Old fuel?

[smeagol]

Love my bike (CBR600F), but only get to ride it at weekends esp with nights drawing in. I have noticed that the bike takes several attempts to start the first time in the morning (after the week doing nothing). Once run however, even if the bike is cold later on that day its absolutly fine ie starts first time no problems. When its running and warm its real smooth and sounds wonderful.

So I called into my dealer today and asked if I was doing anything wrong and they said that it was probably "old fuel" in the carb and it takes several attempts to get the fuel from the tank into the carb and thats why its hard to start.

I'm thinking this is bull, I have heard that condensation can occur inside the bike causing problems and I think this is more likely or that the float chamber (if a bike has one) drys/evaporates.

Is the bloke feeding me bull? or have you lot experienced the same thing? Is there any advice you can give to get it to start better.

[GreenV8S]

I think the 'old fuel' line works for lawnmowers that get left standing for six months, but can't see how this applies to something ridden every weekend. I suspect you're on the money with the condensation thing.

[stooz]

the carbs may be dirty-- from old fuel, you can get carb clean to blast thru them, or strip them out and clean with alchohol.

more likely the fuel is just taking a while to get thru, as it will slowly evaporate.
fuel will go off eventually but 3 months is more liekly a conern

[rumpelstiltskin]

Another thing to try,with the nights colder now theres only one car i had bother with this was a Beetle i restored.The carbs on cold nights would ice up,a small heater jacket was made to put around carb all the time and it would heat up from a connection on the choke.Where do you keep the bike?If its garaged just for the hell of it put a heater in beside the bike for say one night,then see if it starts ok in the morning,if it starts then its carb-icing,also makes sense that your bike starts ok if you've started it that day,engine gets colder at nights,rather than during the day when you've started it already,worth a try!

>> Edited by rumpelstiltskin on Tuesday 21st October 12:19

[toad_oftoadhall]

If it's not fuel injected the fuel can evaporate fomr the carbs.

Your symptoms are nothing to worry about.

[smeagol]

Thanks for all the replies. I will try a blanket on my baby and see if thet helps. Thought the old fuel didn't sound right.

[Pigeon]

Fuel can evaporate from the carbs; the more volatile parts of the fuel will evaporate more rapidly than the rest so what remains behind is not very volatile and unduly hard to ignite. I'm surprised it's having an effect in such a short timescale though. You could try turning the fuel tap off and leaving the bike ticking over until it conks out, when you park it up, so the float chambers are emptied and can get a full load of clean fuel when you turn the tap back on next weekend.