Hard Start

[greeno]

Hey Guys,

Pulled the Intruder out of the weeds Sunday to get it warmed up for winter.  After a couple of pulls the rope broke (no surprise, really).  I tried starting with the battery but it wouldn't crank it over (very hard to turn, stalls).  I jumped the battery from my lawn tractor and could get a couple of revolutions out of it then the starter motor would stall.  With the plugs out, the engine spins freely but not very "fast".  Is it possible to have a weak starter? 

[gixxer6]

I suspect the lawn tractor is not able to provide enough amperage to supply the starter on your Intruder.  Try giving the battery a good charge, or using your car to jump it. 

[Interceptor398]

Sounds like time for a new rope and battery.

[greeno]

Battery is only a year old.  The engine was hard to start by battery last winter too. 

[gixxer6]

Pull the belt off and remove the spark plugs and spin the primary clutch by hand.  Does is spin easily? 

You can also measure the battery voltage while the starter is engaged. 

[Interceptor398]

Just had to get a new battery for my King Quad.  It was about a year old and would take a charge but fell on it's face when I put the battery tester on it. For some reason the small batteries don't seem to last like a car battery.

[greeno]

Spins great with plugs/belt removed.  I will test battery this weekend. 

[sprocket]

Test what's coming out of your flywheel if it's hard starting sounds like bad coils (pulsar or exciter) you can also test your charge coil if everything is up the spec than it's something else

[greeno]

I put the compression tester on last night: 170 on mag side, 120 on clutch side.  Both drop psi fast, down to 60 in a five seconds. Oil on top of the cylinder did not fix the fast leak down.

Still learning about 2 strokes but doesn't this point to rings?

[sprocket]

Sounds like your compression tester is not holding air, it should not drop that fast. If your compression is within 5lbs you are fine. There is lots of variables that people can over look like wrong piston rings on a chrome cylinder the compression will vary. For an example Wiseco piston kit sometimes has chrome rings if you don't know it put it altogether and your compression ratio is different every time you run it chrome on chrome (bad).
Now maybe in your case yes the compression should not be that far off so it maybe time to bore it and give it a fresh rebuilt.
2 stroke engines aren't hard they are easier than a 4stroke less moving parts

[Checkmarks]

x2 with Sproket (goes without saying)

Compression tester sounds like bogus readings (non-trusting values is all).  5% balance and their good unless <90psi and within 5% then both cylinder systems are worn out.  Then compression numbers are generally clear when you have a problem.  The gauge on the other hand can be out of wack.

Ring end gap affords the 'very' quick leak down value.  A cold motor and the values get worse. ±0.015 end gap

Modern batteries are bad and worse to begin with and one year operational is a good year.

x2 with Gixer (goes without saying then this includes about all the board members)

Spark, fuel and compression

[greeno]

Got it running.  Operator error. 

I did throw my compression gauge away.  Was doing the same thing on my pickup truck.