When a motorcycle fails to start after being parked, it may be experiencing fuel system flooding, which occurs when excess fuel enters the airbox through a faulty petcock (fuel tap) or carburetor issues. To diagnose this, check if fuel is leaking from the airbox pipe when the petcock is in the 'off' position, and inspect spark plugs for fouling (blackened appearance indicates rich fuel mixture). The solution involves either replacing the petcock or adjusting the carburetor float to prevent continuous fuel flow into the airbox.
Deep Dive
Prerequisite Knowledge
- No data available.
Where to go next
- No data available.
Deep Dive
Riding The Cheap bike Challenge in London is a nightmare!Added:
Oh, my bike doesn't like starting anymore.
Oh no, this ain't fun.
Good morning. I have a new travel hack for you. There's an app you get on your phone. We saw it advertised. Another YouTuber did this and it's uh too good to go. And what happens is they list up food that's going to be well I guess wasted at the end of the shift or whatever. We just managed to get two breakfastes that were offered to us at £17 from the same hotel. It came from exactly the same place as the other customers queuing up to get theirs. So when traveling, especially in cities, we're going to make use of this. All you do is go on the app, see what's available near you, and pick it up.
>> It's funny because in the hotel we stay in, they are very eco-friendly and everything is reused and recycled. This is cool these days.
>> Exactly what we're doing. Yeah.
>> Yeah. Good for the environment, isn't it?
>> Yeah.
>> Much better for your pocket, too.
>> Yes.
>> Well, we came out of the hotel and the bikes are still here. And there's more motorcycles.
This one is from Germany and it's got no steering lock on any locks, no locks at all. But the most out of the I want to show you these bikes. That one's got not a steering lock on. That's a Ducati.
And the Harley doesn't have any extra locks at all. To me, it looks like it's a bit of a 50/50 situation. Some people put the locks on, some people don't put any locks at all. But as long as my motorcycle is more trouble to steal than the other ones, I'm fine with it. What do you think? Would you leave your Harley without the lock on?
>> No, I wouldn't I wouldn't leave any bike. I mean, I didn't leave my £500 bike without a lock on, but I do wonder sometimes whether it is us being paranoid. I wonder how often this guy leaves his bike. He even left his boots and everything there. For all, you know, he travels every day around the world.
>> Guess what? He's from Germany. He's probably used to people not stealing as much as they do in the UK.
>> Expect it. Yeah.
>> We also went for the out of sight, out of mind approach here in London. Well, the the reality is we had no idea whether we'll be able to park in the gated car park or is it going to be somewhere on the street in White Chapel because this is exactly where we stay in.
>> Well, in the last episode you will have seen that we went to the Bike Shed Tobacco Dock show which was fantastic and we are just around the corner from Bike Shed Cafe itself. So, we're in to the London one. We've been to the LA one and it was great and we definitely want to see the London one and it's kind of iconic I think.
>> Oh, we do need to get some petrol at some point. I've done 130 mi on my tank and one feature that is missing from my bike is a fuel gauge. So, all I do is the old fashioned way of resetting the the miles and count.
Yeah, I definitely need to find a petrol station. Such a long route. Petrol stations.
All right, let's get fuel.
Oh, I got no go.
Nothing.
Yeah, my bike was overheating in the last episode and kept conking out and uh >> so now what?
>> Oh, that's a strange sound I've never heard before.
>> I reckon maybe overheating it was cooked.
Oh, come on.
>> Are you in neutral?
Shouldn't make any difference, but I am.
Yeah.
I wonder if it's so low on fuel it needs to go in the reserve.
>> Hey, maybe it was conking out yesterday.
Not because of the heat, but because of the fuel. No, it wasn't that.
Surely.
Oh, I'm loving this cheap bike challenge thing. The challenge is getting the bloody thing to go.
Good.
>> How about push?
>> No, that's a fueling problem. That is definitely we got plenty of power cuz it's cranking. It's not likely to be the spark or the air, so it has to be fuel.
M how about walking to the petrol station and maybe they have a jerry can for us.
