85 Interceptor 500

Okay I just bought an 85 interceptor 500 as a project bike. the bike runs great but some times it will stall and wont start. It sounds like the battery is dead (clicking noise from starter solenoid) when i try to start it. but if i let it sit for about 15 minutes i can get it to start. the previous owner said he use to disconnect the fuel line at the fuel filter for a few minutes and the bike would run again. any body have any advice?

 

:welcome:



You are speakin of two different issues here. When it dosen't start, you need to whoop out a voltmeter and start testing things to see if it's an electrical problem. If it's a fuel problem, you need to sort that out, ya can't do both at the same time man!! It kinda sounds like you've got a dead ass battery and you're flooding the engine at the same time. So start with a known good battery (just go get a new one, they're like $60 at the auto parts store or wally world) then we shall see what the real problems here are. Imma betcha the battery is the main/only problem tho.

 

Okay I fixed the battery issue and the bike runs 100 times better. The idle was down below 800rpm so I brought it up to about 1400Rpm (I read it should be 1300 +/- 100 in another thread) but at some points when i come to a stop the Idle will drop low and slowly come back up. It gives me the feeling that it wants to stall, or i could just be paranoid. I also ran a little sea foam through the bike. The previous owner told me that after riding for a while that the bike might not start and you need to pull off the fuel line and wait until it flows out. I'm not sure why the bike would do or need this but i'm keeping an eye out for it

 

Tank vent is pinched/plugged.

 

Awesome, glad you got the electrical sorted out. That's a mighty fine lookin girl you have there, somebody took care of that one! Definately check all the fuel feed hoses and the vent hoses as GRAD said to make sure nothings pinched, pretty easy to do while re-assembling something and it gets overlooked as causing a problem.

 

Not sure how long the bike's been sitting, but have you pulled off the carbs and given them a thorough cleaning?

 

I don't know how long it's been sitting I do know it was rarely ridden and I haven't had a chance to remove any of the carbs yet

 

Well, any luck?

 

So far so good. I plan to replace all the vent and fuel lines because they seem to have seen better days. I feel like the bike could run better but it runs good. I ordered the repair manual so while I wait for that to come in I'm just cleaning the bike up a bit