Well last night it was about 40 degrees and had rained on and off all day (I had my bike outside and uncovered). I went to start my dr200 and it started kind of hard. I warmed it up on full choke and then took off no choke. I didn't think much of the hard start and went to where I was going, then when I got there the bike was running perfectly fine and normal, I shut it off and it sat for about 1 hour, then I went back out to restart and leave and it wouldn't start at all, no firing, absolutely nothing, and then all the sudden it fired right up. So i rode it down the road about 1/4 of a mile and it just died and wouldn't start for anything, no combination of throttle or choke could get it going, and I ended up running the battery dead from trying to crank it. I ended up getting a buddy with a truck to haul it home for me. This bike has never done this to me before, and I was wondering if the rain/heavy moisture could be having an impact. Im going to charge the battery and try again, and then check for spark/fuel/air. I know to ground the plug to test it, but how do you know if the bike is getting fuel and air? The tank is full and I'm going to check to see if the plug is wet after some cranks, and then I was going to see if there is the dreaded gas in the air filter problem from a bad petcock. Its about time since its a 2006 with 12,000 miles, but I didn't think an hour would leave enough time to fill the carb up. Also this bike has started all winter long and even at -4 degrees, so I know its not just the cold bloodedness. And another thing is that the carb should be clean, I have been using heet and even ran some seafoam through it a while ago just for good measure. Any other pointer on this bike would be great. Ive never had a single hiccup till now so I have no prior knowledge base to work off of on this bike so anything is welcome.
This fuel thing ... get a LIFE! Have an '09 200se, and I ran it every few months just to warm it up. It runs PERFECT today! New fuel formulations DORK WITH EVERYTHING that runs them, and so far, auto feul injection has mucked around with the formula changes fast enough that no harm been found as foul. I run mid or max grade, never low end grade fuel. Mid is my preference. ... seems to work and saves me $$$. Enjoy!
Sounds like an ignition problem...water in the coil or spark plug wire. If there were water in the kill switch, the starter wouldn't spin.
Well I got it to run after checking for spark and fuel. There were no apparent problems with either of these, and I am no slightly worried to look in the airbox, because I am afraid there I will find Gas and oil. I did get it to start with lots of cranking and some starter fluid(I am not sure what this did for the problem if anything). It ran fine, but it seemed as though the exhaust was very smokey so i did not run it for long at all since I was afraid there may be gas in the crank case. I am going to do an oil change to see for sure. I am beginning to wonder if this is the petcock problem.
Now it's starting to sound like gas in the airbox...after sitting, mine would start up and run all rough and smokey, untill I fixed the petcock problem. But once it was running, it would clear up and run good after a few minutes. The other thing that could have happened is carburetor icing, if it was rainy and 40 degrees with high rpm's.
Has anyone tried running a little different plug in their DR200? I tried a search but didn't come up with much. I had a Suzuki 250 thumper for a while and a bunch of folks were bumping up to an NGK DR8EIX Iridium plug and claimed to feel a bit of a difference. Thoughts?
So i'm pretty sure now it is the petcock, when I go to start it tomorrow I will find out I guess. I decided to put an inline on/off fuel valve as a temporary fix since I found fluid in the airbox. Depending on how well it works and how many times I forget to turn it on or off I might get a petcock to fix it. I used to have a 50cc 2-stroke scooter that I put a hotter spark plug in since I could not find a stock replacement, and I did notice a difference in acceleration. I don't know about the 200 but that is two cases at least of a noticed difference.
The cops in Greece have figured out a way to stop the front brake disk from warping. from the basement: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=662925 someone should show them the aussie front rack. Could probably carry two or three miscreants.
It was a good amount, the drain tube was full of water and oil and then another 4-5 mL in the box itself and it smelled gassy and oily, but the oil was obviously out of the filter, so no worries there. I did this mostly as a precaution since it seemed probable this could happen soon, and I was worried that the gas could get into the crank case and cause many more problems.
It doesn't sound like too much. When my petcock was leaking, I saw a lot more gas in the bottom of the airbox than 4-5 ml.
Ok well that is good news, I was going to leave the on/off in line in the on position and just see what happens. If I start having hard starts due to a flooded carb, then I will use it, but until then its not hurting anything.
When I had a few mms of fuel in the airbox I adjusted the float level and it went away. I could actually see fuel misting back from the throttle body when I removed the airbox cover.
Well the bike wouldn't start again in the work parking lot, and it was the same rainy moist conditions, so I am guessing you (Klay) were right about the water in the coil or spark plug wire. My next question is how do you go about servicing such a problem as this. I am not very familiar with ignition or electric stuff. Where would one start looking for the causes of these problems?
You could try the old WD40 trick. Spray it on various parts and see if you get the spark back. The WD40 will seep in and displace the moisture. This actually worked for me once when I lost the spark on one cylinder of my XS650 in torrential rain somewhere in Ohio years ago.
Is it possible your airfilter is getting waterlogged? That used to happen all the time to me. The gas tank acts like a funnel and rain ends up in the airbox somehow. I could always get it started 9/10 times but it was always a pain in the ass. I can't imagine moisture is getting in the engine block. Make sure your spark plug is tight. I always thought the hard starting in the rain was due to the air filter...
Those of us with the Kientech mod have no airbox lid. I think the water drips down the tank, under the seat, and into the airbox. Not 100% sure about this.