Ain't that no I can still see there's petrol in there. It's not like it's completely run out.
You just here where you were parked. You were up right. That was my thinking. It sounds like [ __ ] now.
>> All right, let's not hang around. Let's crack on.
Let's get to the petrol station.
Hopefully that'll sort out the problems.
It's in reserve now.
All right, first stop, Shell Petrol Station, then. This is the front of the hotel that we've been staying at, the Corner London City Hotel.
It's not too bad, really. Most importantly and conveniently, it's got parking.
Another glorious day here in London. I absolutely love it when the sunshine comes out.
She's just going to walk out for sure.
Didn't even look around.
Well, let's hope your bike will be running sweet with some fresh petrol.
>> Let's hope so. Let's hope it just wants a nice cool drink. Eh, I can't blame it.
You know, some people say that there is a difference between petrol, the quality of petrol you get at Shell and in supermarkets.
So maybe >> my bike can't be that posh. Just getting posh petrol. Can't start choosing brands and all. I'm only a poor bloke.
>> I know.
>> Got a posh bike.
>> How much is posh petrol? 179 L.
>> Are you joking?
Posh petrol fee madam.
>> Yes please.
Right. Switch the fuel tap just back to normal on then.
It's going.
So, we reset these miles now.
Get back to zero. Count the miles.
Well, yesterday I filled it up at about 100 miles and there was still like half a tank left, wasn't there? We're just following our way through these small streets here. No idea where we are to be honest, but it's interesting.
Absolutely every surface around here is covered in graffiti.
I don't mind when it's good graffiti and somebody's put in some good effort, but scribbling your name on the wall seems a bit pointless. What's this? Prison or something?
Just a block of flats.
So, we could be actually um um around Brick Lane, which is famous for its graffiti, vintage shops, and very nice food. So, this could be sort of part of it, maybe. I don't know.
I have no idea where we are.
Does look a bit rough everywhere, though, doesn't it? I don't know why people have to scribble on every surface.
where we are here.
Robocop.
Okay. Well, in the UK at least, the bike shed here in London has to be one of the most famous motorcycle hangout spots.
And for one good reason really, I think it's got this unique feature, which we're about to do now. You actually drive into the bike shed through the cafe.
I mean, can you think of a better cool place to sit and enjoy your beer and a bit of food and watch the motorcycles come through?
And we go under there. And this is the secure motorcycle parking for everybody.
How cool is this?
It is toasty warm in here, isn't it?
Smells like hot bikes in here.
>> It smells like hot bikes. Definitely.
And it looks like it. So many cool machines in here. And it goes from everything. Classic to adventure to sports motorcycles, trikes, everything. Look at this guy's helmet with the goggles. I want a cool helmet like that.
How about that one? You love a bit of black and gold. Bit overdone maybe.
I think I like this one more.
I'm going to see if the coffee in Bike shed London is as good as it was in LA because I miss that coffee so much.
The food and drinks were really, really quick.
>> Oh, wow.
>> Not that we're near any hurry.
>> I could literally sit here all day and watch the bikes coming in and out. This is >> such a cool place to be. Yes. Have a look at the boat. I went for the Greek salad with some chicken >> and I asked a guy what's famous here and he said this is the bike shed burger.
>> I think I'm in a food coma now. I don't want to move. All I want to do now is have a coffee and then have a look around the shop.
>> I want to go and see some cool dude clothing. Yeah.
Iced Americano for me. It is so hot today. Eva's got some really pretentious coffee made by the barman.
>> Just cold and nice. That's all I need.
And I could just sit here forever, watch the bikes go by. So cool.
See you.
>> See you.
Look at this. You've got it already.
This is the Alpine Stars Tech 3 airbag with the bike shed logo on it.
Pretty sure that's just a standard airbag, but they've stitched it on there.
Very Scrambleresque.
Look at this Triumph I just spotted. I noticed it because from the back it's got these twin exhausts. And this is actually from Hitchcock's. And I see that there's a collaboration on the tank here with Hitchcock's motorcycles as well. So I'm guessing they made a fair few of these parts. But what a special looking bike that is.
