wont start cold

[55stone]

hey guys i bought a 01 ex for 275 that needed alot of work the kid blew it up and didnt have the money or the know how to fix it..anyways when i bought it it was already tore down.. but i finaly have it all back together and the thing runs pretty good. but if its cold the electric start wont start it..if i push it even real slow in first gear fires right up first time.. but when its cold it will just keep cranking and do nothing till the battery is dead... any ideas on what it is.. Stator? idk what really it could be.. i also have a issue with the battery not charging while i ride it..it just keeps getting deader and deader till its dead? could the 2 be related... any help will be great
thanks

[miles Machine]

well make sure you have a completely charged good battery, and second go up one or 2 on the pilot jet you will notice a great difference in starting

[jasonwayne222]

if ur battery is good then it should take a charge, put it on a battery charger and see if it takes a charge, if it does take a charge and works good{which u can also bring it to the autoparts store and they can tell u if its a good battery or not} and the battery is infact good then ur alternator charging coil could be bad, ur rectifier could also be bad as well, there is a troubleshooting guide in the repair manual, it will tell you how to check all your wires to see what exactly is bad, ur rectifier could be faulty and not putting out enough voltage, at the same time it could be putting out too much voltage which would cause your battery to overflow melt down whatever u wanna call it but it would swell up and all that bad stuff if it was getting too much voltage, so you need to read the manual it will tell u which is bad.

and when its cold thats normal,sometimes even with a good battery if it hasnt been started in awhile and its good and cold outside ur battery will die before it will start, totally normal just jump it off and let it warm up and u should be good. putting a 42 pilot will help alot.

[55stone]

hey thanks guys for the help and yes the battery is still good and still takes a charge so not that issue and i know 400's are extremely cold blooded but i know this is worse than normal.. i wil have to keep checking sutff.. could be cdi but i feel like sence it runs good once its started its not that...could be a jetting issue. i did put a 10:1 piston and new head and valves and sparks key and new clutch even though the clutch really wouldnt matter but piston would probably through the jetting off atleast some... it also still has a stock exhuast which i really need to get rid of with the new parts. but you guys say go down on the pilot jet to help it start??should i just buy a complete jet kit like the sparks jet kit? or just change the pilot?

No one really thinks its the stator????

[jasonwayne222]

no go up on the pilot to a 42, think about it when u use ur choke u are blocking off the air to allow for more fuel to start easier, if u go up on the pilot it gives more fuel for your starting circuit. and yes it is either ur stator or the rectifier/regulator. let me explaing u see the stator is basically an alternator like on ur vehicle, it produces an A/C current, this is why u have a rectifier/regulator, it takes the a/c current from the stator{alternator} and turns it into a d/c current, it then uses the regulator function to control the amount of d/c volts goes to ur battery for charging. if the regulator function is bad it could be giving off too low a voltage to charge ur battery, pretty common on honda motorcycles, or if its putting off too much voltage it will destroy ur battery. there is a good troubleshooting guide in the manual i suggest reading which will tell u how to troubleshoot which one is the problem, all u need to do is be able to read and use an volt meter.

[fastredrider44]

I've known some people to heat up the cylinder with a small propane torch to get a 400 to crank when its cold. They are cold blooded, and that's all there is to it.

[b.lee]

Might want to make sure it has the stock CDI unit on it. Most aftermarket CDI 's will cause it not to start in the colder weather.

I used to have one on my first 400ex.
In the winter I would have to put the stock CDI in for it to start... then I would ride it around till it was warm, switch out the stock CDI for the aftermarket CDI (cant remember which brand) and it would start up no problem after it was warm with the aftermarket CDI.

Just something to check out.