Ninja 2011 250R wont stay running without choke after first winterizing

J

jedininja

Well-known member
Hey guys I hope you can shed some light on my issue....so I winterized my new Ninja with stabil and 91 octane gas...I rode the bike for 10 mins before putting it way.
BTW the battery was on a tender all winter..this morning I decided to hook everything up and fired up the bike...it starts up with full choke but then shuts off if I turn the choke off...I dont think its because the engine is cold because I did let it run on half choke for 15 mins. What did I do wrong? I saw the sticky posted by Kneedragger and have a feeling I might have the same issue. What do you guys think? should I bother draining the gas tank and putting new gas in?
 
change your spark plugs?! might have flooded and gotten ruined. if you pull them out with the tool if the tip is all black and grimey then there's your problem!
 
I didnt think I needed to change anything since the bike is brand new its only got 800kms on it...I will check the spark plugs and post my results.
 
jedininja said:
I didnt think I needed to change anything since the bike is brand new its only got 800kms on it...I will check the spark plugs and post my results.
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yeah i kno when i got my ninja it only had 900 kms on it and wouldnt fire up after sitting for a while, and found out it was fouled spark plugs. after the change all was perfect again.
 
Needs choke on - for some reason you need to keep the fuel rich to keep the engine running. Checking spark plugs can't hurt but I'd try to find out why you can't get enough good gas to the engine. Try draining some of the gas sitting at the bottom of the tank and the carbs. maybe also some water remover into the tank as well. That always works for me. Adjusting the idle screw to play with your mixture maybe - but need to clear the clog first whether be just bad gas or other. Then I'd do more stuff like spark plugs and fuel filter. It's a new bike spark plugs and filter should be good.
 
well my 250 dont like cold weather and if choke is not on engine will stop and even if i try to give it some gas while on full choke engine will still stop, but only till it engine or carbs warm up. afther that there is no problems
 
sxr said:
well my 250 dont like cold weather and if choke is not on engine will stop and even if i try to give it some gas while on full choke engine will still stop, but only till it engine or carbs warm up. afther that there is no problems
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Same with mine.
 
You followed all the proper advice for winterizing your bike. The low kilometers on the plugs rules out the plugs as being defective. It is possible that they are fouled by an overly rich running mixture and will need cleaning. Did you drain the carb float bowls when you winterized? If not, it is possible that the pilot jets are dirty from gas that evaporated and left behind residue. I would suggest the following steps:

1. remove spark plugs and clean if dirty
2. perform a quick carb cleaning

HTH.
 
Im going to guess your carbs werent drained and they are clogged its a easy and cheap fix. Grab some carb cleaner and open up the bottom and remove the jets and let em sit in carb cleaner over night.
 
You guys are right I did not drain the carbs or float bowls...I'm not handy so I thought I cud get away without doing this...I'm gng to try using motul fuel system clean and some new gas first to see if that does the trick first...if not I'll get it checked by someone...it's still under warranty so I'm wondering if the dealer will fix for free.
 
Do not touch it, or take anything apart if it is under warranty, take it ot the dealer it is their problem.
 
Do you put the choke on all the way every time? If you crank that lever all the way up every single time you start your bike...even if it only has 800 kms, your spark plugs could already be fouled. For this reason, I only use as little choke as I need. And as scuba steve said, if it's still covered, let the dealer do the work.

Carb/float bowls probably wouldn't be it. It's way too early in the bike's life. Plenty of people don't drain them and they're still fine.
 
Yes I do have the choke on all the way otherwise the bike wont even start up.
I will call Kahuna today to find out when I can bring it in...ill let u know the results once they find out...thanks guys:)
 
I think you'd have a hard time getting a warranty claim through if the bike was stored incorrectly. Just make sure you verify the coverage and put all of your cards on the table if you go to a dealer before they do work or you might get an unexpected bill when they say your floats were dirty due to user error, not a mechanical defect.

Scuba Steve said:
Do not touch it, or take anything apart if it is under warranty, take it ot the dealer it is their problem.
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Yeah your warranty is for broken stuff. Your bikes not broken just not taken care of properly, they will probably tell you to bend over and pay for carb cleaning
 
You guys might be right...I called the dealer and was told that they would need to check first to see if it can be covered or not under warranty...whts interesting is I stored the bike according to their instructions...filled the tank with stabil and full tank of gas and then put the battery on a tender...I read in the forums that a lot of people were storing their bikes this way and did not need to drain the carbs.
They said it was okay to ride the bike with the choke on to their store..but I dont know. Kneedragger has a sticky going on for this particular issue...I might just contact him instead.
 
Just curious, after you started the bike and let it idle for 15 minutes, did you take it for a ride ? to really warm it up, it wouldn't have to be a long ride, around the block a few times, shift a few gears, get the rpm's up a bit, then come back to the house park it and see if she will idle.

and if there is any water in the tank, or gunge in the carbs/float bowls, get some gas line antifreeze, small bottle pour into the tank, slosh it around and, fire up the bike, let it run for a bit, it's something we do with our snowmobile's and works everytime after sitting for the summer...
 
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Hey Gatekeeper...no I havent tried that yet...I will give that a shot today when I get home from work. Question for you guys...is my winterizing process correct? stabil with full tank of gas and put the battery on a tender? am I always required to empty the float bowls and carbs?
 
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