Hi folks,
I have a 1990/91 GSF400-z, a japanese import bandit. After buying the bike it would start but wouldn't idle, I had to constantly rev the bike to stop it from cutting out.

After further inspection my tank was full of rust, I've cleaned out the tank and the fuel cock and reconnected everything but now the bike won't start.

Everything is correctly connected and the engine turns over (and good spark on all plugs) but it still won't start. Any ideas? Cheers, Tom

is it possible the fuel filter is clogged by all that rust? does the fuel pump whine when ignition is turned to 1st pos?

[Edited on 19/9/09 by mrwibble]

The fuel cock has a filter at the top of each pipe (long one for normal, short one for reserve) and bolts into the bottom of the tank, there isn't a fuel pump on the bike, its just vacuum and gravity fed. I have a nasty feeling that there could still be crud in there but I have no way of telling - baffled tank and the two access points are the fuel cock hole and filler neck.

carb needles full of crap maybe?
might sound silly, i don't know your bike (or much about bikes for that..) could you have put the fuel filter in the wrong way around when you put it all back together?

Are you getting fuel to the carbs? There is sometimes stop on the tank to turn off the fuel, has this been knocked/switched

sound like you need to to strip the bottoms of the carbs, check the floats/needles etc

hth

Ray

I had that problem some years ago , stripped tank off, gave it a good flush out and then used some American epoxy lining stuff ,consisting of cleaner, etcher and final coat , then stripped carb and found idle jets blocked and loads of crud in the float bowls.

Mike

Cheers guys, fuel filter and petcock can only go in one way so its not that, the fuel cock has res and on so on either setting it should get fuel through.

I've taken the tank off and fuel is coming out through the petcock and the filters are still clear so that is fine for the moment, though I'll look into that tank cleaner/liner.

I've (very dangerously) used a clear plastic bottle and some hose as a replacement fuel tank so that I can see if/how much fuel was used and striaght away the carbs took a lot of fuel - I'd say 200ml in about three secs. I guess this means that the problem lies with the carbs, probably the floats(?). I'm gonna pull apart the carbs and clean them.

No doubt I'll be back on later needing help as to the specifics of carb cleaning and maintenance. Thanks very much everybody.

The idle jets will be blocked. Unscrew them with a straight screwdriver and clean them out they are usually down a hole next to the main. I used a bristle off a wire brush to clean mine as they were solid