Bike won't start

[steveh5200]

Hi,

I have a 2000 Suzuki Katana 600 that I didn't ride last year meaning it has set unstarted for close to 2 years. I have been trying to start it.

So far I've replaced the plugs and put in new gas after siphoning the old out. After fiddling with this a while I put a little gas in each of the carbs to get it to turn over. During this process I removed the tank and noticed the lines were completely dry, no gas in the gas filter or anything. I know I had the valve on.

I also noticed the valve having what looks like a vacuum line going into it as well as the fuel line. Does this valve require a vacuum line to operate and could this be siezed up from sitting to long?

Thanks in advance.

Steve H.

[Skier]

The petcock on that bike is vacuum operated. That is, it will only let gas flow through it if the engine is turning over. However when you turn the petcock to PRIME, it allows gas to pass through the petcock into the carbs without any engine vacuum. Try setting the petcock to PRIME for 15 seconds or so, then back to ON. Your carbs should then have gas and the biek shoudl be ready to go.

[steveh5200]

Thanks for the reply.

That is good info about the prime, I wondered exactly what that did. Anyway I took the line off and put it on prime, no gas came out and I can't blow back through it either. Does that mean that valve is bad?

Thx

Steve H.

[TechTMW]

It might mean that your petcock is completely varnished. Letting a bike sit with gasoline in it (for months) is a HUGE nono. Today's gas is cheap junk, and when it evaporates it leaves nasty crud all in your carbs, fuel lines, gas tank and everyhting.

You need to thoroughly clean everything fuel related and replace the lines.