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Paul Hurcomb, London to CapeTown, 2007, in Mali

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Paul Hurcomb, London to CapeTown,
in Mali. Trail from Douentza north
leading to the ferry to cross
the Niger, then onto Tombouctou



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  #1  
Old 20 Feb 2011
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non start kle500a1 part 2
well i still have a problem starting the kle . its getting a spark and fuel . i have checked the timing and that seems fine .the valves were a little tight these are now ok . i did however find that the ignition pick up was out of spec . so that was replaced . still a no go . could this be compression ? are there common broblems with kle,s . as was running fine before i used carb cleaner
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  #2  
Old 25 Feb 2011
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double check the carbs

seems like you've either put em together wrong or dislodged/loosened some crap that's still there
used to have an import zzr400 that that ran poor despite using 3 cans of off the shelf carb cleaner got em ultrasonic cleaned and the bike was perfect

also check you haven't trapped a fuel/breather hose or a wire when putting the carbs back on
more info would be good as well...are the plugs wet or dry after trying to start and what did you do re the pickup coil?
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  #3  
Old 27 Feb 2011
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non start kle
plugs are wet . had the carbs apart 3 times now all seems fine . but will check again tommorow. as for the pick up. i replaced that with one in spec .
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  #4  
Old 4 Mar 2011
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if the plugs are wet it's either not sparking,sparking at the wrong time or it's getting too much fuel.

put new plugs in, make sure the choke is not sticking, the air filter is clean, recheck the float heights and double check the gap between the pick up coil and the rotor

did once have a bike that ran like a bag o shite everything else checked out ok but noticed the tag holding the pick up coil had been bent...closed the gap up to about 1mm and all was good

just trying to eliminate things as you said it was running fine before.

its an A1 yep?...if so are you sure it hasn't had an engine change to a 500s motor?...i seem to recall the pickups were different from the kle...might just be the grey matter breaking down tho
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  #5  
Old 6 Mar 2011
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non start kle500a1
yep its an a1 500cc . checked the carbs again last night . all look ok float levels etc . i didnt think the pick up coil was adjustable on these as theres no adjustment on the 2 bolts , air filter all clean . new fuel and new plugs . i am rearly stumped on this one . i have worked on my own bikes ( fzr zxr rdlc xl dt ) for 20+ years and never come across somthing like this . i may even try to get a second hand engine to try . as i need to get this back on the road asap
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Old 7 Mar 2011
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Ok, I'm no mechanic and I'm jumping into the middle of the thread I know but I feel that I'm missing half the story. It seems like you have thoroughly checked the carbs and spark plugs but starting from the begining, if you will, what else have you done (failing that was there a previous thread that you explained all this and I've just missed it :confused1.

As with the usual 'bike doesn't start' issues, dunno if it will help but...

Check the following:
1. Battery has juice
2. Starter turns over
3. Spark plug actually sparks (pull it out but still connected, put it next to a piece of metal - turn over the bike and look for the spark)
4. Fuel - not flooded or dry - ensure no air bubbles in fuel line
5. Air - air flow/intake is clear

Failing that very basic checklist that I'm sure you've already done. What did you do to the engine? Can you turn the engine over manually by forcing the cam-shaft to spin, some bikes can do this with rear-wheel in gear and turn the wheel, if not then another way perhaps??

Again, apologies if you've already gone through all this, just not quite sure of the full story.
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