That exhaust is a work of art, man. Look at this. That is a beautiful thing.
These are Merlin adventure helmets. I've not seen these before.
This is the type of thing you usually expect from the Merlin brand. More the sort of scrambler hipster style branding.
We just found this small room off to one of the sides here and it has the most amazing treasure in it. Look at this.
This is a Royal Enfield 650 shotgun and uh it looks like it's from Rough Crafts.
>> I just love that black and gold. Black and gold is absolutely timeless, isn't it? It just looks so classy. I really like that one. I knew this one was special. So, it is by Rough Crafts and this one is limited edition number one of 100.
Some places are just masters of creating that cool biker vibe that we all seek out on our motorcycles. It's just one of those cafes where you really can stay for a few hours and you don't feel rushed and you feel like you can just enjoy.
>> Going back into the motorcycle garage now.
>> What a place this is. Almost as cool as actually being inside the cafe. So many cool bikes. Look at this one.
>> CCM bobber sat there quietly. Loving the white walls on that. Beautiful XL spoke wheels as well. That looks really nice.
I wouldn't mind that one at all.
Try bother.
This one's a very underrated bike, the Honda NT 1100. Same engine as the Africa Twin in that one. And look at this little beauty here to taunt me. This is so clean as well. Yamaha phaser. I tried to get me one of these on part of our budget bike challenge, but my grand wouldn't have bought this one. That thing is absolutely mint. Beautiful.
This one is the fox eye version. So that probably about 2003 is my guess. Let's have a look.
Not yet. 53 plate. Yes, a 2003. That one.
Another really cool simple bike here.
It's a BSA and that one's got the Mallay Beach Race stickers on it. So, I wonder if that one's just been over and done the Malle uh race.
Very cool motorcycle that I becoming a big fan of these older, more simple machines.
Oh, my bike doesn't like starting anymore.
Oh no, this ain't fun.
Oh, side's done.
No, still not up for it.
Hey, is your bandit starting every time when you push the button boring?
>> What you mean?
>> You thought your bike was old and boring? Mine don't [ __ ] start.
Really?
I wonder whether there's something wrong with these carbs. They need balancing or something like that. Maybe rejetting or whatever cuz I've changed the exhaust.
>> Do you know what? That explains the price.
If something is too good to be true, then usually is.
Yeah.
All right, let's go.
right now. Remember that going through a cafe with lots of people watching you looking cool is not the place to drop your bike or [ __ ] up.
All right.
You'll be on 20 Instagram reels by the end of the day.
Oh yeah, loads of people.
Yeah, a motorcycle cannot fall over unless it's being watched. This is the perfect place for falling over.
Thanks, guys.
Uh, let's go right. I don't know which way to go, so I'm going right.
What's that? A cyclist coming.
>> Oh, look at that bus. It kind of looks like the older ones did. So cool.
>> I wonder if they still run the old uh open top red buses. That'll be cool to see.
I wonder what's wrong with my bike. I'm guessing it's a fueling issue because once it's running, it is running. It's all right. If anybody's got any experience with these old carbureted bikes and you got any ideas of what I should do, then uh yeah, do let me know in the comments cuz I suspect this needs a bit of spannering.
Trouble is, if it's one thing I know about carburetors is if it's working, leave it alone.
>> See, it was too good to be true that you just change the exhaust so easily without snapping any of the stands and it it was all working.
Yeah, but I wonder whether cooking it a few times yesterday has done some damage somewhere or something, but I wouldn't know what to check to be honest. I don't know.
Any advice, drop it in the comments. I think I am going to need it.
Ah, look at this. London is pretty much empty. Is what, Saturday afternoon? Got your indicator on and just so nice.
So good to get some breeze going as well.
>> Does sound lovely though >> when it's going now. Now >> I've been eyeing up all these cool scramblers and things here in London and I would love to do a bit of a project with this bike. I can see the really nice brown seat and uh you know get some nice brown leather wraps for these bars.
