Why won't it start?

I think you have to have experience of SOB's to have seen it. The fuel
in the Superdream tanks was foul.

Paul.

 

it wasn't me that made you pregn... oh yeah, it was actually.

 

Um, yes, sorta. Like at least three or four. As Zymurgy says, if you buy
dead SOBs, you see a lot of gummed carbs where the fuel has evaporated.

Usually you smell it first: that odour of varnish is unmistakeable.

It's actually pushed up the price of decent four-cylinder banks of carbs
for SOBs. Yes, you can get the old ones ultrasonically cleaned, but
that's not cheap if the job's done properly, the bastard things have to
be dismantled, and once they're back together they have to be re-set.

To put it in perspective, a completely dead set of 400 Four carbs is
worth maybe a tenner, more like a fiver. A set that you can absolutely
guarantee to be sweet and which, when bolted on, will just let the bike
run perfectly, is worth ten times as much.

 

It's psychosomatic, IYAM. My Sprint ST, with the same engine, never
had any sort of starting problem even after sitting unused for months
at a time.

Just like mine did with no preparation at all.

I'm glad that's cleared up then - reminds me of a Maths teacher I had
at grammar school - he was from Pakistan so spoke with an accent and
an odd manner anyway, and was easily wound up. The favoured method was
to keep asking him why something was what he said it was, and
ultimately he'd always end up saying "Why so? Why so? Because I make
it so."

Happy days.

 

Oh, you're talking about an earlier non-FI tiger? Ignore my other post
then.

 

I believe so.

And looked v. nice with the red bodywork and new rear mudguard wot it
was wearing when I last saw it too. I still preferred it with the
non-standard black paintwork, though.

 

Surely, if petrol actually "goes off", then it should have an effect on
FI bikes too.

That is, I'm saying that it isn't that carbed bikes don't sometimes
have a problem after being sat for ages (although I've never
experienced it) but that it's not the petrol "going off" that's the
issue.

 

Well quite, and it's clear (as it is every time this comes up) that
most, and possibly all, of the issues are more about carbs getting
gummed up when allowed to totally dry out. But this is quite clearly
not the same as petrol 'going off'.

Oh, did I just say that too?

 

I'm not sure what 'authority' Kevin Cameron has according to UKRM, but
google:

fuel loses volatiles cameron

I blame him (and naturally Bear).


--
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest * 2 Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

 

I think I may have found one of the possible reasons. BLOODY BANTAM.
Having tried everything else I drained all of the fuel, removed the tank
and upended the last bit. Put all of said fuel into 2 transparant 4 litre
plastic cans. Looked fine at the time. 4 days later a load of water has
settled out and is sitting in the bottom.

That could account for a lot of grief.
It seems that modern petrol can contain suspended water which will
settle to the bottom eventually. This will then drain into the carb if
the bike has been left standing.

 

heh.

why /ginger/ wigs though?

 

I was. Like I said, I've never experienced it on an FI bike. I remember
someone on the Tiger list yonks ago hypothesing that the plastic tank
may have had something to do with it - dunno about that though.

It's certainly not all cases. When it's happened on the Tig, & I drain
the carbs, loads of fuel comes out. The fuel in the carbs won't work,
the fuel in the tank will. So the fuel in the carbs has 'gone off', in
that it no longer works as intended. Whether that's due to evaporation,
moisture absorbtion or interference by aliens I have no idea.

--
Krusty

'03 Tiger 955i
'02 MV Senna (for sale) '96 Tiger (for sale)
'79 Fantic Hiro 250 (for sale) '81 Corvette (for sale)

 

As I assume she means "nothing" as in , well, nothing, I've never known
petrol stop the flow of electricity between starter and batter before...
have you ?

Duff connection in a box somewhere I'd say

 

Kelvin Marine Engines.

 

"When you've eliminated the impossible, whatever is left, however
improbable, must be the truth."

So Aliens, clearly.

 

That's difficult to believe.

 

;-)

I don't know what I like the sound of best, a Stuart Turner R3MC or
twin Lamborghini V12's.

T i m

 

Come and take a look if you like.
I have no reason to tell porkies.

 

As an aside I was talking to Dad about his seafaring days with Shell
Oil and their sea tankers the other day.

I think I remember him saying something along the lines of after
discharging a cargo of petrol they flush the hoses with water.

The water then sinks into a sump in the holding tank and is drawn off
(or not as it seems it's all in your bike tank!). ;-)

T i m

 

So you have some petrol and water in a bottle.
Now mix it up so that it looks fine, but separates again after a few days.