Choke on a ZS 250 GS?

[TheBeege]

So was gonna swap out the oil. Been out of the country for a bit. Tried to start'er up, and no dice. Haven't needed a choke, but it's starting to get colder... Where is the choke? I can't find a lever. There's a pull thing just below the dash. Tried playing with that, but no dice. Tried looking down where the throttle line goes, and I couldn't find a choke lever down there.

Mebeh I'm just blind?

[TheBeege]

Did some reading at http://www.dansmc.com/starter.htm. I couldn't quite tell if the carb uses an enriching circuit or a float plunger. It looks to me like an enriching circuit.

I full opened the throttle and did two kicks to clean it out, then I held the plunger all the way out and kicked without any throttle. Still no dice.

I tried holding the plunger for a few seconds, releasing it, opening the throttle by 1/4-ish, and kicking - no luck that way either.

Thoughts?

[SpudRider]

Do you have a lever on, or near the left handlebar? Please post a photograph of the left side of your carburetor. If you have a Teikei carb, I can probably answer your questions. ;)

[TheBeege]

No lever on or near the left handlebar.

Here's the carburetor: http://imgur.com/a/aFPAn

Left handlebar: http://i.imgur.com/AbWPyCl.jpg
Right handlebar, for kicks: http://i.imgur.com/GS4rfn5.jpg
Dashboard with the plunger thing below/between the two left dials: http://i.imgur.com/janASre.jpg

[SpudRider]

I appears to me you do have a Teikei carburetor. The enricher circuit is controlled by the cable entering the carburetor at the top, and front of the carb. The knob controller the enricher is shown in your last photograph. ;)

[TheBeege]

So, per Dan's MC, do this?

"Turn on the ignition and fuel, pull the enriching lever or plunger, leave the throttle closed, and hit the starter button or kick start the engine."

[SpudRider]

Yes, Dan gave you the correct procedure. If that doesn't work, you need to troubleshoot the ignition problem. How long were you gone? Did you leave the fuel petcock turned on? Maybe the gas went stale. Maybe the fuel gunked up the jets in the carburetor, et cetera. There are many potential reasons why your bike won't start after a period of time sitting idle. ;)

[TheBeege]

Ahh, I did leave the petcock on. I was gone for a week.

Does that mean I need to clean out the carb, drain all the gas, refill, and try again? - assuming playing with the enricher circuit doesn't work.

[SpudRider]

I suggest you drain the float bowl of the carburetor, refill the float bowl, and try Dan's procedure. If that doesn't work, then you must start to troubleshoot the problem. Always start with the simplest solutions. ;)

If the bike still won't start, the problem must be related to one of four areas.

1) Fuel
2) Spark
3) Air
4) Compression

[Weldangrind]

It can just be a simple battery issue. If the battery gets low, there isn't enough energy for the CDI. An hour on a battery charger might help.

You might be able to compensate for a low battery by bump-starting the bike. Find a street with a slight downward slope, turn the key on, place the bike in neutral and roll down the street. Once you're moving at a good pace, pull the clutch in, kick the bike into second and let the clutch out. It should fire right up if everything else is ok. If the wheel locks up, try again, but use third gear instead of second.

[SpudRider]

As usual, Weld offers excellent advice. :) Always try the simple solutions, and use the proper test procedures before you start a difficult job which might not fix the problem. ;)

I believe the ZS250GS employs the same AC-CDI unit as my ZS200GY-2. However, if the battery is going dead, it certainly won't have enough energy to turn the starter motor fast enough. If you don't have a digital multimeter, I suggest you get one, and test the battery voltage. ;)

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=digital+multimeter

Although it isn't the greatest, the HF multimeter will diagnose a bad battery. You can frequently get of of these multimeters for free with a coupon. ;)