Battery could be not able to put out enough volts to fire the coils. Does the bike seem to be turning over slower than it should when you try to start it?

Carbs probably need a cleaning, but what do you have to lose with the Seafoam bit? Might check out the inside of the tank first for rust.

opcorn:

might check in with this forum too: http://www.gz250bike.com/forum/index.php?

 

If its only been three or four months, but the battery on a charger put a gallon of fresh fuel in and give is a whirl. I think you will find that it should spin over and start. Once that is done, run some carb cleaner through the engine.

Note, if you battery only reads about 12V or less, you may have a dead cell and "may" need to replace the battery. But first charge it up and see. In the past, I have let my GSXR's sit for months while I am on travel. If I forgot the tender...nada till it was recharged.

 

This.

My Ninja wouldn't start after not riding a couple months last year. I had to use seafoam to start it. Plus, once the battery goes past a certain point on the 'alive' scale, it won't recharge on the tender...

 

I would try bump starting it...

 

Test the battery first. Doubt the fuel has turned to varnish after only 4 months.

 

There most likely isn't really any damage which needs to be repaired (if it's only been sitting since last season). I had a little 50 which sat in my garage for a couple years and the gas corroded, and I ended up replacing some lines and shit.. but your not in that boat.

Pretty much what everyone else has said..

1. charge battery/replace battery
2. drain the bowl (carb)
3. pull air filter
4. open throttle all the way and give a shot of starting fluid in through the airbox
5. close throttle and turn over

It will fire, and the starting fluid will burn off.. Sometimes you have to do this a couple times before fresh gas gets through the system. So don't put the air filter back on till it's fired and ran for a minute or two.

My bikes batteries end up dying all the time... I have battery tenders but inevitably with the cold weather, one will end up dying..

I've repeated this process for the last 30 yrs. Never fails.

 

you are really putting the cart before the horse here.

start with the battery. charge it and if, on the off chance, it doesn't work, come back to us.

 

+1 on the battery. From what I've experienced, M/C batteries don't do well after they've been deep discharged. Basically they just won't hold a charge if any at all.

Once you have a fully charged battery, try draining the fule bowl on the carb and give it a go. Should start.

Was the bike stored in a heated space or outside? Depending on the fuel level when it was parked you may want to drain the tank. If it was anywhere less then full you could have gotten some condensation build up which equates to water in the fuel. It's less likely if the bike was kept in a place with a more constant temp. (i.e. inside a garage that is heated.)

 

sitting 3-4 months shouldnt be a problem. charge up the battery and go!

 

Just charge up the battery and she should be good to go... it isn't that big of a deal. Check the tires to make suer theres no flat spots... UNLESS the bike has been left outside... LOL.

I've seen a buddy who left his bike outside for 1 month while he was out on business. Lets just say that leather doesn't like being outside for 1+ month../

 

Thanks everyone! I've got a portable battery that will start a car and my tender which I can loan. I haven't gotten a chance to take a close look yet since I'm traveling, but I was always going to start with that.

I'm glad to hear there *probably* isn't any real damage though. A battery is easy and fairly cheap compared to a carburetor or rusty gas tank, so hopefully thats all.

I'll post up when I get a chance to take a look!

 

Put it on a battery tender, charge it up, and start her up. I haven't had any issues with my GZ250 sitting for the winter. Of course I do have it garaged and try to go out and start it up once a month just to keep some life in her.

 

Charge the battery on 2 amp (nothing bigger) charger. If the battery takes a charge great. Drain old gas out of bike. It's got the nastey E-10 crap in it. Drain the carb's float bowl.
Add new E-FREE gas. (Conoco sells it). ADD Fuel STABILIZER to the tank prior to filling. This keeps the new gas from going bad. (you don't want to be doing this again this spring, right)?
If the battery won't charge. Your at a cross road. Do you A) buy a new battery and leave it on a 'Battery Tender' all winter or B) wait until spring.
In some cases after attempting to start the bike with old gas and a weak bettery the spark plug can become 'gas fouled'. A new plug can be installed to replace the fouled old plug. You may want to do this anyway depending on the age of the plug now in the bike. Ok, now you have a fresh tank of 'treated' fuel (gas stabilizer added).
A charged or new battery and a fresh plug.
Start it like you would any other time. Choke, and hit the button. Let the bike warm completely and 'take it for a ride'. This circulates the new 'Stabilized' gas through the fuel system. It also warms the engine. Making hot enough to burn off the unburned gas and water in the bikes oil. Circulates the oil and helps keep the engines oil seals alive.
The 'owners manual has a service menu. It tells the owner when to do maintance.
(You don't need 'starter fluid'). it is hard on engines.

