98 Sprint Exec 900

[Bikerbear48]

Just got my bike back from the shop, seems to be running great, have NEVER had to use the choke Live in San Diego, and The had to put 12 shims in it to bring it up to specs. Does anyone know if its normal for the engine to be a little hard to start after this procedure(24K Tune Up) until it is run on the road a bit?? Other than it cold starting now it seems to be running great bike is in excellent condition. But have to choke it to get it started now...cold wise...

[KitNYC]

Welcome!

First, just to clarify, Sprint 900 questions belong in the T3 forum. I'm sure Don or Dave will move the post over.

Second, uhhh.... Really? How odd, on both counts. Typically, hard starting is a sign that valves have closed up & need to be re-shimmed. That being said, though, the choke is there for a reason. Given the climate in San Diego, I would expect you to need half choke pretty much all the time from cold. Maybe full choke on the coldest day of the year there, maybe no choke on the hottest day, but definitely some choke as a general rule.

Maybe someone who knows more about how 4-cycle motors work will chime in here, but it sounds to my inexpert brain almost as if your valves were on the open side of the spec. If so, it would be the first time I've heard of that. At any rate, rest assured that not needing choke at all is odd, and needing a bit of it when starting cold is normal behavior.

Cheers, HTH,
-Kit

[JRCollings]

My guess would be that due to either something like a clogged air filter or tune the bike was running a little rich before, especially at idle and hence the lack of need for choke.... since service, new filter, perhaps tune, it is running leaner and cleaner (better), but therefore requiring the choke for what it is there for - to assist a cold engine in running / starting.

[denoose]

My '96 Trident 900 (same color scheme as Kit shows) was pretty cold- blooded, even on a warm summer morning here in New England. Going up one heat range on the sparks, and having well- synched carbs made a big difference, too. She liked the choke for a minute and then ran like a freight train- top heavy, hard to turn and loud!! (Micron slip- ons).... That was my first Hinckley and she was a lovely strumpet.

denoose

[seumas]

My '95 Sprint uses full choke to start too. As soon as it fires I can back it off halfway while I put on my helmet and gloves. After a couple blocks I can shut it off completely.
Even in the middle of summer it takes choke to start it when it's cold.

[Roden]

Yep, gotta agree with all of that, I live in a very warm climate here in Queensland and I still use choke to start the beast from cold.
As seumas said, I can shut it off almost immediately and warm her up on the throttle whilst putting on helmet etc.

JR's thought about the air filter being clogged and acting as a choke is spot on the money I reckon!

Enjoy your Exec, they are a great machine, oh and welcome to the forum!

Cheers,

Roden

[djw]

If the EPA caps have been removed (a common mod for T3s), I have found that at 2.5 turns out I need to use some choke (normal), at 3 turns out no choke is required (too rich for a warm engine also). If the EPA caps are still on, no need to worry about that. You and you can check with a little mirror or something to look at the bottom of one of the carbs. Maybe someone adjusted or re-adjusted?

[ukxtc]

Originally Posted by KitNYC

Welcome!

First, just to clarify, Sprint 900 questions belong in the T3 forum. I'm sure Don or Dave will move the post over.

Second, uhhh.... Really? How odd, on both counts. Typically, hard starting is a sign that valves have closed up & need to be re-shimmed. That being said, though, the choke is there for a reason. Given the climate in San Diego, I would expect you to need half choke pretty much all the time from cold. Maybe full choke on the coldest day of the year there, maybe no choke on the hottest day, but definitely some choke as a general rule.

Maybe someone who knows more about how 4-cycle motors work will chime in here, but it sounds to my inexpert brain almost as if your valves were on the open side of the spec. If so, it would be the first time I've heard of that. At any rate, rest assured that not needing choke at all is odd, and needing a bit of it when starting cold is normal behavior.

Cheers, HTH,
-Kit

You lost me there kit aint that where this post is ?

[KitNYC]

Don or Dave moved it to the T3 forum, so it's here now. It started out over in the injecty Sprint forum.

Cheers,
-Kit

[ukxtc]

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