I got my '06 250 about a month ago, and have been riding it everyday until about a week ago. After that it sat (in the rain) for about 4 days without being cranked. Yesterday, I tried to go for a ride and discovered it won't start.

The engine tries to turn over- over and over, but never quite makes it. The battery is brand new (less than a month old), and jumping it seems not to help at all so I don't think it's that. Otherwise, I cleaned and re-gapped the plugs today just for kicks, and that didn't help at all either. I have tried starting it with the choke open and closed, and the throttle open and closed and the only time it sounded like it *almost* turned over was when I had the choke open and the throttle all the way open, but that only happened once and then went back to doing nothing.

Any suggestions about what to try next?

 

Water in some electrical units. Check all your secondary wiring and get some dielectric grease

 

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Welcome to KF, rain and power washing does wonders on a bikes non starting capabilities.

 

Use a car battery to jump start it.

Once it's run for a bit and dried out, spray all the visible electrical components and connectors with WD40.

This can take 24 hours to drive moisture out and while it's doing that it can actually make things seem worse.

Rob

 

Thanks for the support!

It has been drying more than 24 hours with no change in it's ability to start; and as I said before, jumping it has no effect at all ( I used a powered portable jumper with way more cranking amps than even a car has so I'm pretty sure that the battery is not at fault).

I'm about to just start taking the accessible wires apart and spray them with WD40

 

OK...

Sprayed out the connections with WD40- then pulled the plugs out and checked them, there appears to be sparks when I crank it so I really don't think it's anything on the electrical side, unless maybe it could just be such a weak spark that it's not sparking in the cylinder?

Otherwise I'm thinking it must have something to do with the carb/fuel but the bike is only 3 or 4 years old and after having taken the carb off the bike it really looks like it's in good shape (not that I know anything about carbs).

I'm losing hope that this problem will be solved any other way than by towing it to a shop which I REALLY don't want to do.

 

You're getting a spark. Is the plug wet?

If it isn't, look at the fuel system. Start by setting the petrol tap to 'prime'. That by-passes the vacum tap. You have to do this anyway if the carb's been off, as it will be dry.

Drain the carb float bowl with the carbs in situ. Check that what comes out is pure petrol. A few days in the rain could have let a little water in. Petrol is lighter and floats on the water, so it's the water that the bike's trying to run on if there's any in the tank.

If the plug is wet and you're sure that it's good petrol, you may have a weak spark that won't fire under cylinder pressure. Plugs, HT leads and the coil are prime suspects.

Rob

 

and by doing this, you did not fry other components?

 

is there plenty of gas in it???