401 Svart not starting.

[R1804]

I have my 2019 Svart 401 up for sale, someone came to view it last Thursday & the bike starter and drove first time with no issues.

Guy came to pick it up on Sunday and the bike cut out when I was pulling it out the garage. I told him to bring fuel as the gauge was reading empty (there was still around 1.5L in the tank) and I thought that was the issue, we put around 2L of fresh fuel into the bike and it still wouldn't start.

Sale cancelled - within around 30 mins of him leaving I had the fuel tank off, removed & cleaned the spark plug then checked for spark and there were no issues. Put the plug back in, removed the airbox cover for some extra O2 and the bike started no problem. I put everything back together and garaged it back up following this. On Monday I went back in to try a start up and it wouldn't start again. The bike has been sat for around 4 months with E10 in the tank so I thought the fuel may be the issue. I've since syphoned the fuel & disposed of it and put 5L of E5 "premium" fuel in and the bike still won't start.

In summery I have:
- Fuel
- Air
- Spark
- Fully charged battery

Bike cranks with no clicking (starter) and tries to start but wont quite go. My next step is starter fluid in the airbox but surely this shouldn't be needed. Any ideas on what the issue could be considering last Thursday it started and run first time without problems.

 

[Jester1971]

i had the same issue last week. I have not ridden my 2023 Svartpilen for 6 weeks as I have just had hand surgery. Last week I got dressed for a first tentative ride in a while, turned on the ignition, hit the starter, no start. It tried a few turns over but no start. hit the starter again, no start. switched the ignition off. Tried another few times, no start. I had recently cleaned my air filter so took the seat off to see if I had popped a connector off or something, nothing obvious. So switched on the ignition for one more try and she reluctantly fired a little then died. hit the starter again and she started no issues. Great I thought, checked I was ready to ride whilst she warmed up a little then rode off. Got to the junction at the bottom of my road and she stalled. First time I have had this happen in 3000+ miles. Rode 75 miles with no further stalling, went to petrol station and she started first jab of the starter. So she cured herself.
I always use premium Unleaded and always fill the tank at the end of each ride. I had also had the ignition on and off a few times whilst she has not been started to check my clock rpm settings etc. maybe that upset her. It was around 13 degrees the day this happened, if that matters.
When this happened on yours did you keep trying or did it not start at all. I feel if had kept hitting the starter she may have just started.

 

[R1804]

i had the same issue last week. I have not ridden my 2023 Svartpilen for 6 weeks as I have just had hand surgery. Last week I got dressed for a first tentative ride in a while, turned on the ignition, hit the starter, no start. It tried a few turns over but no start. hit the starter again, no start. switched the ignition off. Tried another few times, no start. I had recently cleaned my air filter so took the seat off to see if I had popped a connector off or something, nothing obvious. So switched on the ignition for one more try and she reluctantly fired a little then died. hit the starter again and she started no issues. Great I thought, checked I was ready to ride whilst she warmed up a little then rode off. Got to the junction at the bottom of my road and she stalled. First time I have had this happen in 3000+ miles. Rode 75 miles with no further stalling, went to petrol station and she started first jab of the starter. So she cured herself.
I always use premium Unleaded and always fill the tank at the end of each ride. I had also had the ignition on and off a few times whilst she has not been started to check my clock rpm settings etc. maybe that upset her. It was around 13 degrees the day this happened, if that matters.
When this happened on yours did you keep trying or did it not start at all. I feel if had kept hitting the starter she may have just started.

I kept trying to start and it wouldn't fire, tried a bump start that didn't work either. Only started after removing / cleaning the spark plug & removing the airbox lid as I'm assuming it was flooded due to trying to get it started so much.

I'm going to try some starter fluid in the airbox tonight see if that works, hopefully that works and pulls the new fuel into the system. If not I'll do the same procedure as before, remove the tank, clean the plug & remove the airbox lid to try get it started.

 

[toast449]

The fuel injector for a 400cc bike must be awfully small. Wouldn't take much to clog it or get it to stick in the open position.

 

[R1804]

UPDATE: Sprayed some starter fluid into the airbox & it still wouldn't start. Carried out the same process as before, cleaned and removed the spark plug (it was wet again) etc and the bike started first time. I let it run for 20 mins to let the engine warm up and to pull the new fuel into the system.

Will check again tonight to see if it starts, if it does the old fuel was the problem.

 

[irsh]

My father just went through a similar issue with his BMW Sertao that cost him a summer of riding (he ended up doing head work thinking it was valve related).
In the end we took the under-seat fuel tank off, rinsed it out and refilled with non-ethanol. Started right up. But hey, the valves should be good for another 30k.