Big Blue won't wake up from her long winter's nap.

Fred Primmer

Fred Primmer

Joined
Jun 23, 2020
Messages
834
Location
Barrie, Ontario, Canada
Bike
2004 ST1300
I uncovered and pushed the 2004 ST1300 out of the garage this week. It had been in the garage for the winter with a full tank of 91 no ethanol, a little sea foam, and on a battery maintainer. Tried to start it but it wouldn't fire. With key on I could hear the fuel pump run for the 5 seconds . When the fuel pump stopped the FI light went out. I pushed the starter switch and it cranked fine (oil light out while cranking). But would not start; not even a stumble. I took each plug out (one at a time). They were all gapped at 35 thou. They looked fine apart from being a little wet. I did a a spark test on each one. They all sparked. It seems like it has fuel and spark. What should I look at next? Of course I should say that it has always started easily and ran well before being put away for the winter. Suggestions for the next avenue of investigation would be appreciated!
 
I've run into the same problem starting a lawn tractor or push mower after a winter's layup. I pull the plug, clean it gently with a soft wire brush (looks like a brass toothbrush), and heat it up a bit with a torch (just want to vaporize any moisture). Put it back and it will fire right up.
 
did it seem to crank at the usual speed; were you able to crank for some good duration, 91 in Canada strikes me as Shell Oil not really an ethenol free fuel, I might drain all the gas out and try a new batch; I rotate a lot of gas between a lot of vehicles; saves me a lot of grief.
 
I'll order some new plugs and try some fresh gas. The gas is Costco premium. I think I'll take the side cowls off and look for signs of critter activity. I think you can see some of the V area with a mirror and flashlight from the front. I was going to change the brake fluid anyway which would require the right side removed. Thanks all for the advice. I'll update soon.
 
If you put in fresh gas in it when you stored it, I doubt that it has been sitting long enough for the gas to have gone bad. That does not mean that you didn't fill up with bad gas however.
If you can hear the fuel pump prime, the injector wires have not been chewed on by mice, at least not badly enough to cause inoperative injectors. This doesn't mean that they haven't chewed on something else however.

Start by checking to see if there are any fault codes stored. If there is, you need to take care of that first.

Before putting the new plugs in, crank the engine over for a few seconds with the throttle held wide open to blow any excess fuel out of the cylinders.
Spray some plastic safe contact cleaner in to your kill switch and flip it back and forth between on and off a dozen times just to make sure that there is good contact. Your fuel pump primes and you have spark so this should not be the issue however, it costs nothing to do and a bad contact at this switch has been known to cause all kinds of weird effects, so there is nothing to loose.
After putting in the new plugs crank it without touching the throttle, if it is working properly it takes care of itself.

Do you know that your battery is good? Even if it cranks, a marginal battery has enough power to crank the engine over but not enough reserve to supply sufficient voltage to the electronics and ignition- the starter motor sucks up everything that a marginal battery can deliver. It would not hurt to get some booster cables and hook it up to your car battery before trying to start it again just to eliminate the battery as a possibility.

On the off chance that your gas is bad, there have been several people who have had this exact situation due to the ethanol in the gas gumming up the valves and causing them to stick. They were able to get it to start by repeated attempts at various throttle openings until the valves finally freed up. Exactly what the procedure was I don't recall. I think that Bob (@SupraSabre) went through this. Maybe he will chime in and let you know what he did to diagnose it and overcome it.
 
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I hate when that happens.
All the tips above are a great start. I've used stabilizer in the tank. However during the first ride of the season the bike would burn the whole tank on a 2-3 hour tour. I no longer use the stabilizer. Ive had no issues in the spring with my '02 1100 or with my current 1300.
If this helps - haven't heard any negative opinions - I've also moved my bike into a garage instead of the shed (too difficult to get it thru the soft wet grass to the driveway, thingy) and I start the bike approx every 2-3 weeks and let the engine get to temperature (15 mins or so). The year before I discovered mouse residue. Little bits of seeds and shredded cover after removing my seats. I laid out some traps but no volunteers. This spring the 1300 was slow to start even after being connected to a smart charger. Battery was discovered with a bad cell.
My 2 cents.
I like the idea of the spark plugs. Will replace. Good luck and let us know your findings.
Dave
 
Costco premium is not ethanol free. Both 87 and 91 have ethanol in them at least at my Costco.

Did you check to see if the handle bar switch is in the on position? I made that mistake once when storing my bike for the winter. I bumped it into the off position when moving it. I always turn the bike on and off by the key. Never thought of checking it until after I drained the battery.
 
Check for critter activity. Have battery fully charged. Crank holding throttle wide open, this will shut off the injectors. ECU is in enrichment mode, a feature of all FI bikes. It should start assuming your electrical is OK.
 
Besides ugly looking fuel pumps, due to rust, I've had an issue with two of my bikes when they hadn't been started over a period of time where I had to just keep cranking until I got one cylinder to fire, then a second and then 3rd and 4th. Sometimes it took cranking until the battery died, then charge it again and repeat until the bike would finally run.

