Suzuki 2 Strokes

What is the proper torque for the GT250 crank drain bolts?
(Sorry for the amateur mechanic question.)

The battery died on my 73 GT250. Had to nurse the bike home.
Afterwords the plugs looked bad with one of them really bad.

With another battery & new plugs, the bike doesn't want to kick start. Checked the spark & both look good.
Bike was running great prior to this, so I'm thinking maybe the bike is badly flooded & I should drain the lower end.

Took the old battery out of the bike, charged it up & let it set overnight. Didn't retain enough charge to light the neutral bulb with the lights off so its definitely shot.

Have answer on crank drain bolts - the bike doesn't have them. Rats.

Have new battery & new plugs.
Now bike doesn't want to kick start. Will bump start but doesn't want to run below at low rpm.
Before the bad battery it started easily & ran great.

Any suggestions?

Might try a different battery. I say this because I bought a new Parts Unlimited lead acid battery. It died less than 3 weeks after filling it. It would show a full charge, but if you left your volt meter attached, you could stand there and watch the voltage disappear. Down to 9 volts in about 4 minutes. Totally dead in about an hour.

Doesn't kick start with a new fully-charged battery & new plugs. Didn't bump start on the small hill on my street.
Unwilling to try bump starting it on the big hill -- its way too hot to have to push it back up the hill.

Also noticed that kick starting doesn't draw enough vacuum to operate the petcock. (Its a Pingel vacuum petcock.)
Switched tanks out with the T350, which has a stock petcock. That didn't help even when I used prime.

Bike ran great & started easily before the bad battery. Am now cringing at the potential issues.

The bike has a single choke mechanism -- its on the left carb & feeds both carbs.
So maybe its issue on only the left side. Might help explain why it didn't bump start.

Any suggestions?

IMO before starting to throw money at it aimlessly, do what you started to do, interchange parts from your T350. Next thing I would interchange is the coil (if they're interchangeable). The spark you see might be erractic. Also can you somehow rig up a tank without the vacuum petcock, say one from a lawn mower?

Thanks for the suggestions.

Checked the spark when I put the new plugs in & both looked good.

I tired the T350 tank with the petcock set to prime.
Have clear inline fuel filters so I could see that fuel did flow to the carbs.
Tried bump starting this config with no success on the little hill.

I would do this then (I hate to spend money aimlessly on parts that could/could not be the problem)

1- Compression test
2- Ohm out the entire wiring harness with a meter. Check for continuity and resistance as the schematic dictates.

These won't cost you anything but time assuming you have the tools.

I do have a suggestion for draining the bottom end but it would be a royal pain.

Thanks for the suggestions.

I had checked the voltage at the open points.
Voltage drop from battery to open points is about 1V. Have approx. the same reading for both points. (When one point is open, the other is closed.)

Would there be any benefit in trying to get the bike running with the air filter removed?

If it's flooded. it will need lots of air and no more fuel. Best technique is Throttle Wide open, kick like mad until it fires and clears its throat.

jabcb wrote:Would there be any benefit in trying to get the bike running with the air filter removed?

Other than what TZ posted about getting more air, inspect the element for excessive dirt and see if it's saturated with gas.

Thanks for the tips.

Took the air filter assembly off.

You might be right about the air filter being saturated with gas. Could see some new residue from gas on the air filter side of the left carb. Right carb didn't have any. Was able to wipe the residue off.

Will check condition of the filter. Its a paper filter. Would it be ruined if its saturated with gas?

jabcb wrote:Will check condition of the filter. Its a paper filter. Would it be ruined if its saturated with gas?

Normally I would say yes but I'm sure it's a filter that's not easy to come by. Since we're having this heat wave, go let it bake out in the sun for a couple of hours and see if it helps to get the bike started. I still would recommend replacing it though, maybe there's a foam equivalent available?