I've recently bought a '79 honda hawk TII. It is an old bike but it has low mileage (about 6000) and is relatively clean for it's age. The previous owner told me that it had been in a garage since '82 before he restored it and rode it around for about three years. I don't know to what extent the previous owner went to restore it but I got the feeling that most of what he did was just rebuilding the carbs and doing brake work. pretty much just the basics.

The bike was running great until a couple nights ago. I was riding down the street in third gear, came to a redlight and stopped. While slowing down the engine shut off and would not start up again. I had to call my dad to come pick me up and load the bike on to a trailer to get it home. The bike hasn't started since. I haven't had time to check anything more than skin deep yet but the battery and the starter are working fine. I also detached the fuel line from the carbs to check the gas flow and make sure there wasn't a clog or something but fuel flow seemed fine.

I am 20 years old, this is my first bike, and even though I've been learning new things all the time since I got this bike I am still not very knowledgeable or much of a tinkerer yet. When i use the kick starter I can sometimes get it to fire up for a second but not usually. Does anyone have an idea what the issue might be?

 

Total shotgun from the hip without seeing the bike, but my first instinct is to check the vacuum line that goes to the fuel petcock on the tank because sometimes they either rot away, or are just taken completely off. The bike uses the vacuum to draw fuel into the fuel bowls on the carbs via a 2-way diaphragm in the petcock, at a full or 3/4 tank of gas there is usually enough weight to create a mild siphoning effect in fuel line itself leading to the carburetors to draw fuel in and get the bike to start and run, albeit with a little throttle lag, but once you go below half a tank it will fall flat on its face and fail to start.

Otherwise start with all the other basics. With a bike so old there are bound to be little problems lurking around due to dried gaskets, hoses, lines. bad connections etc. Check the plugs, make sure they are clean/gapped, make sure you have spark, etc.

I can't offer much more advice without seeing the bike or knowing anymore details, but feel free to sling any questions as you go along, there are certainly some knowledgeable people on the forum who can help out as well, and good luck! I almost bought a Hawk a few months ago, but picked up a beat up 82 Suzuki GS450 instead, but I'm certainly looking into a hawk for sometime next year. Just remember, there are few things that can match the joy that comes from fixing up an old bike with your own hands and getting a chance to ride her again.

 

Start with the basics.... does it have spark? Lay the plugs on the head and turn over to see spark. More the plugs away from the head, Check compression... if you don't have a tester, hold your thumb over the hole and turn the engine over. It should blow your finger off the hole. Not an accurate test but if it blows your finger off... it has enough compression to run. If you have spark & compression, squirt a small amount of fuel in the cylinders, reinstall plugs and see if it starts for a second. If so your trouble is carb or fuel related.........
Worth a try. Those Hawks were pretty much trouble free in the day.

Matt

 

My bet is fuel. The original owner probably parked the thing in the garage and never ran it dry. If you can get it to run for a few seconds then you are getting enough spark.

However, I echo the posts above: Go over the whole bike. Remove, clean and gap the plugs. Make sure the plug wires are good. With one plug removed and connected to the HT wire, ground the base in a dark garage and see if you get a good, solid spark when you kick the bike over to try to start it. I would replace the fuel lines and fuel filter, clean or replace (depending on type) the air filter. Make sure you have good airflow into the bike. Strongly recommend rebuilding the carb.

 

So.... Did we get this thing running yet???