Tecate Trouble, won't start - please help

[ccdhowell]

I went outside to crank the Tecate a couple hours ago and nothing, not even a hit of a fire in the cylinder.

Let me give you some background. My 85 Tecate sucks up a little trans fluid through the crankshaft seal, nothing too bad and I've been riding it that way careful to keep oil in the tranny. I've been using 10w40 Valvoline ATV oil and it worked great. This past weekend I ran out and yesterday I put some 5w40 car oil in it in hopes it would be okay. I cranked it and when I slipped the gear selector down into first it died. It did this several more times until I held the idle higher and slipped it in and it took off. No problem, I'll just ride it around the yard to see if it gets better...it didn't. So into the garage and drain the transmission oil. I let it drain for several hours and replaced the drain plug and parked it for the night. This morning I stoped by the cycle shop and bought some Silkolene Medium Gear Oil...supposed to be just the ticket for 2-stroke transmissions, but in a heavier 20w50 weight. I put it in this evening and wanted to fire it up to verify that this oil corrected my problem, but it won't start...nothing.

It kicks over fine, but won't fire. I fiddled with plugs and stuff for a while before I took off the head pipe and it must have been half full of fuel. When I sat the head pipe on the floor, fuel pored out the exhaust end so I turned it up and it dumped out a significant amount of fuel, hard to say exactly how much, but on my garage floor it spread to maybe a 5 foot circle before I could get it contained with oildry.

So what do I do now? I decided to leave the pipe and plug out for the night and let all the fuel evaporate from the engine.

Anyone else have any suggestions? What would make the head pipe fill-up with fuel like that? I did kick it over many, many times, maybe a hundred but surely I didn't kick that much fuel into the head pipe!

It's the stock carb and was just rebuilt at a local shop, stock jets as far as I know, but still, that's allot of fuel.

Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chris

[tecatecrazy]

I wont comment on the pipe full of fuel as I have never had this problem before, but running with bad crank seals is not a good idea. its going to lean it out and that will be disaster for your top end. yank that engine and get the seals replaced before you have to reline your cylinder, replace your piston, and possibly replace your head and conrod. good luck

[BigGreenMachine]

The pipe full of fuel is called stovepiping. Happens when unburnt fuel is obviously collected in the header pipe. You should really replace those crank seals. Its a pain but its something that NEEDS to be done. Your Tecate will run twice as good as it does now with fresh bearings and seals.

No spark..you installed a new tail light lately, maybe it over stressed the output and killed it? In any case pull the stator cover and have a look.

[PymerOne]

Replace cranckseals...that is a MUST.
Check the carb (possible stuck floater and/or loose jet) and airfilter.
Check for sparks (edit: with a new sparkplug).
Above all: have fun.

Goodluck, P1

[ccdhowell]

Don't know how to tell if the stator is dead. I pulled the cover but can't get the flywheel off. Any tricks other than go buy a puller?

I know about the crankseals, I'm waiting for an oportune moment. Who sells crank bearings and seals?

Happy Thanksgiving, Chris

[Erics350x]

have you tried grounding the plug to see if its firing? you could have just flooded it with gas trying to crank it with a fouled plug. if it fires put it back together and try it. but , if you got the time and cash then go ahead and replace that seal.

[ccdhowell]

It cranked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!and ran fine. The only thing I can think of is that I flooded it when I initially tried to crank it and I continued to kick on it and it pumped the gas through the engine and into the head pipe.

I'm planning to ride is tomorrow. When I get home I'll pull the head pipe and check it for fuel.

Will a KX250 crankseal from an 83-85 bike fit the Tecate engine?

Thanks guys, Chris

[BigGreenMachine]

Dads over on 3wheeler.org sells crank seal kits for the 84/85 Tecate. Don't know if the KX gear will work.

Glad to hear you got it running.

Part of that stove piping condition is due to the extra oil being put into the fuel mixture from the leaking crank seals.

Get some good shots of the trike from your ride tomorrow.

[traxxasx]

THe first thing i do when somthing doesent spark is take the plug out ground it to the head kick her over and see if it sparks.

[nd4speed]

OK I had gas fill my pipe on my Tecate 1986. Why? I put a KX250 Rad Valve on it and it angled the carb more than stock and caused the floats to be set too high. It ran fine in this condition. My problem occurred when I left the gas on and let it sit for about 5 days. I just knew I should have shut the gas off but I kept forgetting. What I did not expect was the amount of gas in the pipe. This condition is sometimes referred to being "fluid locked". The plug will get flooded.

Does gas leak out your float bowl overflow tube if the gas is left on while not running?

Maybe check your fuel shutoff valve too.

[traxxasx]

OK I had gas fill my pipe on my Tecate 1986. Why? I put a KX250 Rad Valve on it and it angled the carb more than stock and caused the floats to be set too high. It ran fine in this condition. My problem occurred when I left the gas on and let it sit for about 5 days. I just knew I should have shut the gas off but I kept forgetting. What I did not expect was the amount of gas in the pipe. This condition is sometimes referred to being "fluid locked". The plug will get flooded.

Does gas leak out your float bowl overflow tube if the gas is left on while not running?

Maybe check your fuel shutoff valve too.


Ok people when your about to post to a thread read everyones post unless its uper long, if you would have read you would have known he just had a fouled plug and now its fine.

[ccdhowell]

I think nd2speed hit the nail on the head. I switched to Castor927 last weekend and the temps dropped this week and I was concerned with fuel/oil seperation in the tank so I pushed it in the garage for several nights. Anyway the garage has a 3 inch or so step up near the back of the garage and that's where the Tecate went, back tires on the stepped-up part and fronts on the lower part. Thus creating just the situation where gas can drain into the cylinder and fill the pipe. I won't be doing that again.

I'm not used to trikes, but I did try to see a spark. I took the wire off and moved/held it close to the frame, turned off the lights in the garage and spun the engine with the kick starter. I saw no blue spark. I did occur to me that the trikes stator system may no produce enough spark to jump the great distance I created. I know a car's system usually will jump that distance, but a trike isn't a car and I'll try it with the plug attached next time.

I have the camera battery all charged up and ready for tomorrow's ride. Now if I can just convince someone to take shots of the Tecate in action, I know driveway pics get boring.

Chris