Bulut and The Alp that doesn"t Fire Up!

Hello everyone, Bulut here from Eindhoven, a new member and a recent Transalp 94' owner! Glad to be among fellow Honda riders and thanks everyone for the contribution to forum it helped me a lot since the day one...

I have a question for you all with a little bit of background info, thanks in advance for the patience to read

I got my Alp in October 2023 at 90000km on the clock, during the first ride (approx 100km) to my home I noticed that it has a jerky feeling on the road and also running only on choke. The next day I took it for a ride to get a better feeling but on the highway it stalled. I pullover wait 10 min it started again. Run for a km then it stalled again whenever I tried to open the throttle. I was 3 km away from my home so by stalling-waiting-starting again I managed to be back at home.

After a bit search at the forum;
- Cleaned the carbs with carb cleaner, installed new jets
- Flush the tank put fresh benzine
- New chain and sprockets
- New tires

It started just ok! I take it for a test ride, with new chains and sprockets that jerky feeling was gone, throttle response and everything seems ok. I headed for the highway to see at higher speeds but around 70 km/h I lost the power suddenly and it stalled again. So same story back to home by start on choke -- ride 300-500 m - stall again - wait etc... Motorcycle lay down at the garage for 2 months till I get a new CDI.

More search at forum the,
- New CDI from ignitech
- New spark plugs

Fired up ok! I kept it running for 10 min rev it up to 5000 no problem, idle around 1300 perfect. Just with a little bit of backfiring and a fluid (assume benzine) coming out of exhaust. Probably because of air/fuel mixture was too rich... Anyway I took it for a test ride but soon I opened the throttle it stalled again... So back to garage...

Further trouble shooting at forum,
-Flush the tank fresh benzine with benzine stabilizer
- Re clean the carb with ultrasonic cleaner this time even it was shining
- New battery installed, get rid of any additional loads like 12V output, heated hand grips etc.
- New air filter installed
- Check the fuel hose --> clean
- Petcock disassembled --> clean
- Fuel vacuum hose checked --> operational
- Spark plugs checked --> I have spark
- Compression hand checked seems ok
- Engine is cranking

yet not firing up...

Hope you have some more ideas that I can follow. Thanks in advance and hope to meet on a nice spring ride

Did you check the membranes from the carb?

The only unlogical insuline is the fluïde from the exhaust I think.

Thanks for the recommendation!

Yes I checked and membranes working properly no cracks no holes.

Fuel/air mixture screw was on 3 1/2 setting when I bought it and I kept it on that level during my first carb cleaning. I thought that might be the reason for liquid coming out of exhaust? That is why now I’m back to original setting 1 3/4 turn.

Hi Rob,

Thanks for the tips!

Yes the main switch is on, side stand up motorcycle is on center stand, clutch in. It's cranking but not firing up.

Just checked the vacuum hose but no fuel odor or any sign of liquid flow.

Fuel cap closed arrow point forward.

Could that be a valve clearance issue or what else I could check? Otherwise it'll be a back on the trail ride soon to Alphen aan den Rijn

True that, Hayness manual doesn't made me a pro magically! I might be missing something, apparently I am...

You might check the igintion by using a stroboscope

Check, clean, and lubricate all electric connections under fuel tank and saddle.

Thanks Alaind and Edxrx,

Today seems like a good saturday to dive into electrical system then!

I’ll share the updates…

Sticky float? don't know if you changed the rubber, maybe the rubber on the needle

Agree, Bulut, check the fuses, especially the 10A Fan. (With a multimeter! I had similar problems with my AT, turn out it was caused by a faulty fuse, not visible).

Ron

It's alive!!!

Thank you all for the ideas.

I replace the engine oil,checked the battery, all fuses, measured the ignition coils and pick up coil as well... All turned out fine within the specified range but still not starting...

Then even though I had checked the fuel petcock before and it was working I removed the tank to make sure of fuel supply to engine. Made a dummy fuel tank with a new fuel hose and voila it fired up!!!

Now repair/replace the petcock and take it fore a test ride hopefully this weekend. Fingers crossed

I've got about the same problem with a Dominator NX250. I guess the idle jet/ float bowl is blocked , I will hopefully do some exprimenting tomorrow.

Edit: problem found, choke cable had come loose

Great to hear that you figured that out quickly Edxrv!

I got a further question. I checked my fuel petcock, it operates ok, no leakage no blockage. However, I connected it to the motorcycle this evening and the engine noise change it started to sound like bogged and benzine started to come out of exhaust again.

I shut off the engine immediately. Remove the original tank connected the dummy again and the bogged noise get lost, no benzine out of exhaust any more everything turned back to normal I let it run for 10 min with no issues.

My question here is if any of you every encounter a similar issue with the petcock/fuel tank, if so what might be a solution?

Thanks Rob, I checked it after reading your previous message but vacuum hose seems dry and no smell of gasoline…

But lets say to eliminate that option, replacing the vacuum operated petcock with a gravity operated manual one could be a solution?

Yes Rob, I sucked the vacuum line to see if diaphram operates correctly and actually it seems working just fine. When vacuum —> flow , when no vacuum —> cut the fuel.

But I just disassambled the petcock anyway again and take the spring from vacuum side and put it to the other side of the diaphram… So convert mt petcock to manual so the speak… At least we can check if the vacuum line is guilty!

I’ll give it a try during lunch time and will share the updates.