My FE400

After Nearly 4 Sundays Of Trying To Start My Bike I've Just About Had Enough Of It :evil: :evil: :evil:
Cleaned Out All The Gunk From The Carb,New Air Filter And Adjusted The Valves. No Joy In Starting.
New Udated Battery And Cleaning Of Stator,Nothing.
Struggles To Turn Over On The Button And When Kicking Over Will Try And Pop You Knee Out Of Joint Every So Oftern. 8O
I'm All Out Of Ideas? It Had A New Plug About 3 Hours Ago,Which Is All I've Ridden It For Since Buying It.
When Cleaning The Stator I Noticed The Plastic Like Coating On The Flywheel Peeling Off,Would This Affect The Stator???.
Any Advice Would Be Greatly Recieved :cry:

what year?

Hi Kez,

Before the answers begin pourling in(as I'm sure they will), could you tell us what year it is? Also, any other information that you feel might help in the diagnosis.

thanks,
json

It's A 2001. Last Ride It Really Lacked Power And Keeped Stalling.
It's Always Been A Pig To Start But It Always Did Of The Button.
On That Last Ride It Ran Out Of Fuel So We Limped Back On Reserve.
Adjusted Valves As They Were Real Tight-Set Them Slightly On The Loose Side.
Changed The Oil And Filter.
Emptied Tank And Filled With New Fuel.
I Also Adjusted The Decompression Lever As The Cable Was Well Slack,Its A Lot Easier To Kick Over Now.
Thats All I Can Think Of.
Next Weeked I'll Try To Tow Start The Fat ***** And See If It'll Start Then.

Kez
sorry to hear of your bike problem,been there done that, i was ready to shut me workshop on mine and hope it had gone when i opened the door a week later, then i found the hard start guid on this very good website
i think my bigest problem was one i made myself, i had been out in the woods riding with dirt wheels fitted, but totaly wrong gearing, so lots of stalling and coffs out of tight corners generally poor day and lots of time waiting for it cool down enough to start again, so i decide the idle needs to go up a bit carryed on for the rest of the day still wishing i had never sold me yamaha [never stall never break down always start a bit like it should be wr400] so go home make a wish list new sprockets and chain so ready for the dirt next weekend, wash me bike fit me parts clean me geny drain me float chamber.
OK lets go ride dirt!!!! proper gearing new tyres real mans bike we can show all the others how good the Husaberg is this time :evil: .
Wrong!!!! turns up wont start for about an hour by the time it starts im ****** i got a hole in the sole of me left boot and just about ready to go home.
I spent more time riding my sons Dr 200 than the burg that day, i really was pissed off with this as a dirt bike coz on tarmac it had always been the dogs bollocks.
When we got home even my wife could tell i wasn't at all pleased with this Bloody Husaberg thing, she being a clever bugger sat with me and went through the last few bad rides with me making notes and trying to find how it had all gone **** up so quick. she new that when i had been using the Husaberg beast on tarmac nothing i had ever had before other than her could even come close to it, between us the only thing we could find different between tarmac and dirt was the gearing and yes the Bloody idle that i had wound up so as not to stall it when i had the wrong gearing.

I removed the inlet rubber so i could see the carb slide and then undone the idle screw until i could hear a difference when i shut the throttle onto the bottom of the carb body, the idle screw was wound in a tiny bit at a time until i herd the sound change as the slide hit the adjuster screw i then new it was at the beginning of its journey upwards with just a tiny turn of the adjuster.
next i replaced my very new plug as i was sure all the non starting kicks must have soaked it so many times that when it did start the motor had been full of unburnt fuel wich would of made it sooty.
Now with a new plug and a throttle slide that was shut this left me with an enrichment [choke] system that would start the bike and allow me to run it up without the worry of a correct idle setting once warm i just gave it about half a turn in on the idle screw.
the fuel mix{air screw} 1.5turns out from base is where i set it before i started.
This has worked real well for me and now i can enjoy my bike without the love hate bit i had for about 6 LONG weeks.
I hope you didn't get bored but more i hope you can learn a little that helps you.
p/s this is about the 20th 4 stroke i have had but the only one as fussy.
cookeye
:wink:

kez

i have two suggestions, one is easy and the other not bad.

tip 1 (from lineweaver)
undo your kickstart and take it around one spline anti-clockwise. the lever will now sit ahead of the plastic grommet and you'll have to return it by hand for it to sit in against the cases.

tip 2
if it's a 2001 has it had a new camchain? doubt it. the OEM is awful and i outed mine in under a year. call mick at SR off-road (01629 820111) and ask for "an old style camchain such as you sold to david lloyd last week".

can you check whether you have an aluminium camwheel as some 01's did and that wasn't a good move. he is breaking an engine at the moment and he may have a steel camwheel. you'll have to look at the camchain tensioner by removing it and the end will be shagged. get an engineer to make one in SS. pictures in my gallery.

the chain can be fed on the old one and i'll post how many links in a little while. you'll be given a split link. you'll need someone to help you in this 20 minute job. i can give you advice on this.

i'm pretty sure this will be part of your problem.

regards

Taffy

Have you tried to pull start it?

