I have a 2005 ex500 and I am having trouble starting the motorcycle. It has been too cold/icey to drive for about a month and I try to start my bike periodically and run it for a while instead of winterizing it because (im in NE) the weather can go from 10 degrees to 50 degrees in 24 hours.

so needless to say i have a lot of random winter driving days.

but i attempted to start the bike, and instead of starting up, it has a very loud and repeating clicking sound when i push the starter.

im thinking maybe the bike is flooded? i stupidly had the choke on and res tank on while it was sitting, and last week changed the tank valve back to off and took the choke off.

or possibly im having starter probs?? the same thing happened one day when i ran out of gas (the starter problem). i added some gas, and about 10 mins later it started up again.

or maybe its a lack of gas?? AHHHHHHHH somebody please give me some advice. i stored the bike for about 2 months of random starts last year and had zero problems like this.

 

It sounds to me like nothing more than a drained battery. In this cold weather, your battery can discharge up to 1% of it's capacity per day. once the battery charge level gets down to a certain point, it will only have enough power to make the starter solenoid 'click'.
Instead of starting it all the time for short periods which is not all that great for your engine, just keep an automatic battery maintainer on your bike and throw in a little bit of gas stabilizer. You'll still be able to ride it on the good days, and you won't have to worry about constantly starting it.

Good luck, and welcome to KF!

 

^ good post.
If the ride was flooded, wfo the throttle on initial startup, then bring it back down to idle.

edit: Just to see if it starts that is.

 

just to clear it up, does wfo mean wide f***king open?

 

WFO = Wound Flat Out (or in red-neck dirt-bike circles Wound the **** Out).

Mark's advice is spot-on and the only thing I can add is that random-starts (without actually going for a ride of 10-miles or more) are much worse for your bike than winterizing. Get a battery tender (they're less than $30), try to use-up all the gas in your tank on the last ride of the season, then switch the petcock to OFF and run the engine until the carbs are out of gas. This will prevent the build-up of varnish, etc. that will gum up your float bowls & jets, necessitating a carb rebuild (and possibly introducing other problems.)

Also, if the engine is not running, it doesn't matter if you have the petcock on RES and the choke on (or if you twist the throttle all the way open.) Those things only affect the flow of fuel when the engine is running.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!
-Chris in Carlsbad, CA

 

Does the carb have an accelerator pump? If it does then twisting the throttle all the way would give a quick squirt of fuel even while off. ButI wouldnt think it is flooded, sounds like the battery to me.

 

Nope, these carbs do not have them. My Harley Sportster did and it would squirt a little jet of gas into the throats, even with the engine off. But that one carb had to feed two big (inefficient) cylinders.

And as a clarification to Dragone's advice; to clear a flooded engine:
~disengage the choke (push the lever forward)
~twist the throttle all the way back (WFO)
~crank the starter for 3-5 seconds (keeping your cat-like reflexes ready to release (close) the throttle if the engine catches and starts!)

If your engine is flooded/the plugs are fouled, you need to introduce some fresh (lean) air into the chambers to carry away the excess fuel (rich) condition. This is why you close the enrichener and open the throttle's butterfly valves all the way.
-Chris in C'bad, CA

 

Thanks for the clarification calamarichris, nice job on the explaination.

 

You could also put some fuel stabilizer in there as well. It's not that expensive if you use it 2 - 3 times a winter. Where in NE are you? I'm in CT...It's been freakin cold lately