Did you know that dealers will "fix" the cold start issues. They call it customer satisfaction something or other. You have to complain about it to get it done.
I was told by the counter guy that they do a little grinding on the KACR.
I've fixed my problems by drilling the carb. I'm wondering if there fix is better and if it's done or not done can the problem get better or worse with wear on the ACR or cams in the future?

 

The second my dealer gets one of these bikes, the first thing they do is remove the fuel mixture plug and unscrew it about 3 turns.

Works like a million bucks, you don't have to drill anything, grind anything, just a simple adjustment.

When my bike was stock, it would start at 20 degrees outside with about two cranks.

 

Just about who has a jet kit installed has done this, and yet, most bikes are still hard to start.

 

It's not as easy as turnung the air screw out 2 1/2 to 3 turns, I'm not sure what the dealership is offering is a real fix for a hard to start bike either. But drilling the starter jet seems a fix for even the most difficult to start bikes.

 

get a bigger hammer..... that fixes everything.

 

What does the Compression release have to do with it?

 

On some of the 2008 (and maybe later?) KLR650s the KACR moved the valve down too far. The result was too low compression during cranking. When warm it didn't matter too much, but when cold, many KLR's wouldn't start. Mine was one.

The fix was to grind .020" off of the pin on the KACR.

The KLX doesn't have this problem, IMHO. It has a lean cold enrichment condition.

It is possible to turn the idle mixture screw way out (excessively rich) and usually make the bike start. In fact, this is a good way to determine if the cold start jet is too small.

The problem with this "fix" is that it just masks the real problem and creates an overly rich condition at idle and transition once the engine warms up.

Ron

 

Big Sky, as has been pointed out many times in past posts on this, some bikes don't have cold start issues for some reason. You'd think there would be more uniformity, but it isn't always the case between practically identical bikes. It could even be something along the lines of having a slightly high fuel level in the float bowl as to why some bikes don't have cold start issues...I don't know for sure. That said, just adjusting the fuel/air screw will not fix many of these bikes and neither will rejetting in many cases.

Nothing affects cold starting more effectively than the starter jet in the carb. It controls how much fuel your choke circuit receives, and if it's on the low side, hard cold starting can occur. We cannot make a blanket statement for all these bikes, because it appears there isn't one. Still, the starter jet has the most influence on cold starting...period.

deej, I "think" the KACR mod allows more compression during startup which draws more fuel and perhaps an easier start when cold. Depending on how much the KACR is modded, this can put a bit more strain on the battery. This may or may not be much of an issue in the big picture, but I'm a little leary of this on a bike with a small battery and no kickstart. The simple process of drilling the starter jet works, and it only works when the choke is engaged. The KACR mod...if it is a compression increase...will be in play everytime you hit the starter button. Again, probably not the end of the world by any means, but...

 

haha along with 3 other people standing by with their thumbs up their *****.

 

And it's real easy for a dealer to do, claiming it's lean for emissions, and not open the carb up, admittedly fixing an obvious "problem" from the factory. But as TNC and others say, it's not a blanket problem for every bike.