won't make a spark jump this gap in open air, your system is too weak to spark when the plug is under pressure.

Cleaning plugs is often helpful, but any tiny scratches in the porcilin made by sanding/scraping can create a path for the spark to travel down and cause a missfire. So new plugs is not a bad idea. Allthough cleaning them is an acceptable temporary measure.

[sidecarguy]

i just "tested" the `spark yesterday

with my fibgers trying to do the colortune thingy!