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***I'm posting this in two different sections of the forum to ensure that everyone sees this in hopes that someone out there can help.***

Circumstances: took the bike to my mother's house for several days to store it "safely" while I went on a trip to Palestine. I arrive yesterday to find that the bike just won't start.

*note* I am not mechanically-inclined at all, so any answers will need to be really detailed.

Problem: Turn the key, flip the switch, press the button. Turns over but won't fire. At first I figured it was because it hadn't been run in several days, but I've never had this kind of trouble after even a week of not running.

Problem 2: I figured that maybe... just maybe... the spark plugs might need replacing. Can't find 'em on the bike. Anywhere.

Problem 3: Maybe head gasket needs replacing (so hubby says, but he's gone for several days as well so he can't show me where it's at)? When I try to start it, you can hear a soft but deep "pop" from the exhaust.

Problem 4: My mother had the bright idea of going outside a little while ago and trying to start it for a while, and ended up leaving the keys in and on and ran down the battery. It died after no more than 10 minutes. Is that even remotely normal? If the battery ran down after a mere 10 minutes, is it possible that it just didn't have enough power left to completely start the bike? Or would that not be an issue?

So right now, I have a massive hunk of metal and wires sitting outside with a battery that buzzes at me when I push the starter button and nothing more.

Misc info: it rained the several days I was gone. The bike has about 44k miles on it. The kid who I bought it from probably didn't do much to take care of it. Ran perfectly fine when I last took it for a ride. It's a 1994 FZR600R (as the signature implies). If you need more info, just ask. Will do the best I can to explain.

Thank you very much in advance.

Charge up your battery, and while it's charging, clean the contacts. Very likely a connection has rusted up from all the rain. Check the connections at the battery, at the starter solenoid, at the coils, and where the ground wire attaches to the motor.
My bet is that the connections at the coils have corroded, since it's turning over but not firing up. Even if they look clean, take off the wire and clean it anyway.

The coils are attached to the spark plug wires. You must find the spark plugs, follow the wires back to whatever they attach to (this is the coils), then look on the end of the coils to see where they hook up to the main wiring harness. That's the contact to check.
The spark plugs should be under the 4 thick black wires coming from the top of the engine. Don't pull out the plugs if you have no experience, you might strip the threads trying to put them back in and that's very expensive. Just follow the plug wires the other way to the coils and make sure everything on the coils, the wires on both ends large and small, have good clean contacts. Clean contacts with a wire brush or sandpaper.

Hope that helps, this is actually a very good opportunity to take your time and find out a little about your bike.

dpetrick wrote:First start with the obvious. Is the Kill Switch in the off position. Also check that the fuel is turned on. If it is neither of these is the problem, you may need a mechanic look at it.

* Tried condensing both posts into one topic... failed. This is the result. Sorry dpetrick... *

It ended up being the battery - for whatever reason, it just went and died on me. It wouldn't hold a charge at all. It took me several days to find a battery for the bike. Put in the acid and set it on the charger for 12 hours - put it in this morning. Took a few tries (since it's been sitting for 2 weeks...), but finally started up again.

Thank you for your responses! I can stop having panic attacks now.

batteries do that on occasion when they get old. Sometimes you even get new ones that are bad from the factory. Just be glad that it didn't happen in the middle of nowhere.

Might want to consider learning a bit about simple maintenance. If you're going to ride, it's a good idea to have some understanding of what is happening in the bike's mechanicals.