These sort of dingy red ones look absolutely crap. They're proper like $8.99 eBay specials I reckon. As is the seat cover on this, but this is exactly what happens whenever you buy a cheap bike. No such thing really exists because the first thing you do is you start taking your cheap bike and trying to make it better and spending more and more money on it until one day you wake up and realize that you've plowed thousands of pounds into your 500 quid bike.
Don't ask me how I know. We are going to pass Diane London shop in a in 0.2 2 miles. But because it's so close to the hotel and your bike is at danger of not starting again, maybe we shouldn't stop there.
>> Well, I'll make excuses for my bike. If we can park there, stop and go in. Why not?
>> Well, we see there's a parking right outside the shop.
>> Good old British public. Absolutely ramo when the sun co comes out. Not like Brits ever needed an excuse to go for a pint, but if the sun comes out, it is basically compulsory to go outside and sit in the beer garden.
>> But that is after you baked in the sun in the park.
>> Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, >> I saw it was £850 for a pint of beer.
That's a lot, is it? For a pint of beer.
Right. Who wants to bet that Eva comes out the shop with nothing, having tried on 10 different garments, none of it being right.
>> Hey, look, it's 5:25. They close at 700 p.m.
>> Oh, I ain't got an hour and a half for shopping in me. Nor have you. I know that. I do.
>> No, you haven't. You never have.
>> You've been a stop in 10 minutes.
Listen, maybe they have a sofa you can sit on and just relax and enjoy my misery.
>> Yeah, I'll be out here trying to start me bike.
>> This is central London.
I'm going to lock up my bandit.
Downstairs we got all the race stuff, racing lovers. Upstairs is more sort of adventure touring, which is where we are. He was working away through the garments.
>> But so far, this is the only one I see that could work, but I think this is not my size.
>> It looks nice, but yeah, maybe a bit smaller, bit tight.
>> Yeah, I don't know if they have a bigger one. I'll check.
>> There's a good range of armor here. But this is an interesting one. So, this is basically this.
So, you can put this on and then throw a t-shirt over the top, I guess. But I definitely want a jacket myself to cover the elbows and shoulders. These are very nice from TCX. I like those. Although, I'm pretty sure that laces on a motorbike is a really bad idea. I did catch mine on a gear lever when I was young and I wasn't so keen after that.
I just spoke to a lady downstairs. She's going to come up and help me. But I did ask her about this jacket and she said, "Well, it's very wintry one because it's fully waterproof and it's not going to let any air through at all."
>> Is that Gortex then?
>> I don't know. But it's >> Has it got an inner liner?
>> Apparently not what you want right now.
I've walked around. I've tried few things. Few things not in my size. Few things not in my colors. But end the story is that I didn't buy anything and I'm not going to. Sadly, most of the time I try to find something motorcycle for women. It's just not much choice.
>> What is this beautiful looking thing?
I don't fancy sitting along on that wooden seat, though.
>> It looks cool. If anything, there's loads of cool stuff in here.
Probably mainly if you ride something more sporty. Those leather suits look amazing.
>> Nice surface.
>> Looks like a leather cut, doesn't it?
They're getting better all the time.
>> That's good for the chopper.
>> For a cruiser, that's perfect.
>> This is the Dine Easy Air, which is their airbag version. But although this gives you a lot of protection around your vital organs and your ribs and everything, I reckon that would be a seriously bad look on me. Look like a crop top, wouldn't it?
>> That's not a good look, is it?
>> Yeah.
>> How much is a lettuce suit like this?
>> I have no idea.
>> Are we talking thousands?
>> I would guess so. 2,250 quid for that one. But >> you can't be yo-yo dieting once you buy one of them.
>> Oh, it's too expensive. But I reckon that as long as you are not yo-yo dieting, it would last you a lifetime.
>> I wouldn't want it to last me a lifetime. I would new one every season, wouldn't you? Something nice and fresh.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> Wow. It's like stepping out into an oven out here.
But the bikes are still here.