However, I have decided, if that happens again, I'll remove the tank and top of the air cleaner, and shoot some starter fluid down the throttlebodies and see if that gets it running.
 
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Chris09 said:
did it seem to crank at the usual speed; were you able to crank for some good duration, 91 in Canada strikes me as Shell Oil not really an ethenol free fuel, I might drain all the gas out and try a new batch; I rotate a lot of gas between a lot of vehicles; saves me a lot of grief.
Click to expand...
It did seem to crank fine. You got me a little uncertain about ethanol in Costco premium in Canada. The pumps only have the "may contain up to 10% ethanol" sticker on regular pump, not on the premium side of the pump. I've read a third party article saying costco premium in Canada is ethanol free but the Costco Canada website says nothing about ethanol. Maybe I'll get some Shell premium.
 
snowmoer said:
Costco premium is not ethanol free. Both 87 and 91 have ethanol in them at least at my Costco.

Did you check to see if the handle bar switch is in the on position? I made that mistake once when storing my bike for the winter. I bumped it into the off position when moving it. I always turn the bike on and off by the key. Never thought of checking it until after I drained the battery.
Click to expand...
Yes I have checked that the kill switch is in run. I think I will shoot some contact cleaner in there as has been suggested.
 
Andrew Shadow said:
If you put in fresh gas in it when you stored it, I doubt that it has not been sitting long enough for the gas to have gone bad. That does not mean that you didn't fill up with bad gas however.
If you can hear the fuel pump prime, the injector wires have not been chewed on by mice, at least not badly enough to cause inoperative injectors. This doesn't mean that they haven't chewed on something else however.

Start by checking to see if there are any fault codes stored. If there is, you need to take care of that first.

Before putting the new plugs in, crank the engine over for a few seconds with the throttle held wide open to blow any excess fuel out of the cylinders.
Spray some plastic safe contact cleaner in to your kill switch and flip it back and forth between on and off a dozen times just to make sure that there is good contact. Your fuel pump primes and you have spark so this should not be the issue however, it costs nothing to do and a bad contact at this switch has been known to cause all kinds of weird effects, so there is nothing to loose.
After putting in the new plugs crank it without touching the throttle, if it is working properly it takes care of itself.

Do you know that your battery is good? Even if it cranks, a marginal battery has enough power to crank the engine over but not enough reserve to supply sufficient voltage to the electronics and ignition- the starter motor sucks up everything that a marginal battery can deliver. It would not hurt to get some booster cables and hook it up to your car battery before trying to start it again just to eliminate the battery as a possibility.

On the off chance that your gas is bad, there have been several people who have had this exact situation due to the ethanol in the gas gumming up the valves and causing them to stick. They were able to get it to start by repeated attempts at various throttle openings until the valves finally freed up. Exactly what the procedure was I don't recall. I think that Bob (@SupraSabre) went through this. Maybe he will chime in and let you know what he did to diagnose it and overcome it.
Click to expand...
Thanks Andrew and others for the suggestions and help. I'm not sure, but I thought fault codes were indicated by flashes of the FI light. My FI light goes after the fuel pump has pressurized and stays out. I'll get out on Monday for new plugs and try what you have suggested above. If no success then I'll do the deep dive on the critter search. I could also get a compression tester to make sure a valve is not stuck. What would normal compression be? Thanks again and everyone enjoy their Easter weekend.
 
Fred Primmer said:
It did seem to crank fine. You got me a little uncertain about ethanol in Costco premium in Canada. The pumps only have the "may contain up to 10% ethanol" sticker on regular pump, not on the premium side of the pump. I've read a third party article saying costco premium in Canada is ethanol free but the Costco Canada website says nothing about ethanol. Maybe I'll get some Shell premium.
Click to expand...

I use Costco supreme fuel also. It does say that only the regular fuel contains up to 10% corn filler. I'll never buy regular fuel there, if I can help it.

I use seafoam and MMO in my fuel fairly often during our season and make sure to have seafoam mixed in the fuel for storage. I don't start the engine over it's winter hibernation and keep my battery on a tender most of the time while she sleeps. It starts every spring on the 4th or 5th revolution.
Could be bad batch of supreme gas. Unlikely there's ethanol in the fuel, but you never know.

Try some starter fluid through the front air intake and see if it wants to start.

Good luck....
 
The little I know is two st didn’t start because of old batteries even though they were cranking over , one was in a Honda dealer on a bike I was looking to buy , the other was on a bike I bought on my first ride bike stalled while riding heated seat & grips were on, after sitting waiting for my daughter with my trailer the bike started when I got home I got a new battery after that I could run with the heated grips heated seat and it never gave me any more trouble, in the first bike that wouldn’t start the honda mechanic told me they need a good battery sometimes they won’t start with a bad battery. Just my two cents
 
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