Ninja won't start

Hi all.

I just started riding and got an '86 Ninja 600R to start me off, and this afternoon it decided not to start anymore. If anybody has any advice on things I should try it would be greatly appreciated. Please keep in mind I am COMPLETELY new at all this so I'm aware I could have done something really stupid or the answer is just plain obvious.

Anyway, earlier I was riding and the bike stalled and it didn't start up as usual by me just putting it in neutral and firing it up again. I fiddled with a couple of things (like turned it off and on, put it in gear and back in neutral or something - now I wish I would have made note of what it was I did) and it started up again and I rode home.

A few minutes later I went to start it up again and it clicked but didn't turn over. I tried the different settings on the petcock (I had ridden it before with it on PRI since I didn't know at the time what this was for - before this I had only seen the on/off/res configuration - so I added some gas just to be double sure, tried some more, etc).

I'm pretty sure the battery's alright since the signals and horn work fine. So if anybody has any suggestions for what I could try or just something I'm forgetting, let me know. Hopefully something can get it going that doesn't involve taking it apart - I was hoping to go a week before I had to start that stuff . . .

Thanks,
Doug

Doug,

I think your problem is the same problem that I just overcame. You need to drain the oil from the bike, and see if you have gas in it. The fuel could have leaked pass the carbs, and vapor locked the engine. The same thing just happened to me with my Katana 750. Never keep it in the PRI position.

You said it clicked, but didn't turn over. If you're certain the battery is good the clicking is an indication of a loose terminal connection somewhere, probably one of the battery cables or a chassis ground.

Actually, it turned out that although the battery had some charge, it just wasn't enough to start it. Overnight on the charger and it was fine. Thanks for the input though guys, I should have posted that I solved the problem but I kinda thought the thread was dead.

Thanks for checking back in with your solution.