>> Well, I get a little bit worried now every time I come back to my bike to see whether the thing's going to start or not.
>> Let's place bets.
There we go.
Almost.
>> Oh, really?
>> I'm on. I can smell fuel though. A lot of fuel.
Woo!
>> Oh, now it's mine.
>> Yeah, I teach you for laughing at me, wouldn't it? I'll teach you. There karma that is.
Well, that was overall a good experience in the Dying Easy shop to be fair. You can't knock their service and stuff.
Really nice stuff. A shame you can't find one that fits perfectly. And the thing is as well, you know, when you're looking at garments, just a jackal 500 quid plus has got to be right. It's not a sort of like, oh, well, that will do.
You know, the best suggestion there was to buy one of the sizes and then take out the inner layer and throw that in the bin. I don't know how much money you got to have before you start buying things and dying easy shop and tossing it straight in the bin, but we haven't got that much.
>> Yeah. And you know what? The worst case scenario, I should just buy it again the same.
That is not a bad. Why is it taking so long to come to that conclusion?
>> I just wanted something new and nice and different.
>> Do you know what? I understand that thinking completely right. I had the um Tiger 900 GT Pro which is a fantastic bike and I never I didn't buy it again when mine uh sadly was written off.
So, I bought the Africa Twin instead only because I didn't want to buy the same thing again. I thought that was boring. But the GT Pro was actually the superior bike, I reckon.
>> Well, the thing with my Oxford jacket is that it's not perfect. There is definitely technically speaking better things on the market, but this one is £250, not 500.
>> Uh, that's a big difference, isn't it?
And the 5001 doesn't even look any better than the 250 Oxford. So now >> if you find the most amazing fitting jacket and you know everything's great, then you can justify it.
>> If I found the most amazing fitting jacket, I would definitely spend the money whatever it was.
20 m an hour.
Yeah, I saw a guy just now and he was on a BMW R and it's 20 mph everywhere here. If I lived in London, I would buy nothing else except for a comfortable scooter.
No need for any more power than that.
Watch out. He's looking at his phone.
Oh, that FJR didn't go anywhere. Oh, we got a Triumph here now. Look.
>> Maybe we need a new >> All right. Well, let's take up this here. Nah, we're right here. Nobody else is going to park here. Just block me in.
I do like these Triumphs, and I particularly like the Triumph Scrambler.
I just think they're cool bikes for like urban riding.
I could find an excuse as to why I like every motorcycle to be honest.
I want them all.
I think every motorcyclist should have one motorcycle of each kind.
>> I wonder if everybody thinks like this.
Do you all think like, right, I've got my bike. I'm happy with that bike. Or do you like I really love my bike, but I'd really like this bike as well.
>> I reckon we're all addicts. Yeah, pretty much.
>> Well, it's getting dark now and the bikes are cooled off. So, we'll come back down and we're going to cover them up for the night. But, uh, I've been doing a little bit of research on my running problems and I'm suspecting that my bike may be running rich. So, really what I need to do is to take these spark plugs out and have a look at the color of them and see if they're fouled and stuff. But, obviously, I haven't got the tools or any spare spark plugs to change them over here anyway. So, we'll have to hope for the best. But, there is one test I can do. I was curious just the other day before we left that this pipe that appears to come out the bottom of the airbox and comes down here. So, I did pull this cap off and uh yeah, a considerable amount of what I thought was fuel came out the bottom of there, which suggests that fuel is getting in the airbox. So, being that I drained this the other day, you would expect there not to be very much in here. So, I'm going to pull it off and see if anything comes out.
Uhoh.
>> Yeah. So, if that is all fuel, it smells like fuel and that's getting into the airbox, then that's not good.
It's still coming out now.
>> That's definitely petrol.
>> Taste it.
>> Taste it. I only need to smell it.
Right. That is And it's still coming out that pipe now. So, a lot of fuel is getting into that airbox. So, that suggests that the engine's flooding.