 

The only thing I can add to the great advice James gave you is the following...

If the battery does take a charge, I would take it to the local auto parts store and have them load test it....I had a battery in an old drz that would charge up but not hold a charge for what every reason...By doing that you can 100% rule the battery good or bad...

my 2 cents

Dan

 

I agree with the over thinking this. Seriously doubt there is a problem with the bike or the fuel in it in that short amount of time. Am going to work on starting a bike today that has been sitting for over a year and fully expect it to start and run fine on the fuel that is in it. It was NON Ethanol fuel however. Your bike probably has a vacuum fuel petcock as well and will need to get some vacuum built up by cranking a bit to get fuel flowing from the tank. IF you are mechanically inclined there are ways to put just a bit of gas into it to get it to start quicker as well. Don't borrow trouble. Get it running first to see if there is an issue but DO check the tank for rust and put in an in line filter if there is. I have purchased MANY bikes that were torn down for some reason but not put back together again... Best of luck!

 

I would NEVER spray carb cleaner in the back of the carb running or not. All that will do is strip all the oil from the cylinder walls and be very hard on the piston and rings. It will not do anything to help clean the jets in the carb. Maybe the throttle butterfly, intake manifold or valves might get a little cleaner but they don't need it. You must disassemble the carb to spray cleaner directly into each jet if they really need cleaning from solidified fuel. Most likely they do not need anything from just 4 months of sitting.

Starting fluid is also very hard on things and I would not recommend it. With a good battery, spark and gas it should start fine without it.

If the gas smells like gas and not varnish it should run the bike. If you want you could dip a paper towel in the tank to soak a LITTLE amount gas on the end. Take it it to a safe place outside and toss a match at it. If the gas will poof, it will run a bike. Really though this ******* fun is not needed as 4 months is not enough to ruin the gas.

Charge it start it ride it.

 

So im the friend - appreciative of this post!
Update on my moto... Charged the battery successfully but bike still won't start (just turns over). Plan to meet w ex's uncle on Sat - he's a mechanic. He thinks the carb needs to be flushed. In the meantime I'm going to drain and replace the fuel.
Fingers crossed. I really want to ride soon!

 

So im the friend - appreciative of this post!
... I really want to ride soon!

And we hope to meet you!

 

Sooo we drained some bad fuel out of the bike, charged up the battery and were able to get her running. She runs fine, but if she sits for more than 8 hours or so outside (I live in an apartment w/o a garage), she doesn't have enough battery power to get started again. If I stick on a trickle charger for a few minutes, she starts up. So if I have to store my bike outside in an avg 32 degree F temperature, do I need to take my battery off and put it on a tender inside whenever I'm not riding? Or is there something wrong with my battery? I didn't have this problem over the summer. I know when the engine's cold it takes more battery power to start.

 

Take the battery out if your not riding it. Put it inside on a 'Battery Tender'.
A Tender is a battery charger, with a brain. It will charge then, monitor the battery. When the battery charge gets low, the 'Tender' part kicks in and charges the battery automatically.
Also, just starting and letting the bike sit and not warm-up is hard on the battery and engine. Start it. Ride it for 10 miles or so.
If it was mine, I'd pull the battery and keep it indoors.
Add 'Stabilizer' to your fuel, ride the bike then, pull the battery.

 

Thats normal. Try leaving the key on(headlights on)for 30 seconds before tryimg to start. Also the if i remember correctly the ninja battery was tiny and had like 95 cold cranking amps

 

Yay! Hey Audrey! I was going to come back and put that up here. Glad to see you got to it first