Help - It won't wake up from its winter nap!

[PitterB4]

I'm getting ready to start the track season finally.  I'm supposed to be headed to my favorite track, BeaveRun the first weekend in May.  I say "supposed to be" cuz the f-ing F3 is not running.  That damned thing has never, ever missed a beat for me.  I ran it a few times over the winter just to keep things moving in there.  I started it up a week or so ago and it ran OK but backfired a few times.  I tried to start it up again over the weekend and NUTHIN'.  It cranks but doesn't even sound like it wants to turn over.  Every once in a while I get a HUGE backfire (all the neighbors come out of their houses, my daughter starts crying...).  My first thought was bad gas.  Drained the tank.  Drained the bowls.  Started over with fresh gas....  Same results.  Just dead cranking and the occasional .30 caliber rifle cracks.  I am traveling a ton and have VERY little time to work on this before heading to the track (and REALLY don't want to take my totally stock ZX when I have a pretty tricked out track bike in the garage).  I know it's either fuel deliver (carbs) or electrical/spark. 

My initial thought is carbs but that may just be from having been a B4 owner.     I'm leaning towards a electrical or CDI issue though because it's acting exactly like my B4 did when I reversed the leads to the coils on it one time.

If anyone has any good thoughts on where to start and save me some time, it would be VERY much appreciated! 

Other notes - I have done NOTHING to the bike since it was last at the track other than an oil change and putting coolant in - never even pulled the tank for anything.  Plugs are newish (maybe 3 trackdays).  My last 2 track days were in fairly heavy rain. 

Thanks all! 

[gsxr400 racer]

See if you have spark, Flick the on off switch a few times. Have you started it all year they go through plugs if i remember.

[Red01]

Didja put StaBil or SeaFoam in it for winter storage?
If you only fired it up a couple of times over the storage season, it may not have been enough to keep gummy deposits from starting to form, effectively changing your jetting.

[PitterB4]

Didja put StaBil or SeaFoam in it for winter storage?
If you only fired it up a couple of times over the storage season, it may not have been enough to keep gummy deposits from starting to form, effectively changing your jetting.

Well... see, it's like this:  I remember putting StaBil in at least one of the bikes...  It really was only fired up once or twice over the winter.  Damn...  I do not feel like pulling the carbs.   

[interfuse]

Check to see if you've got spark. Everytime I've got crank crank crank BOOOM. I haven't had spark... I'm assuming friction in caused heat which eventually lead to explosion....

[gsxr400 racer]

Check to see if you've got spark. Everytime I've got crank crank crank BOOOM. I haven't had spark... I'm assuming friction in caused heat which eventually lead to explosion....

no way it not a diesel Rob drain the float bowls and the tank get new gas and fire up

[PitterB4]

Rob drain the float bowls and the tank get new gas and fire up

Yeah Jay - I did that.  All except the fire it up part.   

The only time I've had crank, crank BOOM was when I had the wires to my coils mixed up... which is what lead me to think it was electrical.  The CDI and associated wires have NO protection from underneath and I rode in A LOT of rain last year.

[PitterB4]

they go through plugs if i remember.

We MAY have a winner!  I pulled the plugs and they looked a little funky.  I wiped them off and put them back in.  It's sputtering like it wants to start and the backfires are smaller and more frequent.  I'll pick up some new ones tomorrow.  I can't believe I cooked plugs that quick. 

[PitterB4]

OK so... it starts.  But, it's backfiring like a sonofabitch on throttle.  After running it for a while, I smell of gass bad.  What happened over the winter?  Sticky floats?  Seems odd since all 4 plugs looked about the same...  Thoughts?

[andrewsw]

Are all four cylinders firing? My experience with backfiring is that one (or more) is not really firing, pushing gas through the exhaust valve until one of the other cylinders sparks it up... really exciting!

Any smoke out the back end?

My b4 did that after sitting for a couple of months this winter. It took a tank of clean gas and time spent running to clean it up.

I was getting white smoke which I subsequently figured out was gas vapor that hadn't burned yet 'cause I was dumping gas down the header after it cycled through the cylinder. Finally, after everything got good and warmed up, it cleared up. For me it was bad gas, fouled plugs, maybe some spiders crawled down the exhaust, etc.

[joker]

ugh winters ole charm of seeing what it can do.... did you have the pipes covered??? you might have a friendly family of rats/mice that made a lil home in your exhaust which would cause this kind of malfunction too (potato in a tail pipe) c'mon we know we all did it as kids.. could be any amount of vast wiring, could be weak coils... could be a bad valve in the carbs too, sticky needle valve, worse yet... it could be in the timing, trick is to self diagnose the carbs, disconnect one spark plug at a time and note the difference, to find out which cylinder isn't firing properly also note that with the price of gas/fuel, alot of companies aren't doing the aqua glo/milapore test to find how much water they have in their tanks... might just be a bad case of bad gas..... good luck... be safe hope this might help

[PitterB4]

Thanks, fellas.  I hadn't thought of critters!! 

All 4 cyls are firing.  It sounds strong and is very responsive. 

I did have some whiteish smoke when i first started it but that cleared pretty quick. 

Although the tank had fresh gas and I had drained the carbs a couple times, there must have been some remnants of the bad stuff in there.  I kept restarting it and running it for a little while after I posted last night.  Backfiring gradually stopped.  I think I'm good.  Now if the weather gods would just smile on me for once....  I won't spend a bunch of time in the car and a fortune on gas getting to the track to play in the rain for a while. 

[PitterB4]

Update...  She goes like stink!   

I learned yet again how crappy it is to ride a sportibike all-out, in full leathers all day in the rain! 

Today was good weather and the ratty old CBR pulled like a freight train all day!

Thanks, all!