The Hodaka Club Forum

Little help figuring this one out..I just got done restoring a 73 hodaka wombat..I installed a new piston and rebuilt the carb with all new
gaskets , a new float and needle valve. Spark is good and I did not do anything with th magneto or points.(previous owner had the bike running but
it sat with a corroded tank and carb was trashed) . On install it fired up briefly and then quickly stallled. Subsequent attempts
yielded nothing even with long push starts. Plug shows gas and Ive cleaned it several times with no luck. Thoughts or ideas? I live Carlsbad
Ca. so if anyone can recommend a good local guy it might be my best shot...Thanks Kevin

Hey Kevin, don't give up yet. Several things come to mind. Some plugs are just dead, try a new one. From there it's on to the usual, fuel, spark, timing and such. A fuel filter is necessary by all means. Try a few things and give us a report.It ain't rocket science.

Max

new plug...new fuel filter..any other ideas..this should fire right up..Ive done alot of modern 2 strokes with my sons bikes..dont get why this is giving me fits...

You haven't mentioned . . . do you still have spark?

Ed

Yes..I pulled the plug with it still attached to the wire...kicked the starter and got good spark off the plug...

Modern or vintage, they all need just three things to run: fuel, spark, compression.

Fuel has to be in the right proportion, but most any engine is tolerant of a wide range of fuel provision. You verified it has fuel. Is the fuel fresh?

You verified that the plug sparks outside the engine. Doesn't mean it sparks inside. New plugs sometimes last five minutes especially in a new rebuild where there is likely excess lube present. Use a new, new plug. Then, timing is important. You said you didn't change it, which implies you didn't check it either. Reset the timing, and in the process verify condition of all wires, point surfaces, the condenser, and magneto surface. In other words, don't assume it is right.

New builds usually have good compression, but why assume it. Check it.

Might also take the exhaust pipe off and try to start it without the pipe in place. If it runs fine, the pipe is clogged.

Again, nine times out of ten the spark plug is culprit in non-running single two strokes. As AZ mentioned spark outside the engine doesn't mean that the plug is firing under pressure. I even had a few experiences of new plugs not firing under compression. Try a NEW plug, maybe two, before you rule that cause out.

Max

Only if it were mine or if I were working on it I would put a 1/2 teaspoon of gas down the spark plug hole. Is your plug wet ? Is the plug sparking off the end of the plug or across the gap? Dale WHERE are you at I miss your input! -----------Clarence

Thanks guys..I will try all those and get back to you..When I put the carb on the first time it did run with the pipe off, I will try that again..
I put a tiny bit of 2 stroke oil in the cylinder when I put the piston back in so I might be fouling the plug. This is my first vintage build
so please bear with me... Thanks fo all the advice...

scarman wrote:Thanks guys..I will try all those and get back to you..When I put the carb on the first time it did run with the pipe off, I will try that again..
I put a tiny bit of 2 stroke oil in the cylinder when I put the piston back in so I might be fouling the plug. This is my first vintage build
so please bear with me... Thanks fo all the advice...

Ok my story on my 1972 Wombat after rebuild , same chit as you and found it to be ignition switch shorting ! Try unplugging the square white plug and start it , yes it runs without ... Hope to hear you up and running soon .. And yes those dam spark plugs !!!

I think I went through three plugs last spring before a new rebuild would run without fouling. There is just a whole bunch of (non-2-stroke) oil in the crank that needs to be washed out before it settles down. This is as it should be. Plugs are cheap compared to the top end.

Running with the pipe off but not on is a clue. If you haven't cleaned out the pipe, search through recent posts here showing how to cook the pipe over a charcoal fire. Or, you can use a torch. Could be just about anything in the pipe if the bike has been sitting around for a while.

I took the carb apart again and put it back on...Will try it again with the pipe off.. Thanks guys..

Make sure the petcock isn't clogged.