Thanks For All The Replys,I've Taken Over My From My Dad Since He Never Could Use The Computer,I'll Strip It Down On Sunday And Have Another Go At It.
I Have No Idea About How Many Hours It Has On It.
I Did Find A Very Small Amount Of Steel Shavings When I Changed The Oil,But Never Heard Any Nasty Noises.
Dont Think The Previous Owner Looked After It Very Well.
Taff,I Think That The Kick Start Thing Has All Ready Been Done??? As I Do Have To Move It Back Slightly To Turn It In And Out,I Could Be Talking Jack Though As This Is The First Berg We've Owned!
How Fiddlie Is Doing The Cam Chain As I/We Dont Have A Garage That I Can Work In?

husabutt said:

Have you tried to pull start it?

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Not Yet Since Dad Was More Intrested In Watching The Rugby At My Old Rugby Club :evil: :evil: :evil:

Well.......... in the meantime why don't you check your spark. Take the spark plug out and ground it to the cylinder. E-start or kick it and observe the spark. If it is weak or nonexistant there is a very very good chance your stator needs replacement. My 01 470 stator recently went out so it may be that time for you too. The next step would be to test it or have it tested.

Get a friend with a quad (they make great tow vehicles) and try pull starting first though.

husabutt said:

Well.......... in the meantime why don't you check your spark.

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It Takes Me About aA Half Hour Digging The Crap Out Of The Garage And Un Chaining It From The Vor And Greaves To Drag It Out Side.
At The Moment I'm Still Coming Home In The Dark And Have Only A Double Socket In The Garage.
It'll Have To Be A Sunday Since Its The Only Full Day Off I Have All Week :?

I know the feeling. Sometimes you just have spend a day de-crapping and organizing before you can begin to work on the bike.

husabutt said:

I know the feeling. Sometimes you just have spend a day de-crapping and organizing before you can begin to work on the bike.

Click to expand...

I Wish It Was Only A Day :roll: Living With My Dad Is Like Living With A Fully Sized Borrower :shock:

You said you adjusted your decompression cable. This adjustment is critical. If improperly adjusted it could be holding the valves open. Not much chance of it starting like that. Verify the cable is adjusted properly as per the service manual. I have seen this problem before first hand.

I Thought That Too,But If Its Wrong And A Valve Is Crack Open The Shouldnt It Turn Over Quicker On The Button.
The Only Way To Get It To Is Pull The Kick Back And Engage The decom Lever?

Hi Kez.Truly sometimes it seems as if there some magic preventing your bike from starting,most of us have been there.The truth is that your engine needs just a few essential things,fuel ,ignition ,compression and proper ignition and valve timing. Make sure that your spark will jump a 8mm gap,check and clean your carb again(take all the jets out)do a compression test(anything less than 100 psi marginal).If everything seems good your problem may be something like a broken flywheel key or a cam that has worn the lobe so low that it wont even open a valve but there is always a answer,and very often when you do find the problem it will seem so obvious and logical that you cant believe it gave you so much trouble.Keep plugging away, frustrating,yes but it is how most of us learn......nsman

Do the basics before anything else. I have been where you are right now and it is easy to lose your head and think that the complicated issues are at fault.

1. charge the battery before start
2. pull the plug and make sure you have a good spark
3. If 2 is ok. Do you smell gas or is the plug getting wet?
4. If not, try to pour in small amount of fuel in plug hole.
5. If it now fires and stalls, concentrate on the tank and carb to make sure you don't have a problem there.
6. Make sure the idle is not set too high-bike will not start

My problems have been not getting gas related in the past. And I thought all the other severe items were my problem

Good luck,

Hakan

Finally Managed To Drag The Old Man Away From The Rugby Today And Get Him To Pull Start The Bike,After A Few Sideways Moments It Finally Fired And Run,Let It Warm And Set The Idle And Mixture Nicely.
Runs Great At Full Throttle But At 1/4-1/3 It Stumbles And Hunts REALLY Badly.
It Hasnt Got And Air Leak As I've Sprayed Car Cleaner All Around The Manifold.
When Kicking It I Has A Small Yellow Spark,On The Button It Stalls With Out The Kick Being Pulled Back And It Then Has A Slightly Larger Yellow Spark.Does Not Start With Kick Or Button,Even When Hot.
What Do You Think? :?

Still sounds like it could be a number of things.
Yellow is not to hot. Have you tried a new plug

Is the plug wet? If not, will it fire with the choke on?
Maybe clogged jet still.

Did it idle smoothly? How fast is it set? If it's set fast. Will it run when the idle is turned down? If not, I would check compression.

There still could be the decompression, timing, ignition etc.. I curious as to what the other UHE members come up with in those areas.

UHE members - Does a dead battery effect spark in any way?
Cheers!
John

If it will start and stay running even on a "pull start" then the ign system should be adequate,the misfire at a certain rpm range suggests that you still have fuel or carb problems.Take you carb apart again and clean it completely with a good cleaner,remove all the jets and the needle and seat assy. Clean/service your air filter.If this fails to solve your starting problem do a compression test.You will need to make an investment in some tools as the process continues ,at some point taking it to your dealer will become a viable option.....nsman