76 cj360t wont start after installing gas tank. please help !

G

gonehometodallas

New Member
hello im new here and new at vintage bikes.
i took the tank off to get it painted. reinstalled the tank and all the fuel line including a new fuel filter. so then i tried to start it up but darn thing jsut wont start. my right leg is sore now from stepping like 1000 times! lol.. i do see fuel in the fuel filter. at one point i got angry and opened up the throttle a little while kick starting.. bad idea?? haha well fuel start coming out of the T joint where the line goes to the carbs. not too bad though. so i turned the petcock to off. theres still gas sitting in the filter. so do i let it sit for a couple days and try again or do i take the carbs out and do something to it??. please help..
 
With the petcock in the off position, open up the screws on the bottom of the float bowls on the carbs. Be ready with a cloth, you're wanting gas to come out. Several tablespoons, at least.

If that checks out, do a quick compression check (this wouldn't have change just because you got your tank painted, but it's quick to do and it's important). Also, check for spark on each plug. Remove the plugs from the engine but keep the plug wires attached to them. Hold the electrode end to some bare metal, such as the exhaust. Now have a friend kick start the bike. You're wanting a fat blue or blue/white spark. Yellow may be ok, but orange won't cut it. Weak spark or no spark could be a battery issue but double check and make sure the kill switch isn't set to off. ;)

If you have compression and spark, put everything back together and kick it a dozen kicks or so. Pull the plugs again and look for gas. They should be wet. If they're not, you may need to clean your carbs out.

How long did you have things sitting while the tank was being painted?
 
What Sonreir said. Also, you might want to make sure that the cap on the new tank is breathing. A little fuel can get through the line, including to the filter, but not enough to fill the float bowls with enough gas. Try taking off the cap and giving it a couple kicks. If it stopped all of a sudden after simply switching the tank, it's almost certainly related to it (or the wiring, including coils, under the tank).
 
One other thing to add to Sonreir's recommendations.

If all you did is remove the tank, then replace it, there is a possibility that you dislodged some wires from the harness. There is a large junction area on the left side of the frame, under the tank where all the handlebar and headlight wires meet. You may off jostled it putting the tank back on the supports and loosened something.
 
Oh.. Haha
I'm having problem w the tail light too. I got an aftermarket tail light that has 2 wires (red and blk). The bike has 3 wires (brown. Green/yellow. And solid green). So far I've tried red and brown (brake?). Gr/y and blk (running?) how about the solid green ?! Hahaha or I am even close? Sorry I'm doing this restoration all by myself. My friends are not into cafe bikes and my wife hates it !!!! Lol please add this newbie ..
 
The tail light you have doesn't likely have both brake light and running light, so you need to choose which one you want.

Hook the brown from the harness to the red on the light for just a running light or the green/yellow from the harness to the red on the light for just a brake light. In either case, the green from the harness will connect to the black on the light.
 
Sonreir said:
The tail light you have doesn't likely have both brake light and running light, so you need to choose which one you want.
Click to expand...

More likely your tail light doesn't have a ground wire but is supposed to be grounded to the frame. Check and see if the bulb has two filaments. If so, the tail light is either supposed to ground to the frame when it's mounted, or you can run a ground wire if it's attached to something that's not grounded (e.g. a fiberglass seat). Run the wire from a mounting bolt on the tail light to somewhere on the frame or to the drak green (ground) wire in the wiring by the back fender. You should have a dark green lead with three female leads (two turn signals and the tail light).
 
Can't wait till I get home. Thank you guys for helping me! I will try to add pics of what I got so far. This is my very first cafe. I've been "learning" everything on YouTube hahaha
 
The stock tailight has 2 wires. The green/Yellow is the stop light circuit (+12V when the brakes are activated) and the Brown (+12V when ignition switch is on run or parking light).
There is a solid green wire that connect to a tab on the outside of the tail light socket, this is the ground. All grounds are solid green on this Honda.

I don't think you are road legal without both a stop light and tail light, so you may want to re-think the light you are using.

Or put a second red light so you have both functions.
 
ok so i drained the float bowls. checked the plugs (dry)..... : ( so that means i have to clean the carbs??? *$^#^%$@#%($#%*( lol i dont know how. but i will youtube it. and as for the tail light.. imma put that off for now. need the motor to start first!
 
Ok, from the top. Fuel, air, spark is what makes it go.
Do you have spark? If yes, then check fuel.
IF you pulled the float bowls off and there is no fuel in them (or very little), either your fuel tank cap doesn't have a proper vent and is creating a vacuum, or the valves in your float bowl are gummed up. Take them out and clean, and try again.
IF you have fuel in the float bowls (2/3 full or so when you pull them off), then your jets are likely plugged up (are your float bowls clean, by the way). Take them out, blast them with air or carefully poke them out with a tiny wire using carb cleaner.
With all of these kind people giving you advice, evidence of actually heeding it will go along way toward people helping you when something major goes wrong. Your response above says very little about whether you heeded anyone's advice. Good luck.
 
hi carnivorous chicken.
i want to say thankyou so much for helping. and i am trying my best doing all the things ppl are telling me to do. i did worked on the tail light but i couldnt get it to work... so i decided to put it aside for now and concentrate on the motor. i am trying really really hard! sorry for any misunderstanding. this is my very first 70s bike so i know absolutely nothing.

to answer your questions. yes there is sparks. one carb had about a teaspoon of gas when i unscrew the screw (under the float bowl). the ohter had 5 drops lol. so the one w a teaspoon of gas needs cleaning correct? oh and the gas was kinda dirty too. i will try this sunday or monday. again , thankyou.

im heeding : )
 
Easiest thing to try first is take the cap off of the fuel tank first. The order of operation for this stuff is easiest first. If you have the float bowls off of the carbs, see if fuel flows when you take the cap off. The amount of gas you had in the float bowls is very low (both of them), so I'd suspect that fuel flow is your problem. If taking the cap off of the gas tank doesn't make fuel flow, then you've likely got stuck float valves. This is the valve that allows fuel into the float bowl, and shuts off when the float reaches a certain height (it floats on the gas). The tang is the part of the float that shuts off the valve. Should be obvious when you look at your carb with the float bowl off.

But I guess I should back up: is there gas in the tank? Is the petcock turned to on or reserve?

Do you have a manual? Are you following it? When you say you are going to "clean" one of the carbs, what are you intending to do?
 
Also check the screen in the petcock, and if the fuel isn't coming out of the petcock, the petcock might be blocked in the tank by rust or something.
 
hi carnivorous chicken and mydlyfkryzis!

there is gas in the tank but very little prolly two cups?? the petcock is "on". i have downloaded the manual on my computer and yeah i tried to llooked at the carb picture but i cant really figure what is what (bc i m not fimiliar w all the parts). well as for "clean" i was going to take the whole entire carbs off the bike lol and take the float bowl off and do what you told me (previous msg) poke it w a thin wire ..

and yes the tank has a little rust. not really bad but i remember seeing rust on the opennining hole and the bottom openning (where the petcock screws in).

carnivorous chicken, when you say "float bowl off" you mean to unscrew it? like float bowl square shaped cover where i drained out the gas b4? will that make gas gush out?

THANK YOU !
 
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