Let's see a photo. Iam in Rancho Penasquitos. I would like to meet you, I have a few Hodaka's. PM me your number.
Kelly

. . . and you'll enjoy meeting/getting to know Kelly!
Ed

Rebuilt the carb again ..checked the petcock and observed fuel going to the carb(even took the line off with petcock and got a good flow.
Now Im kicking it over and getting a dry plug. Carb seems all clear, checked all needles and they are clean..another mystery

scarman wrote:Rebuilt the carb again ..checked the petcock and observed fuel going to the carb(even took the line off with petcock and got a good flow.
Now Im kicking it over and getting a dry plug. Carb seems all clear, checked all needles and they are clean..another mystery

Did you just rebuild the top end ? If so how good is the compression ?? You may have serious air leak like I did on bottom end seals !

checked compression..its good, new top end...

scarman wrote:checked compression..its good, new top end...

what numbers are you getting ?

scarman wrote:checked compression..its good, new top end...

Does fuel run out of drain plug on carb ? Piston installed forward ?>

No mystery This is just a mechanical device. As Arizona said spark, compression and gas. Spark first and it must be at the proper time 1- check timing 2- compression can you feel the resistance when you kick the kick start? If you push the kick start lever with your hand can you really feel the resistance coming up on compression? Try a compression gauge what does it read? Put your thumb over the spark plug hole does it blow your finger away from the hole when you kick it over? If yes now you have spark and compression and now you need gas good gas it needs to be reasonably fresh. If you are trying to choke it you can't give it any throttle. You can have gas to the carburetor but if the needle at the float is stuck you will not have gas to the engine. I would squirt a squirt or two of gas into the carb with an oil can, intake air cleaner removed. A wet fouled spark plug can be dried off with a quick spray of starting fluid on the tip. -----------Clarence

Piston is installed forward...fuel runs out of carb when I take it off and turn it sideways. When its on the bike ..no . Compression just under 60
psi after one kick through.

Now the plug is dry...could be it was wet before from being kicked and pushed without result.

Normally, it takes effort to get a plug wet when kick starting. Eventually but not right away or we would all have flooding problems. Still, you have touched a lot of things here, and may still have not looked at others. Internet is bad about translating details. You installed the piston and rings. I am going to say leave that be for now. Frontwards or backwards, if the piston is in there, leave it. A backward piston will shorten the piston life because the thrust is backwards, but it won't stop it from running. If you feel you must check, just pull the head. There is a mark on the piston showing front. If it points to the exhaust, button it up.

You rebuilt the carb. Here I would take another look. When you installed the float and needle, did you reset the float height, or just install new parts? You can't assume the float tang is correctly set out of the box. Did you also remove and inspect the start circuit plunger? If not, you missed a detail which may have something to do with the problem. You said you "cleaned" a plug several times. Here's a clue -- you can't clean a two stroke plug. If all it is is wet, you can dry it out, but if it is fouled, toss it. The days of cleaning bike plugs went out with the Panhead Harley. You have checked fuel flow though the petcock. Now take the float basin off and verify that you have lots of fuel flowing through the float valve when the float is down. It makes a mess, but check anyway. It could be just a clump of junk that was missed.

Check the timing. Even if everything else is right, this one thing alone could stop your bike from running. If it quit suddenly when you first started it, the points could have slipped, a contact could have fallen off the points, the condenser could have failed, a wire could be making intermittent contact to ground. Pull the magneto and start over. Verify the parts, and reset the timing.

These things can be frustrating, but the biggest deterrent to getting it going is to assume something is okay simply because it is new, or you didn't change it, or whatever. Verify rather than assume. And while you are in there, make sure the carb slide is not in backwards. That makes it really hard, but not impossible, to start a cold bike, but if it does start you will be at full throttle. It can be exciting.

Ill go through what you said..Im a newb at the timing thing, I never touched it.. Any advice on how to do it or should I try to youtube it?

If Kelly has done a YouTube, I would follow that, but anyone else....?

If you don't have a magneto puller for the Hodaka, don't try to take it off. Just check the points through the witness hole. Timing mark is on the flywheel and one on the engine case. Line them up and take a peek. The points should just break open at that point.
You can just see the points through here: