1985 VF500F was running on two cylinders, now won't start at all...

[Guest nxavierm]

I bought a 1985 VF500F and when I picked it up the two rear cylinders were firing, but the front two were not. It started and would actually idle, and would rev a bit.

When I tried starting it when I got home, it worked the first time. However, it has not started since, despite lots of cranking.

I have tried the following:

1) New battery

2) Fresh gas

3) spraying starter fluid into carbs while cranking

4) checking plugs and spark - all fine

Help!!!

[Guest]

well i don't know exactly, but there are two coils which control two plugs each... maybe one of your coils is bad. If your getting spark, then the only other reason they wouldn't fire is because of fuel delivery... that may be your carbs.

Honestly comes down to how long the bike has been sitting. If it sat for over like 6 months I wanna say pull the carbs and completely clean them out.

That's my .02 good luck man!

[samaki]

You need fuel/air mixture, compression, spark, exhaust and all in proper timing. For process of elimination remove the air filter element and the muffler and try it again. I know that might seem odd but I have seen rotted mufflers be the problem on more than one occassion. Even if the pilot jets are plugged it should run on the choke. If it has sat for years the the carbs definitely will have to be cleaned. Confitm that you have a flow of fuel from the tank hose at the carb, and if there is an inline filter, remove it. Were the plugs wet when you removed them?