250-500cc WR360 hard to start

Anyone have a WR360 that is hard to start? I just picked up a 2002. it bumps starts easily but is impossible to kick start. Any tips?

This is the technique that I use:

Find TDC read that as the first hard spot in the travel of the kick start lever.

Nudge the kick starter so that the piston is just past TDC and return the kick start to the top of it's travel.

Kick the bike firmly and positively. It helps if you get forward on the bike and kick the start lever more back than down.

It helps if you are in neutral as your not trying to turn as much stuff but I can still start in gear with this procedure.

My bike will start first kick with this procedure and I don't find it particularly difficult.

I threw in a new plug last night and tried the routine. I think the carb might be dirty. Are you running stock jetting?
Are the decompression heads worth the money?
thanks for any input

Before spending money, try the free fixes

You need 3 things for that baby to fire. Fuel, compression & spark.

Fuel is pretty easy to check off.
-Does it flow freely from the hose when it's 'on'?
-Is your carb potentially dirty/clogged?
-Have you verified the floats are at the correct heigth?
-Are your reeds worn or chipped?
-Also, clean air kinda,sorta falls into this category. Is your filter clean and unrestricted?
any of these will make for hard starting.

Compression can be tricky.
Unless you took a baseline compression reading when the motor was fresh to compare to. If you did, then once it loses 15% of its 'fresh' compression, it's time for a top end job IMO. If not, then you need to pull the pipe and shine a light through the exhaust port and see if there's any blow-by on the piston. If you see sooty deposits below the rings then they are worn and in need of replacing.

Spark can be tricky. Most people seem to think that as long as you're getting spark then you're good to go. Not true. You could be getting weak spark due to poor contact from years of condensation build-up, dirt between the contacts, etc.... Pop the flywheel off and clean everything well. Chances are there will be some random metal shavings stuck to the magnet. Clean em. Another issue could be a torn or just bad spark plug boot.wire. It happens!

It could be that it's just plain hard to kick over that big ol' coffee can piston and a decomp release would be of benefit.
I just hate to see people chase a problem by throwing money at it, so I preach the word and hope people learn by my mistakes. I've thrown a wad of cash chasing problems that didn't cost one penny to fix. May times over

thanks for all the help gents. I got rid of the three year old gas that was in the tank. blew all the jets out. Pilot was clogged. Air screw was way too far out. set it at 2 turns out. Backed down the idle screw. Gave it a couple of quick jabs and the old girl fired right up! Man, I am excited to try this machine out! Very quiet motor and extremely bright head light! This may end up being more fun to ride than my 2007 400 XC-W. I like the fact that it has six gears. Any of you guys run a 50 tooth rear sprocket on these. Seems a bit tall geared for Vermont woods riding

I've settled on stock gearing 15-48. I had a 50 but I thought the 48 mellowed out the power. Its not gonna stall unless you hit a wall. I've had a couple 360's and probably wouldn't still own one if it didn't have the decomp head. See if this woods video link works. If it does, turn sound down.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja0JZVDBlzc&feature=channel_page

The thing about the 360 is you can't stall it and it will pull anything the rider can. I am running 15x46 gearing in mine to smooth out all that torque, of course I have an EFM auto clutch on mine which is cheating. I am with colemanapp on the decomp head worth every penny kicks like a 125.

Good luck,
Walt

So where do I get one of these special heads? How much do they cost?
Thanks again for the great input.

R & D Huskqvarna in Australia is the site that has the head. It is about $400 USD after shipping. These guys are pretty prompt and I had mine 8 days after ordering.

Walt

Wow! That is a great website. The aussie's seem to have all the right parts. That 360 is a bear to kick over. I think I will order that head next paycheck. Thank you very much for your insight.

Walt,
what are runiing for jetting in your 360? mine is very rich in the mid range?
thanks- Matt from Vermont

what are you running for jetting on your 360? mine is awfully rich in the mid range. needle is on 2nd clip position on mine. any advice would be appreciated.
matt

Matt,

I switched mine over to a PWK 39MM carb. Really helps and adds significantly to top end. I am at 4000' starting elevation riding mostly in the 6000'-9000' range. I am at a 168 main, 45 pilot, and a cek needle in the middle slot. It also really helped on the very bottom. If you do go to the PWK, you need to open up the carb intake boot and reed block. If you pull them off you will see what I mean. Nothing 10 minutes careful massaging with a die grinder wont fix. PM me if you want further details and I can send you picks etc.

Walt