So, these bikes have these uh pet locks where we turn the fuel on and off, and mine's left in the on position. So, I am going to start turning it to off. In an ideal world, I'd like to pull the tube off of the bottom of this and test whether fuel is still coming through when it's switched off. Because if it is, then that would mean that the petcock is faulty, which is allowing fuel to drain through the whole time down into the airbox, and that would cause the problems for it starting as well. But I can't get in there without removing the tank. And being that I haven't really got very many tools, cuz if I spend the time to take the tank off and I check that and that's good, then the next thing to do is to pull the plugs and see how they're looking and see if all the plugs look the same as well. Because if one is wet and all the others are tan and stuff and look good, but one's, you know, black and fat, then that would suggest perhaps a sticky float or something in the carbs. I'm not an expert, but I do know that investigation is needed on this. That's a little bit disappointing really because my only real option now is, like I say, is to pull the tank off, pull out these spark plugs, and have a look. But unless we get spark plugs and tools and stuff and I take it apart in the hotel car park, it basically means going home.
>> Right. So, we still have a full day in London tomorrow that we plan for riding around London.
>> Yeah.
>> Is that a silly idea? Should your next ride be the ride home?
>> I don't know. It might be that these spark plugs will be good because I'm suspecting it's not starting because the spark plugs are crap because they're fouled because of the fuel getting through. And I don't know if they'll just be rough and not start very well for a while or at some point the spark plugs will stop sparking >> and then there'll be no go- go and then it'll be recovery.
>> Could it Could it be that the tube was full of uh petrol just now and now that you emptied it?
>> If it doesn't matter because there's fuel in the first place >> because it had nowhere to empty if you see what I mean if it was flood.
>> Yeah, it doesn't matter if it's fuel in the first place. Yeah. Then it's not a good thing. Yeah. It means that it's flooding.
>> Yeah. I I personally I'm guessing but I think that the spark plugs are probably knackered. It's due to it flooding and it's either flooding because the fuel tap or the petcock is leaking or there's a problem in one of the carbs. But either way, the spark plugs need to be changed. I need to investigate the um the tap to see if that still leaks when it's in the off position. And then if it doesn't leak, I need to look into the carbs.
>> Probably not a job you want to be doing 5 hours from home.
>> Yeah. Bottom line is I need to strip the bike. I need to take the tank off. I need to change it. I need to investigate and stuff. So, that basically means that yeah, we our next stop needs to be home or to a motorcycle garage, but I'm not a fan of paying garages to do these things.
>> Something you can do yourself.
>> I want to at least try.
>> Yeah, it's pretty good to try to do it yourself.
>> Yeah. Okay. Well, we'll have to see how that goes. We'll think on that some more. But for now, our day is over.
Hopefully, you've enjoyed spending it with us. We've had a great time here in London. So, thanks so much. We'll see how this progresses. We'll see you in the next one.
>> Love you. Bye.
>> Love you. Bye.
Related Videos
U.S. Military Just Flexed The Most Dangerous Aircraft Ever Built The F-47
MaxAfterburnerusa
11K views•2026-05-29
Heating Staying On On The Hottest Day Of The Year
PlumbLikeTom
507 views•2026-05-29
발전 효율을 높이는 태양광 추적 시스템의 기술적 원리 #공학 #공정 #태양광 #알고리즘 #재생에너지
찐현장기술
2K views•2026-05-29
Peterborough to Newark Northgate Driver's Eye View aboard an InterCity 225 - East Coast Main Line
TrainsTrainsTrains
822 views•2026-05-31
AI turbine design: hypersonic cooling leap #shorts #ai #hypersonic
bobbby_rn
671 views•2026-05-31
직관 및 곡관 배관 결합 고정 작업 #worker #process #fabrication #pipework #clamp
월드촌촌
2K views•2026-05-30
How Far Can A Tomahawk Missile Actually Travel?
WarCurious
13K views•2026-05-28
Wire To Wire Connection Trick | Strong And Secure Electrical Joint #shortvideo #wireworks
ElectricianTips-b1h
5K views•2026-06-02











