Newbie Rider can't get bike to start.
 

Hello all,

I have been a longtime lurker but this is my first post. I am a brand new rider as of last year and the GZ is my first bike. I am embarrassed to admit it but I didn't do any research on proper storage over the winter, and just parked it in the driveway and through a motorcycle cover her. Now she doesn't want to start.

After trying multiple times, I ended up draining the battery. I went out and bought a charger, charged it up put it back in the back and tried again. Lights, horn, signals, everything seems to work but when I try and start it doesn't turn over. I am not at all mechanically inclined, this is the bike I will be learning on so before I make more work (and cost) for myself, I wanted to get the opinions of more experience riders.

I did not fill (or drain) the gas tank before parking it and I read there could be water in the gas tank. Should I try draining the tank and filling it with fresh gas? New battery? New spark plug? All of the above?

Any help you could give me to point me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. With the warm weather I am eager to get her going to practice riding again.

Thanks for the help!

Sorry to hear your having problems buddy. So are you saying the starter refuses to turn the engine over at all or is the engine cranking and just not firing?

When you say "doesn't turn over", sounds like one of the safety switches may not be making contact. Get some spray contact cleaner (it's not expensive) and blast it into the clutch switch, red switch, starter switch, and side stand switch. Damp and rust can get anywhere over winter. This may not be the problem, but it's worth giving it a try.

GZ250dude, yes it sounds like its cranking but not firing. Even before parking it for the winter, I always had to give it a few tries before it would start. I don't know if that is normal for this bike or if I already had an issue to begin with. The only other bike I have ridden was at the MSF course and that was a fuel-injected bike so always started right up.

Alan, thank you for the suggestion! I will go pick up some contact cleaner today.

Thanks guys!

drain the carb to renew the gas inside it , check if the choke is working, grab som starting fluid

For sure if the engine is turning over then you know all is well there, I'd drain the carb and tank as suggested and put fresh gas in. If it still doesn't want to start then confirm with some starter fluid that it will start. I would think the next step would be cleaning the carb. Now this is something I have no real knowledge of.

When gas sits for long periods of time, it starts to break down. The moisture that was in it starts to separate from the fuel and all kinds of other stuff. This process gunks up your carb and makes it very hard for fuel to flow. And if fuel can't flow, then motors can't work.

Drain both the gas tank and the carb.
Refill with fresh gas and some carb cleaner.
If you're lucky, this is all you'll need to do.

Be prepared the first time that you get it cranked to take it for a nice long ride. You need to get that fresh gas and carb cleaner circulating through the system for it to do its job.