Suzuki 2 Strokes

I am new to 2 strokes. Having trouble starting my bike. I have good spark, timing and compression. Cleaned the carbs and adjusted per manual.
I think I am flooding the engine. Perhaps I dont know the proper startup procedure. Also is the carb choked when the lever is pushed down or up?

Hi, I don't know about the 500's but my GT380 is lever up for choke and press down for normal running. I tend to find mine will start easiest if I pull the choke lever up and kick it over using no throttle at all until it fires up. This way the plugs are less likely to get soaked in fuel. Also it can depend on the condition of the battery charge. I can try and start mine all day but if the battery is low there's no chance of it starting.

Choke lever pushed down turns on the choke (lifts plungers up) for starting the bike.

Ignition key turned one click is the run position. 2 ckicks is parking (tailight only).

Be sure that the spark plug wires are on the correct cylinders (don't ask how I know). It isn't obvious from looking at the coil, as sometimes the wires cross, sometimes not (depending how the coil was mounted).

Gas is getting to carbs? Turning the petcock to PRI (prime) for 30 seconds should fill the carb bowls.

"Cleaned the carbs". How? If the bike sat for years, usually a full disassembly and thourough cleaning is needed. Attacking it with a can of carb cleanner won't cut it - too many small passageways get plugged up.

I definitely cleaned the carbs. Disassembled and flushed every opening. removed jets....
I think I am flooding it. I am used to starting my honda and tend to give too much throttle. I was confused with which way the choke goes.
battery is new and strong. I will double check spark plug cables.
Thanks

The "choke" on the T500 (Mukini VM carbs) isn't really a choke - it is an enriching circuit.

Most properly tuned 2-strokes shouldn't need any throttle to start. Both that I've owned will start on the second kick when cold, first kick when warm. No throttle required, though you sometimes need to give it a little throttle between when the bike is too warm for the choke, but not fully warmed up (especially if you adjust the idle speed on the low side - ~1200 RPM when warm).

Keep your hand off the throttle when kicking it, and see if that changes anything.

still no go.
Fuel is definitely in the bowls. ( opened the drain screws).
I am confident that i cleaned the carbs correctly.
Air screw open 1 1/2
***Unsure what i should open the idle screw to.
rechecked the timing and point gap.
***I am assuming that the point that is on the right (as you face point plate) is for the right spark plug and the point on the left is for the left spark plug. Is that true?
battery fully charged.
Spark is real strong.

double checked that the carb slide has wider opening to the back.
Anything else?
if still no go then I will pull carbs and clean and adjust them again.

I notice after kicking over and over... gas is coming out the exhaust header/muffler joint

qsidevet wrote: I notice after kicking over and over... gas is coming out the exhaust header/muffler joint

Then it is definitely flooded. But why? That's the question to resolve. It will likely never start in that condition, so it is time to dry things out, and figure out why/how it got to this condition.

What year bike is it? Early bikes have vents which go to the intake. Later bikes have external carb vents.

Carb floats set to the correct height, and in the correct manner (need to tilt carb so float just sits on the float needle. Don't hold it flat).

What condition were the float needles in when you cleaned the carbs?

I am going to pull the carbs and check it out again. I replaced the floats because the old ones were waterlogged. The needles were functioning well. I did set the float height as you described. I am going to reclean the whole carbs. I bet I missed something. It has to be the carb. everything else checks out. I will report back

Ok I took off the carbs and recleaned and adjusted them. They seemed fine. I am unsure how high to set the idle screw. At this point it is just touching the slide... not lifting it at all. Slide cutout towards air filter
Timing is right on. Correct spark plugs for each point
Still wont fire up. Not even a pop. I think its time to let the bike sit a little and grab another project. Unless someone has an idea I need to think about this a little.

Try the plug leads on the other plugs - leftt/right swap 'just in case'.
Also try a small squirt of easy start into the carbs.
In my experience, a 2 stroke always needs choke from cold, but it sounds like your carbs are flooding, check that there isn't fuel in the crankcases or you could damage pistons and rods.

I recommended a few posts back that he check that the spark plug wires are on the correct plugs. It is an easy thing to mess up, especially if you have been doing a lot of work on the bike. No feedback if it was checked.

I asked about the model year, both to determine if it has early homo-pressure carbs and the crankcase drain screws. The early carbs vent to the intake, instead of to the garage floor. Combine that with a leaky petcock and worn float needles, you can put quite a large amount of fuel in the crankcase. Early models have the drain bolts (I think later models don't?).

Difficult to troubleshoot things from the keyboard without feedback.

ITS A '72
Yes i tried swapping the spark plug caps even though I know they are on the correct plugs... just in case.

72 has the early style carbs. Those carbs do not have external vents - they vent to the intake side of the carb. Suzuki thought by doing this, they could use intake vacuum to affect the pressure in the float bowl, and vary the flow through the needle jet.

The only (well, one of the) problem(s) is, if the petcock leaks by (which old ones tend to do) and the float needle/seat doesn't seal well when closed -- Gas flows though the carbs, and fills up the lower crankcase. Been there. Wife complains that the garage smells of gasoline.

Fortunately, the 72 also has drain plugs for the lower crankcase for each cylinder. I drained about 4oz (~a teacup) of fuel from each cylinder. (then installed original Mikuni parts - but that's another story.

Dangerous to start a motor with that amount (or even less) fluid in the crankcase - you can hydro-lock the motor. Bends/breaks things.

I would pull those drain plugs, and see what, if anything comes out (probably want a drain pan under the bike). If it is wet down there, leave those plugs out, pull the spark plugs, and kick it some. Let it air, kick it some more, until things dry out. Put it all back together, and try starting again. And check your fuel system (petcock).

any pic of the drain plugs? are they the square nuts under the crankcase?

Sorry no square bolts. All look like 14mm. Would they be in front or behind the long engine mounting bolt?