Ariel Owners Motorcycle Club

Just completing refurbishment of my 1961 sports arrow but its not starting. I bought it as a complete bike in running order but it needed a repaint new seat and other parts replacing. The engine and gearbox appear ok so I just removed the cylinder heads and all looked good pistons rings etc. I also fitted a new primary drive chain. I stripped and cleaned the carb fitting a new viton float valve and housing. I have checked the points timing and there is a spark but the plugs appear dry so I suspect a problem with the carb. Any advice appreciated. Since the attached photos I fitted a new fuel tap and fuel pipe fuel flow is good.

hi if it runs as good as it looks you have a very nice Arrow

If you have a spark at the correct time and you have fuel then you need compression, are the plugs wet, have you checked the compression, did you see it running when you got it, if its not run for a few years it my need the crank seals replaced.

hi i had a starting probland and i took out the drain plugs under the engine and drained it and then it started

The bike was running when i bought it in July and it started ok. The points and backplate have not been removed no I have not checked the compression any idea what it should be?
I had another go and the r/h plug was wet so fuel is getting through. Are the plugs you refer to at the front of the crankcase one has the cover bolted to it and the other (left side) had a bolt and washer what are there for?
Thanks for your comments

Hi, The plugs/tapped holes on the front of the crankcase are for the leg shields on the Leader and the gearbox cover on the Arrow, one side and the other has a bolt in it to stop pressure escaping from the crankcase.
Reading for compression is over 100 psi but normally around 120 ish on a good engine.
To have the best chance of starting use fresh fuel, if you feel it is choked ie. too much fuel in the cylinders, turn off fuel and ignition, open throttle wide and kick over a number of times. Turn on ignition occasionally and it might start or at least fire. Brian H. ps occasionally bits from the filter housing get into the carb pilot jet and cause starting issues.

Have you had the wires off the coils ? could they be swapped so it's 180% out?

Yes it was a complete rebuild apart from engine/gearbox I tried swapping the plugs and ht leads I also checked the plugs spark when removes against each piston moving to tdc. I have ordered a compression tester!

It’s lack of compression I have just put a compression tester on it and had a reading of 30psi my Moto Guzzi was 110psi! So it looks like new crank seals which I thought they would be ok as the bike was starting and running when I bought it last July.

hi Stu ;
makes sure bores are wet and when you check compression you need to kick engine over around 10 times with throttle wide open , you should then see the compression rise as you kick it over until it peaks out , should end up about 90-130psi depending on heads etc .
dont forget if you have suzuki pistons in you may have a bit lower compression but it wont be much difference ..

your problem with starting could be due to blocked pilot jet so id clean the pilot jet out first and see if it goes , you may end up getting engine running and then it does same as before , so clean pilot jet out as many times as is needed .
on my leader which had not been run for 30 years i had to clean the pilot jet out a few times due to it blocking up with fine silt etc , it came clean and reliable in the end .

one problem i did encounter was the condenser studs touching the points cover and engine not firing , so id say take off points cover and see if it will go without it on .
the original points had a piece of insulating material that folded back over top of condenser which stopped them earthing out to the metal cover , i think draganfly did have an insulating ring available to fit in the points cover .
the material used to insulate is what they use to insulate windings in electric motors , i got a sheet of it from place next door to where i work that does motor rewinds .

i have put a magnet inside my tank to pick up any metallic bits , its just dropped in below the fuel cap near the petrol tap , it is one of those small magnets that has hook on it , so you can get it out again .

when you want to start the bike , turn fuel tap on and walk away for couple minutes , then come back and kick engine over a few times ,then put choke on , then switch ignition on , hold throttle just slightly open and kick it couple of times and it may fire and stop or fire and run continuous.
if it doesnt fire switch ignition off and kick it over a couple times and then switch ignition back on and try kicking it again .
this is pretty much the way of starting these bikes when they are cold and it works .
once running back off choke bit by bit until it will run without when warmed up .

when engine is hot though you need to turn off fuel tap and let engine run a bit so it drains off the float bowl, other wise fuel evaporates in the bowl but leaves oil residue in the bowl and when you try to start it , it will oil the plugs up and take a bit of flooding and bumping to clear it and so on to get it to go or more .

hopefully you will get it going .
ian