77 shovel ran well last week. Went to start it yesterday and it cranked right up however I couldn't keep it running long enough for it to get warmed up. It didn't want to stay running even with the enricher open and giving the throttle a few twists as it started to die. Now I can not get it to start up at all. Tanks have gas, petcock is open, switch is in run position. Engine cranks strong as I have a brand new battery. Plugs are brand new and gapped correctly. I checked for spark and get a strong spark. I can spray starting fluid into the carb and it will fire up for about 1 second and die right away. Only thing I can think of is to give the carb a good cleaning. Maybe it sucked something up? Anything else I should try? Odd that it ran so well last week. Thanks!

 

did you wash the bike ? could be water in the carb...undo the drain plug on the bowl and see what you have in there

 

No, have not washed anything on it. I did take the bowl off and check the jets. I did not see anything obstructing them but did see some sediment in the bottom of the bowl.

 

Does it keep running if you keep giving it burst of starting fluid? What kind of petcock, vacumn or standard? Have you pulled the fuel line off the carb to ensure you have flow?

 

blocked pilot jet ?

 

No it doesnt seem to want to continue to run with more starting fluid oddly. It's almost as though as soon as the butterfly closes, it dies. Like it's completely suffocating. It is a standard peacock as far as I know. I did pull the fuel line and there was fuel flowing.

 

Take a look down the carb throat while cranking and twist the throttle to see if the accelerator pump shoots some fuel in. Careful, if it backfires you might singe your eyebrows.

 

The intake manifold is the first place to go looking when that happens - pull it all off re seal and re install and then see what happens

 

yes I did notice that fuel was shooting into the carb from the accelerator pump. Eyebrows are still in tact.

 

Usually takes longer then a week for this but any chance your exhaust is plugged. Like mice filling it with dog food or something