Man! This was going to be my first full week of riding to work, but wouldn't you know it, I messed up my back over the weekend and am off work for a few days. I can't even put my own shoes.
So, what better to do than think KLR stuff? I was bandying around the idea of compiling a KLR "No-Start Troubleshooting Checklist" that covers some of the most basic things to check if your KLR won't fire up.
These things are easy to think of when you have the time, but if you're stranded in the wrong place at the wrong time, it's easy to get in a hurry and overlook the simple stuff.
For example, riding home one night last October, my KLR started losing power and eventually died out in the middle of nowhere in the dark and wouldn't start again. I was able to diagnose and correct a pinched fuel tank vent line (caused by yours truly) by simply opening the gas cap was able to fix it and continue on.
I realize a list like this can never be all-inclusive and troubleshooting can branch out in many directions and sometimes requires tools or disassembly that might not be available or feasible on the shoulder or along a trail or in a parking lot, so I'm trying to narrow this down to some very simple things that can easily be checked that could be overlooked when you're in a hurry or pissed or whatever the case may be.
Maybe checking one of them would get you back on the road or maybe not, but you would at least know it was something you already checked.
I was thinking of maybe some different categories like "Bike has electrical power and turns over but won't run." Some ideas might be:
-Check Kill switch
-Is there enough fuel in the tank?
-Is the petcock turned on?
-Is the petcock vacuum hose hooked up?
-Is the tank vent pinched?
etc., etc.
Bike dead when key turned on: no electrical power.
-Check main fuse.
-Check battery connections/terminals
etc., etc.
Right now my list of ideas is pretty short. If anybody has anything they'd like to add, such as something to check or an easy way to check it, logical order to check things in, etc. I'd like to hear them as a lot of you guys have been riding KLR's a lot longer than I have. I thought it might be handy to print off a list and carry it on the KLR.
