My KLX won't hit a lick

[hdsmiley]

Bought a new 08 KLX450r in the fall and have had starting issues, right from the start. The dealer delayed my pick up due to idling issues, supposedly, said they cleaned out the shipping gook from carb and all was well. It would not start on the button when I got it home and took some kicking to get it to light and has been hard to start ever since. Had the weak battery issue, but a trickle charging seem to fix that, but now it just won't start.

This is not what I had in mind getting a new ride!

I have already done the PM insert and removed the AIS, so a trip back to the dealer is out of the question.

I have the tank off and the plug is wet and fat blue spark. Should start!

Any ideas?

H.D.

[bam bam]

you may as well hard wire the stator straight into the wiring harness. This was a nightmare for me. This fixes the problem that so many klx owners have. KAwasaki says there is no problems with the electrical trash on the bikes, but the kaw technical guy acknowledged that this was a good fix for the problem, go figure. i had charging , headlight, and starting issues due to the stupid plug behind the shroud that some egghead kaw designer made with the female side turned up, they must have wanted it to hold water. My dealer finally just used butt connectors to get mine out the door and recieved no help from kaw on the issue. hope this helps

[Just_thumping_along]

The carb is still not right and you will need to rejet either way. Get a jet kit from JD jetting and after your carb is clean and a new sparkplug, you should be good to go. Make sure the idle circuit is clean, tends to plug up easy.

BamBam, I just siliconed all those connectors where the wires are and also hit the one behind the headlight.

Terryn

[woodrow775]

Both my dad and I bought 08 klxs, his worked fine but mine was having the same starting problem, we just bought a new battery and now it works perfect, batteries for them are a little pricey though.

[leepic]

Dealers do not prep the batteries properly at times. This has been an issue (along w/ bad batteries) since the bikes were introduced in May '07. Mine (and many others) had the battery replaced under warranty.

First mod I did was to rejet the card w/ a JD Jetting kit. Since then the bike has run fantastic and is always easy to start.

[OvertonDog]

Dealers do not prep the batteries properly at times. This has been an issue (along w/ bad batteries) since the bikes were introduced in May '07. Mine (and many others) had the battery replaced under warranty.

First mod I did was to rejet the card w/ a JD Jetting kit. Since then the bike has run fantastic and is always easy to start.

My story is the exact same. Not a single problem sinse the new battery and the rejet. If I have to go for several weeks without riding, I wlll hook it up to the charger, overnight.?

[kg-fabricating]

you may as well hard wire the stator straight into the wiring harness. This was a nightmare for me. This fixes the problem that so many klx owners have. KAwasaki says there is no problems with the electrical trash on the bikes, but the kaw technical guy acknowledged that this was a good fix for the problem, go figure. i had charging , headlight, and starting issues due to the stupid plug behind the shroud that some egghead kaw designer made with the female side turned up, they must have wanted it to hold water. My dealer finally just used butt connectors to get mine out the door and recieved no help from kaw on the issue. hope this helps

this is what I was talking about - I used the dielectric grease

Not a fan of butt conectors

[KLX450-DIRK]

But this guy(hdsmiley) is saying that it's just NOT starting. Anybody have that problem...Nope. We all have little KLX issues...some minor, some more than minor..but we all start up. We need more info. When u said you bought it in the fall...this "fall"?..as in right now?...or last year? How many Mi/Kms on it? Can you Bump start it? Can u charge battery and it will start on the e-start?, or will it just not start whatsoever. Sometimes a trip to the dealer is necessary. Just because you've done some mods doesn't mean they're gonna screw you over and say you "broke" your new toy. If it was screwed up from delivery...the least they can do is diagnose it...give em a try. They've modded tons of bikes and know better than to think a PMB insert and an AIS removal will cause a bike not to start or harm it in any way. With a little more info, i'm sure you'll get some good advice on here. Again...sometimes the dealer is necessary...not everyone has a workshop out back fully equipped to do a teardown or any "major" repairs. If it's not under warranty and your gonna pay for it...shop around. No everyone charges outlandish shop rates. Hope this helps...Give us some info...help us help you.?

[hdsmiley]

Hey, had it for a year, a couple of bad ride experiences, but trying to love it. Still a B-turd to get started. I have tried new fuel, choke, no choke, wringing the throttle a few times and nothing. If I let it sit for any time I trickle the battery to ensure a full charge.

I have not rejetted yet, but it should be starting, I don't ride it enough to find fault as it is, but am going after the jetting anyways.

I went the piece by piece way, as I have access to a couple of distributors. 155 main, 48 pilot, Pro-circuit fuel screw, which I will turn 1.5-2 turns out. I have not removed the top of the air box yet, but the clear plastic after thought is gone.

I am going to finish dual sport conversion and am leaning to the Sicass kit, as I don't require signals and such. Any comments.

I want to love this bike and any thoughts of selling at a couple of grand loss with only 300k on it, doesn't make sense.

Thanks for the comments and ideas.

Dave

[450exc115]

155 main? That seems really really small..

You need to do the jetting at least. Pilot seems big and the main small. What altitude do you run at?

[Chewie Zarzoff]

If it's second hand....check the valve clearances....when they 'tighten' up the bike will be difficult to start, and get progressively worse if the valves clearances(shims) aren't done....mine has just clocked up just over 3000 Klms, and is in for it's first adjustment....getting S/S exhaust valves fitted while it's in the shop.

[SSPI]

where are they getting the S/S valves from as none of them fit the KLX

[KLX450-DIRK]

You can get SS exhaust valves...just not intakes. Slackinhard is working w/ Kibblewhite to fab up some intakes i believe but no word yet.

[john spencer]

i was under the impression that the exhaust valves were ss(i have been wrong before though ,just ask the missus), had mine checked recently, exhaust were perfect but the intakes had closed right up.hope they come up with some ss intakes soon.

[Chewie Zarzoff]

Yes....typo, meant to say intakes are being replaced with S/S... bike is still in shop awaiting parts here in Aussie....seems from earlier posts they may not yet be available?

Can anyone confirm?

[frdsrck]

Posted this in another valve clearance thread as well, but seems to be more recent talk about it here - sorry if it's kinda of a hijack....

So, It's winter here and I have the bike apart for mods and maintenance. I have three years riding on it now, last year being the most. I checked the valves at the end of the first year and all was good. Now I just checked them again and both exhaust valves are still within spec, but the inlet ones are both a bit tight (0.8mm-0.10mm). Bike starts well initially, but if you don't let it warm up really good, then it is tough to get going again if you kill it. Usually starts well once hot.

Seems I should be looking to "shim" these inlet valves now? Is this easy enough to do?

[xrvic]

If none of this helps, call Jeff Fredette at FRP offroad. Hes a great guy and has competed in the ISDE as well as many nationals/gncc's on his klx450. He will solve it for you. Please let us know what he says.