Tough to start

[John Luciano]

Anyone else have a hard time starting the 1500 Goldwing after a long winter nap. Been on a tender all winter. Battery 1 year old. Craks but no fire. Does it every year. Once started, good all year. Any secret way to do it?

[Ol' Grey]

Never worked on a GoldWing.......Carbuerated ?

Not sure how difficult access is to the carbs, but if you remove the air filters, turn petcock "On", twist throttle wide open to raise the carb slides, then shoot a couple blasts of Starter Fluid directly in thru the carb throats and towards the combustion chambers, then release throttle and hit starter button, it might fire and the vacuum created by combustion could help pull in the normal air/fuel mixture......

[mhgoldwing]

Since the 1500 is carbuerated I suspect your fuel has evaporated in the carb bowls requiring a long crank to fill them up so the engine can get fuel. That's why hard to crank initially but then OK for entire season. Are you using fuel stablizer before storing?

[mhgoldwing]

No fuel petcock on 1500. Could be that vacuum system has leak allowing fuel to be sucked back into tank due to temp changes.

[Ol' Grey]

No fuel petcock on 1500. Could be that vacuum system has leak allowing fuel to be sucked back into tank due to temp changes.

No fuel petcock ? Interesting..........Extreme temp changes can also cause "vapor lock" in the fuel lines. Might try removing gas cap and hitting starter button a few times.

You could also remove spark plugs to see if they're wet, which would indicate fuel delivery to the combustion chambers........

Edit: If you pull the spark plugs, you can also shoot a burst of Starter Fluid directly into the combustion chamber thru the spark plug wells, then re-install plugs and hit starter button.......

[The Wolf]

Don't know too much what happened to your 1500 John but my baby woke from her slumber (out of the bubble) and started first time. She had been sleeping since the first week in October 2011 until March 18th 2012.
Hope you get her to fire...Good Luck..

[Lunchbox1983]

John

You do not want to hear my answer , but my 96 did the ssame thing, turned out the on board Computer was not sending signal to the fuel pump that port was bad, you could bypass and the pump would work and crank trike. The fix $600 (Part now add labor) for a new computer or ECM. So i hope you do not have to feel my pain, on the plus side the trike is running WAY better than it has in quite some time.

[Ol' Grey]

Needed for fire-up:

Proper air/fuel mixture
Compression
Spark (at the right Timing)

Have you pulled a spark plug and held it to ground (resting spark plug on a cylinder head would do), then hit the starter button to see if you're getting a good spark ?

Couple long shots here:

There was a thread about mice chewing on wiring awhile back. Sure hope that nothing like that has happened during the Winter months. We've now had THREE vehicles nailed by pack rats here.

Since the trike was stored all Winter, the Kill Switch isn't in the "Off" position, is it ?

[Cam]

Mine starts the same way after a winters nap john i just live with it it always fires rite up after that. this winter i triked it so it was started many times thru the winter didnt hv that problem. Mines a 98 purchased it in 01 and its always been in my warm basement over winter not no more will not fit thru the door ...

[John Luciano]

I noticed some answers from 1800 owners with fi motors. No carb no problem.
Noticed answeres from Harley owners . Remove plugs. All 6 ? Remove air cleaner 1/2 the motorcycle must be removed. Don't think it is a electrical problem as it has done this for 12 years ( same problem )

[Ol' Grey]

I noticed some answers from 1800 owners with fi motors. No carb no problem.
Noticed answeres from Harley owners . Remove plugs. All 6 ? Remove air cleaner 1/2 the motorcycle must be removed. Don't think it is a electrical problem as it has done this for 12 years ( same problem )

It may well be a carb problem. As "mhgoldwing" mentioned, using Stabil in the fuel tank and letting some run thru the carbs before storage is a good idea. Another option for Winter storage is to simply drain the fuel from the carb bowls or let it idle until it the carbs run out of fuel.

I fully realize about having to remove 1/2 the bike to gain access to some areas on certain bikes. But if it's a carb problem, SOMEONE will have to remove parts to deal with it, either yourself or a dealer/indie shop.

Am also aware that it's frustrating, John, but folks here were only trying to help..........(FWIW, I'm not a "Harley ONLY" kinda guy. I own Harley, Brit and Jap)............Good luck!

[John Luciano]

She popped a few times. I think once the battery is back up to full it will be fine. Like this every year. The carbs get dry. I am not new to motors. I fixed enough bikes to pay for an inground pool in my back yard back in 1983. I know my way around motors, rebuilt 3 car motors before I got my drivers license . I know the theory.

[The Wolf]

Flog it John and get a newer one...let someone else take the strain if it happens every year..........less hassle

[John Luciano]

Went out this morning , touched the button didn't even hear the starter make a noise and it was running. And we are off to another year.

[Lucky]

John as Willie sez "On the road again".Know you feel better.RIDE SAFE

[Ozarkryder]

Hey John - I think you have it when you said the carbs get dry. Happened when we had the "95 GL1500. After a long storage it would take a long time to start unless I would crank the motor over with the engine stop switch on the right bars set to "off". The motor would crank, but not spark, so no start. This would make the fuel pump run and pump gas to the carb bowls. As the ignition circuit wasn't being used the battery wasn't draining quite as much so it had more power to start the bike when the fuel got through the system. Switch it back to "run" and it would crank over a bit until the gas got through the carbs, then it would start. That's my theory, seemed to work for me. After that, like you experienced this morning, it's off and running again for the season.

[John Luciano]

The 1997 will not crank with the kill switch in the off position. At least mine won't .. Been hard starting every spring since I got it. Went for a 70 mile ride today 80 deg in March ... Priceless

[Ozarkryder]

Don't know if the turning over with the key on and the kill switch off was something the GW did or if it was just that trike. My '90 Harley wont turn over with the kill switch on off.

Was handy when doing oil changes - after I drained the oil and took the filter off I would place the drain pan under the front of the trike, turn on the key, kill switch on off and hit the starter to turn the thing over a few times. Enough residual oil on everything it wouldn't hurt a few turns, and a bunch of dirty oil would come out.

[John Luciano]

Friends 1996 would spin in kill switch off position. We would have to yell Roger turn your kill switch on. I think it was changed in 1997. Anyone else have a kill switch that allows it to spin in off. I would like to hear from you to verify my theory

[dr4pat]

Another thing I found when I had GL 1500's 89 and 94.
This would work when cold, press start switch to get it turning over, usually not firing at this time, release starter switch and it would catch and run.
It gave me the impression that it was taking most of the battery to turn it over, not leaving a lot of power for spark, so letting go of switch, still spinning it got more battery power for spark and would fire up.
When it's cold I still do the same thing to my GL 1800.
Spring start up worked the same way for me on both the 1500 and 1800's.
Turn it over, let go of starter to see if it will fire, repeat . This way your not cranking on the starter for long periods of time.
It worked and still works for me. YMMV


dr4pat